The Magnificent Tree is a beautiful collaboration by Nick Bland and Stephen Michael King. It was published in 2012 by scholastic but is ties in well with National Tree Day this weekend.
The book’s main characters display a loving and respectful relationship between a granddaughter and her grandfather. The young girl loves doing things simply and the grandfather loves ideas that are ‘big, brave and brilliant’ but together they can work together to come up with wonderful ideas!
One day Bonny and Pop decide they need something so they can see the birds better. Pop thinks BIG and starts to draw his ideas whilst Bonny thinks simply and plants a seed with care.
We can draw many different teaching points from this book whilst enjoying the fun illustrations.
SUSTAINABILITY
- Trees are magnificent! Are there many trees, shrubs or flowers around you that you think are magnificent? Why are they each magnificent?
- Can man made objects be part of our landscape? How can we improve our man made landscape to make nature a part of it? Look into new ways cities are becoming greener with rooftop gardens and green spaces!
- Create a tree diary. How many different tress are in your school? Home area? playground or local bush land?Some great ideas on this blog for looking at the amazing Banksia!
- What can you grow in your backyard or own your balcony?
- Can you make a simple toy to play with? Find some bits and pieces around the house that are no longer needed. This is a fantastically fun activity and it allows children to use their imagination and be creative! Create a toy that can be used outside. It will be amazing what it created if not given too many boundaries. You might like to encourage some planning and you may like to challenge them by limiting the amount of objects they can use. Try it!
THINKING – DISCUSSION POINTS
- What are ideas? How many different ideas did Bonny and Poppy come up with?
- What is a simple idea? What is a complex idea? Create a list of ideas and place them into categories.
- Draw up your own inventions – one that is simple and one that is complex. Both need to fulfill a similar purpose.
SCIENCE
- How does a seed become a plant? Look at the life cycle of different types of seeds.
This is a heart warming story which shows a loving and respectful relationship between grandfather and granddaughter. A great one to read on grandparents day!
It also shows that simple ideas can be wonderful so encourage those simple ideas from your children and students as from little things big things grow!!
