This year, our unit on the Cherry Blossoms (sakura in Japanese) made an impact on the students.  We learned so much about the cultural importance and significance of the Cherry Blossoms in Japanese culture, and how Vancouver had come to have its own Cherry Blossom Festival.   Above all, we learned that symbolically the cherry blossoms have come to represent a message of renewal and an understanding that “nothing is permanent“.

As well and just as important to us as a class, the cherry blossom also symbolizes friendship.  We learned a traditional saying: “there is no stranger under a cherry tree“.   These messages got Div. 6 through some dreary Covid times after the Christmas Break.  As a class, we made a simple agreement that if the weather was good, we would, as in the video we watched, put out a tarp under a cherry tree and have a picnic (a centuries-old tradition in Japan named Hanami).  We waited for spring and went out for walks hoping to have a cherry tree revealed, but we learned we did not have one.

45 min. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGtqH_Tfq8A 

Fast forward to today:  Mr. Lee made an announcement that the arborists would be trimming trees in our side park and that the students should stay away.  At that moment, an idea took hold of my mind.  During afternoon Silent Reading, I told the students about my idea, and I quickly painted our polite request on large paper.  I wanted to get the arborists’ attention and make a statement.

First, we practiced lining up the sentence.  I realized I missed the word “tree”, but the show had to go on!

Then, we went to the ridge overlooking the park and tried to get the attention of the arborists.

Lastly, a very kind and “cherry blossom aware” arborist came over to me to share his understanding of the symbolism while I shared our story.  He gave me a card with a phone number to call and the children cheered!!

I’ll definitely make the call and plead our case.  Depending on time, and since we’re working on persuasive writing (plastic in the oceans) we may just include some student letters too!

 

Note:  Cherry blossoms are native to Asia. They can also be found in China, South Korea, and India and they have great significance in all these countries.  Of course, they have been shared with the world and we now enjoy them too.