MJ Procillo

2 October 2017

TREE OF ME, TREE OF WE

ACTIVITY TIME: 3 x 20 minutes
grade 4

CONNECT

LEARNING INTENTION:
- for students:
- to learn more about ourselves by digging deeper and thinking more carefully
about our identities, and finding connections and differences between us all
- for teacher:
- for students to explore self identity on a deeper level while establishing
connections within the classroom community

RATIONALE:
- engages visual learning as a pathway to deeper thinking
- establishes a deeper knowledge of self through reflection and connection to
others
- highlights diversity and strengthens empathy

CURRICULUM:
- family and community relationships can be a source of support and guidance
when solving problems and making decisions (BC Career Education, Gr. 4)
- creative expression is a means to explore and share ones identity within a
community (BC Arts Education, Gr. 4)
- exploringworks of art exposes us to diverse values, knowledge, and
perspectives (BC Arts Education, Gr. 4)
- exploringstoriesand othertextshelps us understand ourselves and make
connections to others and to the world (BC Language Arts, Gr. 4)

PROCESS

PREP + MATERIALS:
- prepare your tree of me as a sample
- on 11in x 17in white paper, have students draw a tree with 4 or more long
branches and roots that take up about a third of the page
- modification: draw a tree of your own and photocopy it for quicker starting
point
- pencil crayons or crayons are ideal for colouring, a fine tipped marker or black
pencil crayon is ideal for writing
- a big piece of chart paper (for the tree of we) and markers
 MJ Procillo
2 October 2017

METHOD:
1. present your tree of me
2. go over tree of me criteria:
- tree branches represent overt or easy to spot characteristics and
relationships (ie. hair colour, relatives or friendships, etc.)
- roots represent hidden information or less overt characteristics (ie.
hobbies, experiences, favourite subjects, where you grew up, etc.)
3. let students create/fill in trees with 4 branches and 4 roots
4. let students add colour to their trees
5. have students do a gallery walk and use a t-chart to record 1 thing they
connected with and 1 thing that was different on someone elses tree
- modification: have students get into groups of 3/4 and share their trees, ask
students to find connections and differences between their trees, each group
would make a t-chart to share with the rest of the class
- extension: have students present their trees to the class, ask students to find
connections and differences between their trees using a t-chart
6. discuss the definition of diversity
- note: make ties/connections to empathy, multiculturalism, and individuality
when defining
7. introduce tree of we criteria:
- branches now represent connections or similarities and the roots represent
differences as discovered through gallery walk (or otherwise)
8. as a class, fill in tree of we and hang it up in your classroom!

TRANSFORM

MODIFICATIONS + EXTENSIONS:
- time restrictions/teachers discretion: have students complete fewer branches
and roots
- modification: have students create a tree of we for them and a small group
(3/4 students) prior to creating a tree of we for the whole class
- extension: have students brainstorm/collaborate to complete even wider
reaching tree(s) of we (ie. for their grade, for their school, for their city, for
their country, etc.)

REFLECTION + PROMOTION:
- leave time after finishing the tree of we to debrief what students learned from
this activity using relatively open-ended questions
- extension: have students write their thoughts in a journal or create a short
story with the theme of diversity
- promotion: this activity will build into using deeper thinking skills and
expressing ideas and thoughts with depth and context, this is especially useful
for writing and/or storytelling. continue to build off of these skills with
personal writing and social studies.