Monday, May 2, 2016

Arbor Day - April 29, 2016

Breaking Ground (Sister Tree in Background) - April 29, 2016
This Arbor Day, both of my Language Arts / Social Studies classes pitched in to plant a Cherokee Brave Dogwood Tree in front of Langley Middle School. Its placement mirrors the previously planted dogwood tree to the right of the entrance. I would like to use this blog to document trees planted by my classes in public spaces.

Tree Planters - Language Arts / Social Studies - Block 1

Tree Planters - Language Arts / Social Studies - Block 2

Cherokee Brave (Potted) - Kaija Moon Dahle
As part of our 2016 Arbor Day planting, students composed poems and drew pictures and comics about or to the new “Cherokee Brave” Dogwood Tree. Below is a selection of submitted work:

The Dogwood

Behold the Dogwood’s beauty
A simple stunning sight
Daringly standing duty
For freedom it would fight

A tiny terrific tree
Bustling with birds
Sacred serenity
Without description of words

- Sam Baesler


Arbor Day Tree Poem

I don’t think i'll ever see
A poem that’s as beautiful as a tree
A tree that has a bunch of nests in it
Filled with beautiful creatures
A tree that feeds off rain

- Aidyn Frederick

Connecting
The trees are sweet,
the flowers are blooming,
everything in its place.

The leaves are still growing
it is time to plant a tree,
Save the earth.

No I'm not a tree hugger,
I just like the earth,
Isn't it our mother?

- Kieran Birchfield


Arbor Day Tree Poem

Arbor Day comes once a year
I hope you enjoy your stay
Have a good life,
Love your day,
I promise I’ll visit you every year
on the same day that I brought you here
soon you will be like your neighbor
large and majestic
the tree that catches everyone's eye
always warming the heart of a lonely guy
your day will be here soon
expect some more company
a Cherokee Brave just like yourself
or a different breed of something else
all it takes is one seed
so grow as much as you desire
all through the night
I’ll be here,
waiting
on Arbor Day next time.

- Jacob Breeden


The Tree Tomorrow

The tree I see today,
Is not the tree I’ll see tomorrow
Or the next day.
The tree I see today,
Will grow,
Little by little,
Inch by inch
Until it is flourishing
In the midday sun.

- Sarah Cravy


It splits the dirt
Peaking out into the world
Beginning its new life
A small green sprout

Heavy rain falls
And soaks into the dirt
Up the roots
And into the leaves

The sun shines down
Soaking warmth into the leaves
The plant grows
Up up up

It flowers
Beautiful bright pink
It keeps going
Reaching for the top of the sky

- Liam Cribs

Saving a Tree
Arms-

The Earth,
Reaching out to touch the sky
With its leafy arms.
The trees,
Stretching up to the clouds,
With their leafy branches.
The trees,
Forever growing up to the atmosphere.
The sky,
Raining down it's pure tears of joy,
Allowing the trees to drink the happiness,
Further boosting the tree’s journey to space…

- Kaija Moon Dahle


Your roots grow thick, sinking into the ground
deeper and deeper
through the dark, wet soil.
Your branches grow high, reaching for the sky,
looking for  a light to help them grow.
Your buds turn into blossoms, blossoms to flowers,
showing the world your inner beauty,
with a fragrance light and sweet.
You are far more than just
a little Dogwood tree.

- Flannery Friedman

Now and in the Future
Trees

A marvelous thing
Delivering co2 to the people of Earth
Being kind and generous to the birds, squirrels and many more
A beautiful site they are
Providing wood, jobs, paper and fun for the children
They are trees

- Andrew Fry


“Breeze”

Blow through
Blow with
The lone tree stands tall

An era with reason
An era with hope for all

But nothing has hope
Unless it has hoped
Upon a lone tree

Standing for twenty years
Giving life with hope
And a nice breeze

- Jeffrey Jackson

Potential - Jeffrey Jackson
Tree Poem

Pink Tree,
In the classroom.
Long lims,
With big pink flowers.
Lots of pink.
Big pink flowers.
I hope it grows,
For a long long while.

