Week 1: Children's Book SEL Theme

Seeds and Trees

By Braden Walden

    Seeds and Trees written by Braden Walden is really a beautiful illustrated children's book that explores how the power of words affect and impact our lives. I truly loved this book! Throughout this story a young prince learns the differences between positive and negative words, it conveys an important message about kindness, forgiveness, and the importance of nurturing positive relationships in our lives. 

    The story follows a young prince throughout childhood to early adulthood, who receives seeds from all those around him. Some seeds may be green which represent kind words, while others may be black which represent hurtful words.  

    

 

As the prince plants these seeds, he discovers that the green seeds will grow into beautiful, strong trees, while the black seeds grow into dark, twisted trees that will suffocate out the good ones. With the help of a true and wise friend, the prince is quick to realize and learns to uproot the black trees and nurture the green ones. Finally understanding that he has the power to choose which seeds to plant and cultivate in his life. As well as understanding the true meaning of friendship! 

In the Classroom: 

    This is a fiction based book that is appropriate for the ages of 4-12 years old. This book is a good addition to any classroom library because it address important themes such as the impact of words, the importance of kindness, and the power of forgiveness. Which are universal lessons that are relevant to children of all ages. After reading this book aloud, hold a discussion of how different types of seeds (words) can affect an individual, and how we can be mindful of our words and actions towards others.  Stemming off of this class discussion have students participate in a writing activity about a time when someone's words affected them personally. This will help students reflect on their own experiences and the real power that words can hold. To serve as an art project, students can draw their own "green trees" and "black trees," illustrating the positive and negative words they may have each individually encountered. This will help students to visualize abstract concepts more concrete!  

YouTube read-aloud: