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Sample Unit

Sample unit on Tu Bishvat
Circle time:
Sing "Happy Birthday" to the trees, flowers, and plants. Introduce the Seven Species:
wheat, barley, figs, dates, grapes, olives and pomegranates. Try to bring in a variety for the children
to taste. Graph the results of the children's preferences on a large sheet of paper and display. Shnat Shmita
Read “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. Brainstorm how many types of trees the children can list.

 

Naturalistic/science:
• Bring live worms (purchase at local pet shop) into the classroom during the entire unit. Store them in
a covered container with top soil. Provide magnifying glasses for children to observe them and
explain their role in helping plants grow. During nice weather this activity would be done outdoors
• Plant grass heads using grass seeds, knee's, and potting soil. Pour 1 teaspoon of grass seeds
into the toe of the stockings, add one cup of soil, tie the top with a rubber band and place the stuffed
stocking in a bowl. Saturate the "plant" with water, leaving it to soak overnight. Once dry, decorate with a funny face using markers or paint. Water it daily and it should begin to grow within 5-7 days. 
Have fun trimming its hair as the grass grows (winter). During spring and fall the children will

experiment planting various seeds, herbs and plants in their outdoor planting boxes.
• During our walk outside, make tree rubbings with chubby crayons and thin typing or tracing paper.
• The parts of the tree - Roots, trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruits, and it's uses - Shadow,
Oxygen, food, habitat for the birds and animals....
• Parts of the fruit
• The fruits from the trees and the fruits from the field.

Linguistic:
• Hang a pocket chart on the wall with seven pockets, each depicting the picture and word of one of
the Seven Species. Obtain samples of each specie (wheat and barley can be purchased from a dried flower store) and place each one in a Ziploc bag. Let the children insert the fruit samples in the appropriate pockets on the chart.
Vocabulary usage both in English and Hebrew of unit words: Tree, Leaf, Flower, Fruit.
Basket: An apple and an orange (Gold apple = תפוח זהב בעברית)

The children guess what do we have in the basket.
We will compare size and shape, color, texture - smooth or rough, pieces and seeds.
We will peel the orange, smell, squeeze, taste....

Kinistetic: poems and body motions for Hashkedia Porachat.... (The almond tree is blooming).
Mi rotze tapooach Zahav? Ani... Sheyavo Ely Veten lo Shai.... (Hebrew song).
Tapuz echad yashav Bahargaz.....

Interpersonal:
• Set up a garden center or flower shop in the dramatic play area. Provide gardening tools, rakes,
cash registers, silk flowers, watering cans, gardening gloves and wrapping paper to wrap the flowers.
• Store of fruits and vegetables in the class, selling and buying
• Tasting different flavors of the fruits: Sweet, Sour, bitter....
Comparing different colors: orange, yellow, green..

Mathematical:
• Use Trix cereal or other fruit shaped cereal to graph the varying amounts of the fruit shapes. Draw a
bar chart with fruit shapes below and the children can tally the totals by coloring the squares with
crayons.


Spatial:
• Fruit stamp painting. Do stamp paintings with exotic fruits such as star-fruit or dates. Dip them into
paints, design prints and label. (Use a fork to steady the fruits while painting.), painting an almond
tree, paper oranges,
A tree with hands prints...., fruit mobile



 

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