4 pages.

This is an easy icebreaker for the 1st week of school.

1-2-3 Come Make A Class Family Tree With Me!

Going to school can sometimes cause separation anxiety in young children; this doesn’t just happen to “first timers” who have never been to school.  No matter what the grade, students often miss their families at some point during the day. Sometimes all it takes to comfort a lonely child, is to look at a photograph of their loved ones.

With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to decorate a class family tree, where children could go to catch a glimpse of mom, dad, siblings and even pets.

You can include the instructions and leaf in your summer letter, or open house packet, or you can wait, and allow students a color choice and then send the leaf and note home on their first day of school.

Run off the maple leaf template, on a large variety of colors of construction paper.  Make only 2 of every color, to avoid a mostly pink and purple tree, due to the fact that little girls are very likely to choose only those 2 colors.  By offering weird color choices for leaves, you will get a whimsical and very colorful tree, that won't look out of place when fall is over.

Run off copies of the instruction letter asking parents to please take a picture of their family, including pets. They will also glue the photo to their leaf and cut it out.  Children fill in the blank with their name.  i.e. Kelli's family.

Write in a due date for the leaves, as students will be showing and sharing them with their classmates, and then putting their leaf on your big family tree. A good place to put your tree is on a wall in the hallway.

Use brown bulletin board paper, or butcher block paper to make your tree.  I liked to make my trees flat, but I've also seen teachers make trees by twisting paper, for a 3D effect.  Cut out a large red paper heart and glue the "Our Class Family Tree" sign on it.  You could also diecut letters to spell: "Come and see, our class family tree!"

I hope you and your students enjoy this back to school activity and that it helps alleviate those first-day blues. Click on the link to view/download the Class Family Tree packet.

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Sign on a high school bulletin board in Dallas: "FREE knowlege every Monday through Friday; bring your own container."