The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Worksheet Download

Have you ever seen a tree taller than a house? In New York City, one giant tree lights up each December. Tens of thousands of tiny lights and a star make it sparkle!

The very first tree was small, with no fancy lights. In 1931, workers building Rockefeller Center put up that little tree. Times were hard, so they made decorations from paper and cans.

Today's trees are much bigger than that little one. Gardeners pick a giant tree, and a truck carries it there. Since 1931, a tree has stood at Rockefeller Center every year!

Wow, the giant tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City can be as tall as a building with seven or eight floors! Picture it glowing with colored lights while crowds look up. At the top sits a sparkling star.

That star is dazzling, but the very first tree there was small and plain. In 1931, times were hard, and workers building the center wanted some holiday cheer. They decorated a little tree with paper chains and cans!

Those workers started a tradition, which is something people do again and again. Since 1933, there has been an official tree every year. Today, workers search for a tall, full tree, and a long truck carries it into the city.

After its truck ride, the tree gets tens of thousands of lights and a star, but its story does not end there. Its wood is used again, and some has helped build homes with Habitat for Humanity. Isn't it wonderful that a tradition that began with paper chains and cans now helps build homes?

Imagine you are standing in New York City on a chilly December night. Suddenly a giant evergreen, a tree that stays green all year, lights up above the crowd, glowing with thousands of colorful lights! This is the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and people travel from all over the world to see it.

Those visitors might be surprised to learn that the famous tree started out small. In 1931, when many people could not find jobs, workers building Rockefeller Center put up a little tree. They decorated it with paper chains and tin cans. Since 1933, a new official tree has been raised there every year.

Today's tree is much taller than that first one, so finding it is a big job. A head gardener looks for a Norway spruce that is often 75 to 90 feet tall. That is about as tall as a building with eight floors! Once one is chosen, workers cut it down and carry it to the city on a long truck.

When the truck rolls into the city, the real sparkle begins. Workers wrap the branches in about 50,000 lights, and a crystal star crowns the top. When the holidays end, the tree is not wasted, because its wood is often used to help build homes. So a tree that started with paper chains and tin cans can end up as part of a real house!

Picture a cold Christmas Eve in New York City in 1931. At a muddy construction site for Rockefeller Center, workers have put up a small tree about 20 feet tall. Money is hard to find during the Great Depression, so instead of shiny ornaments, the workers decorate it with paper chains and tin cans. Can you imagine a Christmas tree dressed in cans?

Those tin cans may sound silly, but that little tree sparked a big idea. In 1933, Rockefeller Center held its first official tree lighting, and there has been an official tree every year since. That makes the tradition more than 90 years old, older than your grandparents!

Today's tree is far taller than that first little one, and finding it is a big job. The center's head gardener hunts for a healthy Norway spruce, often one growing in a family's yard. The tree is usually between 75 and 90 feet tall, about as high as a building with eight floors.

Once the perfect tree is chosen, the biggest road trip of its life begins. Workers cut it down, tie up its branches, and use a crane to lift it onto a long flatbed truck. After it stands in the plaza, crews wrap it in more than 50,000 LED lights on about 5 miles of wire, says Rockefeller Center. At the very top sparkles a crystal star nearly 10 feet wide that weighs about 900 pounds, almost as much as a horse.

When the holiday season ends, the star comes down and the lights go dark, but the tree's story is not over. In recent years, its trunk has been cut into lumber and given to Habitat for Humanity, a group that helps build homes for families. So a tree that began with paper chains and tin cans in 1931 can end up as part of a real home.

Here is a puzzle: how did a tree once dressed in tin cans grow into a giant that wears a crystal star? Every winter, an enormous evergreen towers over the middle of New York City, glowing with tens of thousands of colored lights. It is usually 75 to 90 feet tall, about as high as an eight-story building, and crowds tip their heads back to stare. To solve the puzzle, we must travel back to 1931 and meet the workers who started it all.

Those workers were building Rockefeller Center during hard times, when many families across the country were struggling to get by. Just before Christmas, they set up a small tree about 20 feet tall and decorated it with strings of cranberries, paper garlands, and even tin cans. On Christmas Eve, the workers lined up near the tree to collect their pay. That homemade tree spread a little cheer, and it turned out to be only the beginning.

The beginning grew quickly, because in 1933 Rockefeller Center put up its first official tree, and there has been one every year since. Choosing one is like a treasure hunt, with the head gardener searching for a tree that is tall, full, and evenly shaped. Often it is a Norway spruce growing in someone's yard, and a spruce that big can be many decades old. Once the perfect tree is found, the real challenge begins: getting a giant to the city.

