Christmas Trees

[Guest]

my TA wants tohave a real tree in the classroom. i personally would prefer aplastic one bec of 1. needles all over 2. real trees are heavy and might fall over and hurt someone and 3. we don't really havon't got the space and i dont want to be policing children who will laready be quite 'high'. My TA sulks if she doesn't have her way but i thought i wuld ask your opinion before saying anything.

What do you think? Please advice.

[Gezabel]

I would go for a real one! Simply because many of the children may not have seen one!!

 

The needle problem can be taken care off with the spray you can get to stop needles dropping. The falling over is a worry, so how about having it in a corner and just pop a cup hook in the wall, put some strong string (preferably green!) round the tree and tie to hook.

 

Ours is (well, will be!) on a table out of reach of little fingers but secured so it cant fall off but its an artificiall one (not my choice!)

[catma]

last year I bought a small one, about 2-3 foot high (£15 as i recall) and it sat in it's big fat pot on a display table. The smell was heavenly and then it moved into the garden where we watched it grow. Many different varieties don't drop needles so much so ask at your garden centre or the like for a good one for a classroom. Go real!! So many children wouldn't know a real tree if it did fall on them so I think it's worth it.

[Sue R]

Well I'm in the real camp I'm afraid, for all the reasons quoted. Catma and Geraldine have covered safety I think?

Give it a whirl!

Sue

[Guest]

I would also go for a real tree. The smell is heavenly! I got a non drop one last year and had no mess what so ever. Tie this in with National Tree week at the end of november and begining of December.

[JacquieL]

Our nursery always has a real tree about 4 feet tall and the chidren help to decorate it. It is ony up for the last two weeks or so, so needle drop isn't really a problem if kept watered. In my recption class I have a real tree which is growing in a pot. I buy a fairly small one and keep it for a year or two putting it outside for the rest of the year. When they get too big I plant them out so the money hasn't been waste. One in my garden is 6 foot tall and lovely.

[Guest]

Thanks guys. really clarified things for me. I'll get a small tree so safety issues are addressed.

[Guest]

We always have a real tree and in thirty years of teaching we have never had any accidents. I buy a small 3-4ft tree in a tub with roots we have a large bucket it goes inside.Children decorate it on the 1st December - parents are not allowed to touch, children bring in decorations from home and we have some lovely home made decoration the children make ( forging links between home and school) and it lasts until the end of term. I place it onto a small table 40cm high so it looks taller but is at child's height, initally there is a lot of touching but this is a valuable learning experience. Some years the tree has survived in it's pot from year to year and is reused.

We also have a small fiber optic tree in a dark corner and the children love watching it change colours, we talk about natural objects and man made.

[Rea]

Leo, go for it, you're leaving aren't you? Well let her sulk. Sorry guys and gals I'm feeling really fed up with regulations, paperwork, rules and people too ready to spoil childrens fun. In a proper grouchy mood lately

[mundia]

Go real, defintaly.

But can I suggest that you buy your tree bearing the FSC logo, as 2 trees are planted for each one cut donw.

and if you havent bought a rooted tree, please recycle it.

 

Trees dont drop their needles if you cut the bottom inch of the trunk off and let it stand in a small amount of wtare, not sand, and top it up daily.

 

Also spare of thought for those who like me have a skin reaction to Christmas (and other firs) trees! I wouldnt have anything else in the house, but i do have to handle it with gloves!

[hali]

Real but small is my motto...............

[Susan]

hi Leo

Im going to put the spanner in the works here! I'm absolutely a real Christmas tree person myself and I like little trees rather than large BUT having heard of a child being blinded by a Christmas tree needle. there is no way I would risk a real tree in my classroom. This accident happened many years ago and I no longer remember any other details, if I knew them-it was not a nursery where I was working BUT one accident however long ago or unusual is one too many and I wouldnt risk having the next one!

[Guest]

A child is killed each day on the roads but we don't stop crossing them, Children have died after visiting farms but we don't stop visiting them, children died when trees fell on them while in the dinner queue but we wouldn't deforest all school grounds, this is a tragic fact of life but the incident in which a child was blinded is extreemly rare and it shouldn't make us fearful of experiencing life.

[catma]

Hear hear