Put together a reading tree

Before you begin

• For this craft, everyone will need one clean jam jar.

Remind them to bring one in the week before. You could also bring in a few clean jars in case anyone forgets theirs.

Gather your thoughts

1. Select three books you have read or used recently. One should be fiction, and another non-fiction. If you have filled in a reading log, you might want to refer to this while creating your twig trees.
2. Cut out the leaf templates, or draw and cut your own.
3. On different leaves, write a sentence or two about something you thought or felt about each of your three chosen books.

You could write about a character that you particularly liked, an event in the story that you thought was meaningful or important, a way in which someone overcame, a challenge a character’s opinion that was different from your own or a new thing you learned.

4. When you have at least one leaf for each book, write the title and author of the book on the reverse of each leaf.

Assemble your tree

1. Individually make your very own mini tree. This can be done by pouring some pebbles, rocks or sand into a clean jam jar, then pushing in twigs or sticks.
2. Swap your leaves with different people in your section, making sure to explain what you've written, and why, on each leaf. You could explain why the characters or events you've written about are important to you, or see if the books other people read contained similar people or places.
3. When you've exchanged all of your leaves, attach the leaves you've been given to your jam jar tree. Push the bottom of the leaf through a twig and secure into place with a piece of tape, or use a hole punch and twine.
4. Take some time to read through the different thoughts and feelings other people had about books they read. You now have your very own reading list to take home and see if you thought the same thing about those books.