Heart Tree
For Valentine's Day, my students built a heart-shaped tree from recycled cardboard and installed it in the busiest hallway in our school. Then they handed out paper hearts and invited everyone to fill them, a kind word, a shout-out, a declaration of love, and add them to the branches.
What started as a brown cardboard sculpture slowly came alive over the course of the day. Heart by heart, the tree blossomed with color and with the handwriting of our whole school community. By the end of the day, students and staff were stopping to read the messages, taking photos in front of it, and adding their own. The project was featured in our school district's newsletter.
It was one of those moments that reminds you what a school can be when you give it something to gather around.
