Hello, Joe

If you've been reading here for awhile, then you know about Joe, the ginkgo tree that grows tall near the kindergarten classrooms.  We pass him daily as we walk around campus.

Last year, my class visited Joe each month and we watched the seasons change along with the friendly tree.  This year, though, I thought it would be nice to introduce Joe to all the kindergarten classes.  We will just document his changes 4 times a year.

Everyone was excited to meet the tree.  We settled down outside to sketch him in our new journals. 

Instead of a standard journal, I decided to make little step-style books using only 2 sheets of paper.  Since I was making 50 books, I wrote the seasons at the bottom of a master and then ran it through the copier, double-sided.  The covers are card stock which is sturdy enough for what we are doing.

The only materials we took outside were Flair pens for sketching and a little basket of green and brown crayons for coloring.

We will visit Joe again when Fall is here and his leaves are bright yellow.

Maybe you can follow a tree in your neighborhood this year too.