Virtue Tree

I have seen many virtue tress in classrooms and they always look fantastic and teach the students valuable things to keep with them throughout their life. Most of the virtue trees I have seen show a tree branch with each leaf representing a different virtue.

I had a slightly different take on the traditional virtue tree and made it more of a positive reward in my classroom. I created a large tree our of brown cardboard and on each branch I wrote a different virtue. I then created a class set of leaves for each virtue. I also made each virtue a different colour to make it easier to distinguish and just to brighten up the classroom (I do love a bit of colour!).I would have loved to of backed the window with some balxk or white paper first, but as it open up into a common area I was unable to. It still stands out well in the classroom though.

At the start I introduced the virtue tree and its purpose. We then talked about different ways we could show each virtue in action (both in the classroom and outside). I paired this with a poster for each virtue (on matching colours to the leaves) that outlined some of the ways students could show each virtue. These posters were displayed on the wall beside the tree as a constant visual reminder to students.

I then explained that each time students showed a particular virtue consistently, they would be able to put their name on a leaf and add it to that virtue's branch. I did also offer a reward for students once they had their name on every branch (they received money which was part of our individual reward system at the time). The students responded really well to this concept and I often had students coming up to me after lunch breaks to tell about students displaying virtues on the playground!

I will definitely use this idea in the classroom again, I was even thinking of adapting it to introduce the class rules at the start of the year instead of virtues. Each branch could be a different class rule and by the end of term one (or even earlier I hope!), I would aim to have all studnets' names on every branch and maybe even have a whole class reward when this goal is reached. I think it would be a good visual representation of the class working together and being a team.


Here are some pictures of our virtue tree growing.... :)