Read the book aloud to the preschoolers or students, ensure that you read slowly and allow the students to look at the illustrations. After you have read the story together, ask the students what they thought about the story and the boy. Explain to the students that giving is an important element in community service. Ask every student in the class to come up with one idea for giving back to their communities. They can draw a picture or write a small paragraph. Put all their work together and bind it with a ribbon. This will be your class' "Giving Project." At the end of the year, instead of doing a field trip, you could take the class to complete one of the giving activities.
Read the book aloud to the preschoolers or students. After you have finished reading, talk about nature and how it affects their daily lives. Discuss with your students special trees, rivers or landmarks in your community. Talk about how nature gives us so much and what we can do to give back to nature. With permission from the school, you could plant a community garden or plant a tree near the playground or in a local park. This would be an excellent Earth Day activity.
Prior to the lesson, make a construction paper tree cut-out; make sure that it has enough branches so that every student will have a space to glue an apple. Cut out apple shapes to give to each student. Read the "The Giving Tree" aloud to the class. Discuss with the students how the tree felt and how the boy treated the tree. Now introduce the concept of giving, ask students to describe what the tree gave the boy. Explain to students that the best gifts are the ones that don't cost a thing. Ask each student to write down a gift on an apple cut-out. The gift could be a smile, laughter, high fives, being helpful or being kind. Have each student glue their apple to the tree. Explain to students that the way we treat each other is important.
This activity is designed for older students with writing skills. Read the book aloud to the students, even if they are older and capable of reading to themselves. Read slowly and show them the pictures. After you have read the story, have the students go to their desks and ask them to reflect on the meaning of the story. Then ask them to write a one-page essay about someone who has helped them in the past: What did that person do for them? Did the student thank him? If not, what could they do to fix that?