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***image4***The Adopt-a-Tree program started in 1992 after a camping trip to Camp Darby in Livorno, Italy. I collected the huge pine cones to use in art projects for my students. When I took them home, I discovered they were full of seeds, so we decided to plant them. The first trees were planted in September 1992. That year, the students came up with the adoption paper that they have to sign. They made posters and signs telling other kids about them.
Each school year, we plant them in September and trees are a constant theme throughout the year. We talk about how long it takes trees to grow, everything trees give us, how we can protect trees, how to save them, conserving paper and, of course, we recycle every bit of paper we can. We also guess how big they will be by April 22, measure them and observe their growth.
Every Earth Day is the day we adopt our trees. Three seeds are planted by each student, but not all of them survive. There is always one, though, that they are able to take home. I tell them that when they leave Germany, they need to find a new home for their tree or bring it back to me and I’ll find a home for it.
I used to save a tree from every year to have at school, but after a while, there were just too many. I kept one of the trees from 1994 for about eight years. By that time, it was just too big to carry back and forth to my house. In 2004, we planted it out by the boat playground where it has thrived and grown. Even now, some of my kids from years past will point it out and tell people that it’s one of the “second grade trees.”