- Chloe Loer


Arbor Day

The trees are growing
There's no denying it
In a sense of joy
you can't help but smile

Because you created life to replace the lost
You did a good deed
but not all good deeds end well
What if it gets cut down...

Or worse, your creation of life
will die
but so will you
but you are not worried about yourself
you’re worried about the life you created and
Cared for.

- Cameron Martin


Our Little Tree

Oh, our little tree,
Our happy little tree,
Someday you will grow big and strong
Or possibly I’m wrong.
I hope you will see
How important you are to me
You really do belong

- Jena Mattern

Getting Real - Madison Ellerby-Muse
Trees trees trees
Without them we would
Die die die
Trees trees trees
They are great
Trees trees trees

- Lewis Mattson


Arbor Day Poem

Pink flowers dance across the branches
Of the small tree,
Leaves enclosing the hidden
Buds that are scattered
Across the dogwood.
Many stare, and many wonder
Will this tree survive?
Or will it flourish in
The beautiful landscape
Of Langley Middle School?

- Lila McCleary


The Tall Stretching Trees
Blooming up towards the sky
Forever reaching
Grasping at the sun's rays
The tall gentle giants
Of our home

- Caleb Mills

Roots and Flowers
Trees

Pink , Blue, Red, and Green.
Some tall some lean,
Some short and fat,
Some house many bats,
They make fire, paper and weapons,
Yes, I am talking about trees.

- Isabella Noble


A Dogwood

Your coral colored petals
Look like butterflies
Waiting to fly away at any moment
You are named after man's best friend
But sometimes treated as though you don't matter
Chopped down or neglected
But don't you worry dogwood
I will always love you

- Alison Papritz


Arbor Day

Trees are beautiful
Trees are amazing
They provide oxygen,
Which is pretty cool

- Ethan Petty

Looking Forward - Lila McCleary
Trees

All shapes and sizes
Some tall
Some short
Some so small
You can't find its big toe
Some so wide
You can't wrap your arms around it
Some so frail
Afraid it'll snap
But they're all different
Unique
Not one exactly the same

- Stephany Schaaf


Poem to a Tree

Your flowers will bloom
They’ll shrivel up and die
You’ll continue to grow
High up in the sky
You might go through floods
You might go through droughts
You’ll go through the storms
That make all your roots fall out
You might get hit up
But just don’t give up
But I’m not a tree
So I wouldn’t know
So try your best to succeed and grow.

- Isaiah Gonzales


Cherokee Brave Tree

Your beauty is astonishing
Your flowers are as pink as my cheeks
Your bright, green leaves are bursting with life
But after a few months go by
your beauty will be blown away from you,
your flowers and leaves will float away
in the wind
and you will be left with nothing

Don't worry though
because after a couple of months pass by
you will burst with colour again
but for now we will both have to wait
until spring returns.

- Jessica Hodson


Trees

The trees so green and vibrant.

This doesn't last very long,
They change every season.

Some stay the same though,
They’re called evergreens.

So many different types,
Some with leaves,
Some with needles,
Some with flowers.

But they're all the same,
They all filter air and keep us alive.

I love you, trees.

Thank you.

- Jordyn Kelley

Sun and Flowers - Samantha Ollis
Tree

Little lives blossom into pink beauties
on a Cherokee Brave.
Has its own free living supply on earth
sunshine and all.
You think this plant is living the dream
because it doesn't have to do anything.
This young life can't move, can't run
just has to sit and watch life go by.
Seeing everyone else get to live life
…….happily.

- Kayla Knauer


Arbor Day Poem

Little tree, little tree
Grow tall and big
Little tree, little tree,
Small then big.
Big tree, big tree,
Tall and strong,
Big tree, big tree,
Growing old.
Old tree, old tree,
Dying slow.
Dead tree, dead tree
Used for wood.

- Sam Martin


Tree poem

Pink flowers blossoming
Branches easy enough to snap
The little tree is prepared to face the world
It’s time for it to grow big and beautiful

- Elie Miller


Standing Tall

Her elegant arms dance in the wind
As dreams of beauty leap through the warm summer air
Her shadow prances like a mysterious fairy
But soon
this sweet madams trip
must come to its tip
Until the morning tide arrives.

- Samantha Ollis
Stages - Isaiah Walker
Trees are love,
Trees make life,
We stab them,
And cut them in half.
They do not say,
For throughout the day,
They sit,
On flatbed trucks,
On their way,
To a new place.

- Quinn Pease


Whoosh

As the wind kicks up
blowing trees down
destroying,
and homes lost.

Loved ones
band together
around the tree
for help and peace.

- Kole Nelson


Trees

Personally, I love trees
I hate to admit it, but I’m a tree hugger.
They’re beautiful,
They produce oxygen.
They give life!
What would we do without our lovely trees?
Some people,
They don’t care about trees.
They cut them down.
All just to make money.
But what they don’t realize is that trees give us so much.
Tree’s give animals habitats,
They provide shade,
They make paper and pencils.
What would we do without trees?

- Mya Pratt


20 Years

In 20 years, there won’t be many left of you
You will be all gone, just a few left standing
I’m sorry we didn’t recognize your value
before we took your lives away
Your friends, your family
All gone in just 20 years

- Mia Shockey


Once a twig

After 45 years the small twig
that was planted many years in the past
Has sprouted into its full potential.

Its colorful blossoms make great shade
for people walking by
A gathering spot for animals when passing by
Its branches reach out for the sky
Touching the clouds above
To think that long ago this wonderful beast
was just a stick
that wanted to grow.

- Skyler Stonebridge


The Cherokee Tree

So young and small,
Your stiff branches reaching for the sun,
The few flowers you hold cupped and delicate,
Their petals colourful and smooth,
Season after season you get bigger and stronger,
Your branches solid and beautiful,
The bouquets of flowers they hold lush and full,
Their petals bright and soft,
This is our Cherokee tree.

- Lizzy Taylor


Trees create life.
We see dead sticks,
but there's more.

Secrets of the ages
locked in wood.

- Joseph Vechnak


Tree

Tree please grow
Grow as tall as the mountains
Grow healthy tree
As healthy as a fresh picked fruit
Survive tree, survive for me

- Isaiah Walker


The Tree

One tree
Can embody so much
Life
Hope
Light
If you cut it down
Those hopes
Dreams
They all come down with it
Just like that
Their gone

- Ahnika Burt


Children of the first world
You might wish that this tree made wifi
Cause if it did
Humans would plant trillions of trees
But honestly
I’m glad you help us live instead

- Madison Ellerby-Muse


Leave the trees alone let them
Grow let them become one with the
Earth and don’t chop them down
The trees let us breath,
They have been that way longer
Than any humans and this is their home.

- Brandon Eveland

Wild Color - Sarah Cravy
Cherokee Brave

Branches are few
Flower buds a couple
Must be home for dinner
But I’ll stop to admire the sapling

Branches are many
Flower buds are bloomed
Must build a home
But I’ll stop to smell the petals

Branches are dozens
Flowers abundant
Must make dinner
But I’ll stop to water the roots

Branches are breaking
Flowers wilting
Must bury the dead
But I’ll stop to weep beneath the leaves

- Abigail Barnett


Arbor Day Tree Poem

Your branches sway in the wind
I can’t believe how large you’ve gotten
You look so beautiful standing tall and unbroken
It seems not that long ago
My class and I planted you
It’s amazing you survived the bunnies
And dear
You are so large
So climbable
It’s surprising you withstood the generations of children
But you’re still standing
Tall and unbroken

- Megan Parker