2nd Grade
"Let your worries fly away like leaves in the wind"
A Connection to your Classroom Counseling Class:
I got to learn about this book called, "A Little Spot of Anxiety" that your school counselor read to you during your classroom counseling class. She told me that she showed you how to draw a circle on the palm of your hand that can be your calm, green spot. And, how your gray spots on your finger tips are your worries or anxieties and you can blow them away to get rid of them. When she told me about this, I started thinking about trees. Trees kind of have this same idea as your palm with green and gray spots. Their calm, green spot is their roots and trunk of their tree. And their branches are like your fingers. Their leaves are like the worries that can be blown away in the wind once they are let go of by the tree. Think about this (a tree being like your hand) when you watch this story that your school counselor read you a few weeks ago.
You can practice being like the wind that blows the leaves away to blow away your anxiety and worry too. Sometimes the wind blows really hard and those leaves fly away so fast and so far you have no idea where they go. Sometimes we have a gentle wind. But, when you blow like the wind, it helps your body deal with those worry or anxiety feelings. Remember, though, trees grow their leaves back in the spring. Sometimes those worries can come back. The thing is, you now know how to deal with them if they come back. You can take a deep breath and blow them away!
"Let go and let it fly away"
I see a lot of leaves flying away right now outside, do you?
Trees are fun to paint and draw, if you know how to do them correctly.
Let's look at some famous paintings of trees
"Stained Glass" By Jennifer Drinkwater-Swanson, professor at Iowa State University, painted in 2020.
Let's learn how to draw a Tree the correct way!
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Now that you have practiced drawing a tree, I want you to draw a tree masterpiece.
There is one small addition:
When you are drawing the leaves on your tree, I want you to write all of the worries or anxieties you have in your life on those leaves. You can write these with pencil. When you color them with crayon or colored pencils, they will pop through the crayon or colored pencil, if you push hard with your pencil when you write the word. If you want them to hide inside of the leaf, and not be seen, then you lightly write the words instead. Then, the crayon will cover up the word. Some of your leaves might still be on the tree. But, some of the leaves have already been let go by the tree and have fallen to the ground, or some might be flying away. You might not have a word on every leaf, and that's okay too.
When you are drawing the leaves on your tree, I want you to write all of the worries or anxieties you have in your life on those leaves. You can write these with pencil. When you color them with crayon or colored pencils, they will pop through the crayon or colored pencil, if you push hard with your pencil when you write the word. If you want them to hide inside of the leaf, and not be seen, then you lightly write the words instead. Then, the crayon will cover up the word. Some of your leaves might still be on the tree. But, some of the leaves have already been let go by the tree and have fallen to the ground, or some might be flying away. You might not have a word on every leaf, and that's okay too.