The kids in Miss Nell’s class could hardly contain their excitement as they came into the classroom.  They tried to hide their treasures as they pulled them out of their backpacks, trying to keep everything a secret as long as they could. Tyler tucked his under his shirt and Miranda had hers behind her back as they made their way to their seat on the Circle Time rug.  Miranda sat down next to Aleisha and groaned with excitement, “I can’t take it any longer! What did you bring?” Aleisha laughed and said, “I’m not going to show you!” Miranda giggled and pleaded, “Please!”  “Oh, alright, I’ll show you!” Aleisha said, “Ta da!” as she pulled a small fairy princess figurine out from a small purse. “Oooohhhh, she’s so pretty!” Miranda exclaimed when she saw the doll. Tyler and Jerome were showing each other what they had brought when Brian flopped down beside them. He was dressed in a knight’s costume.

As she approached the rug, Miss Nell said a hesitant, “Hi, guys.” Then she said, “What do we have here?” as she tried to figure out why all of her students had brought toys to school and why Brian would come to school wearing a costume. Given the go ahead from their teacher, everyone started talking and showing their toys. Brian jumped up and said to Tyler, “I challenge you to sword fight! The winner will be awarded the fair maiden Katie’s hand in marriage!” To which she made a face and said, “Gross, no way!”

Even after a few minutes of listening to her students and watching their antics, she still wasn’t sure what was going on in her classroom. She was certain that she hadn’t said anything about today being ‘Fairy Tale Day’. To get to the bottom of it she asked, “Why have you all brought toys to school today and why are they all fairy tale items?” Her students looked at her with amazement. How could she have forgotten? After a few seconds Miranda was the first to speak up and say, “You told us to, don’t you remember? When we left yesterday you told us that today is ‘Armor’ Day!” It was then Miss Nell’s turn to laugh, “I didn’t say ‘Armor’ Day! I said, ‘Arbor’ Day!”

Instead of giggling at their silly mistake her students stared at her again in silence. It was then that their teacher realized that they had no idea what Arbor Day is! She then spent the next few minutes telling them about Arbor Day.

They all listened in wonder, as their teacher told them about Arbor Day. A day to celebrate trees and care for trees! They all thought it was cool and when their teacher asked if they had any ideas about how to celebrate and care for trees, they were quick to give answers like: water them and don’t cut them down.

They also talked about which trees are their favorite. Miranda said that she like Maple trees because she liked to open up the helicopter shaped seed pods and put them on her nose. Tyler said that he didn’t have a favorite but that his little brother Connor likes Oak trees because he likes to collect acorns.

Miss Nell told them that their center time would be ‘tree’ activities. She also said that at the end of the day something exciting would happen, they would each get to take home a little tree! Then she said, “Okay, you can go get your center map and get started.”

Everyone got right to work. It was exciting to have new activities to explore! As they were working on a picture of their favorite tree, Katie said to Miranda, “How are we going to carry trees home?” Miranda said, “I don’t know, do you think we’ll be able to get them through the bus door.” Aleisha joined in and added, “I don’t like to get my hands dirty and I’m worried that I’ll get dirt on my clothes.”  They continued to have fun as they did leaf rubbings and planted seeds in cups of dirt.

At the end of the day as they listened to their teacher read ‘The Lorax’, one of the moms brought in a box that looked like it was full of branches. Miss Nell said, “Oh, good, your trees are here!” Katie said, “Those aren’t trees! They’re branches!” Miss Nell said, “Believe it or not, these are actually three year old trees. That’s why we have to treat trees with respect and care for them. It takes a long time for trees to grow.” Tyler said, “We had a tree like that once but it died.” “That’s okay,” his teacher told him. “The important thing is not to neglect it but to give it the best care you can.” Jerome asked “Isn’t that what Arbor Day is all about?” His teacher smiled and said, “Exactly!”