25 Days of Classrooms: Wishtree

This month I am sharing stories from
classrooms in Berwyn South District 100.

Day 1: Wishtree with Mr. Haar (5th, Hiawatha)

     Tyler Haar's class has been reading Wishtree by Katherine Applegate.   It's a great new novel by one of my favorite authors, and today I got to go into a 5th grade classroom and tell the students that I met the author.  Yes, I got a gasp from a few students.  I love that.

  

     They were about to finish the novel, and Mr. Haar introduced me and said we were going to do something fun to connect to the book.  I heard someone whisper, "I think we are going to make our own wishtree!"  Indeed, she was right.  We improvised with a little green glitter tree and garland from Walgreens.  We didn't have Red, but this would have to do.

      I shared with the students that we were going to do something that Katherine Applegate did with me a few days after the book came out.  (This got a few more gasps.)  When Michelle Brezek and I went to meet Katherine at an Anderson's book signing, she had us make three wishes.  She had us make a wish for ourselves, a wish for someone else, and a wish for the world.  So, before the students finished the novel, we did the same thing.  They wrote their wishes on cards, and we tied them with ribbon to our wishtree to put it out into the world.

  

     Reading the students' wishes made me a bit teary.  Some of the wishes were typical 5th grade wishes, like hopes for Nerf gear and new games systems.  Others were for family members' health and happiness.  Some students used their wish for themselves for someone else.  Many were dreams for a better world.  Here are a few.

I wish everyone would stop polluting the world.
I wish my dad will graduate college.
I wish me and my family can spend time together.
I wish my grandpa can be cured from liver cancer.
I wish some people wouldn't be so selfish.
I wish for Trump to be nice to Mexicans.
I wish that Mexicans can legally come to the USA.
I wish for the world to be a better place.
I wish for the whole world to have a happy life.
I wish for a baby sister.
I wish people can take care of the water.

Here's a wish that I'm personally hoping gets heard:

     Our students deal with so much every day.  We want them to achieve the high standards we put forth, but we also want to recognize them as the human beings that they are.  Thanks, Mr. Haar, for letting us take a moment today to learn about the wishes and hopes your students have.  It matters.

 

Check out Wishtree by Katherine Applegate.  It's narrated by a tree.  That makes it a must read.  :)