Luckily, a crane can lift the giant gently onto a very long flatbed truck for the slow trip to the city. After it arrives, the crane raises it upright, and crews wrap it in more than 50,000 LED lights strung on about five miles of wire. Then comes the grand finale at the very top: a sparkling star made of Swarovski crystals. The star is nearly ten feet across, wider than most doorways are tall, and it glitters over the crowd all season.

But when the season ends and the lights go dark, the story is not over, because the wood is put to work. In recent years, it has been milled into lumber and donated to Habitat for Humanity, which helps families build homes. Many families put up their own trees for Christmas, when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, and this giant one welcomes visitors from around the world. Isn't it wonderful that a tree that began with tin cans and paper garlands can end up as part of someone's home?

You might imagine that the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was born a glittering giant, but its story starts with something much smaller and scrappier. Today, a towering evergreen, usually a Norway spruce between 75 and 90 feet tall, rises over midtown Manhattan in New York City. That is about as tall as an eight-story building, and it wears tens of thousands of tiny lights like a coat of stars. Skaters glide across the ice rink below while crowds tilt their heads back to gaze up at the branches. In my opinion, the tree's real magic is not its size but the hope it carries.

Hope was hard to find in 1931, when the Great Depression had left many families without jobs or money. Yet at a Manhattan construction site, workers building Rockefeller Center gathered around a small evergreen, about 20 feet tall, and decided to celebrate anyway. They dressed it in whatever they had, including paper chains and tin cans. Can you picture a tree wearing tin cans instead of glass ornaments? It was not fancy, but it proved that people facing hard times could still make something cheerful for everyone to share.

That cheerful little tree started a habit that never stopped, because an official tree has stood at Rockefeller Center every year since 1933. Over the decades, the tin cans gave way to strings of lights, and the lights multiplied. According to Rockefeller Center, the modern tree glows with more than 50,000 LED lights strung on about five miles of wire. That is about as far as a brisk walker could go in under two hours, all wrapped around one tree! At the very top sparkles a crystal star about nine and a half feet wide, a jewel fit for a giant.

Of course, a star can only shine as high as the tree beneath it, so finding the right one is a quest. The center's head gardener searches for a spruce that is tall, full and evenly shaped, and sometimes families who own such a tree offer it. Once a tree is chosen, a crane helps lift it after it is cut, and its branches are tied up snugly like a folded umbrella. Then it travels to the city lying on a long flatbed truck, a passenger about as long as two school buses. In the plaza, another crane stands it upright, and crews wrap it in lights before the big switch-on.

When the holiday season ends, the tree's story is not over, because its wood gets a second life. In recent years, the trunk has been milled into lumber that Habitat for Humanity uses to help build homes. For Christians, Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, and evergreens decorate many of their celebrations, but visitors of every background come to enjoy the glow. To me, that shared wonder is why the tree still matters: on a crowded, chilly sidewalk, strangers look up at the same light together. It is remarkable that a giant crowned with a crystal star grew from a tree dressed in tin cans, and that its wood now helps build homes.

Picture a tree taller than a seven-story building, wrapped in about 50,000 colored lights strung along roughly five miles of wire! That is the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, which rises above a plaza in the middle of New York City every December. Crowds gather at its feet with their heads tipped back, while skaters glide across the nearby rink and the sidewalks hum with holiday cheer. Far above them, a giant crystal star scatters sparkles into the night sky. Yet this glittering giant began as something far humbler, and the story of how it grew is really a story about people.

Humble is exactly the word for the first tree, because the one from 1931 looked nothing like today's superstar. The United States was in the Great Depression then, a hard time when many families had lost jobs and money was tight. Construction workers building Rockefeller Center were glad to have work, and they set up a small tree, about 20 feet tall, on their muddy building site. They decorated it with paper chains and tin cans, using whatever they could find. With so little to spend, the workers proved that a celebration does not have to be expensive to lift everyone's spirits.

That little tree lifted spirits so well that it did not stay a one-time surprise. In 1933, Rockefeller Center held its first official tree lighting, and a tree has stood there every year since. Notice what changed: a gift the workers made for themselves became a gift for the whole city. Over the years, the lighting grew into a ceremony that millions of people watch on television, so the custom now reaches far beyond Manhattan. The tree shows how an idea can travel, starting with a few workers and ending up in living rooms across the country.

A tradition that famous needs a truly spectacular tree, so choosing one is serious business. According to Rockefeller Center, the tree is usually a Norway spruce between 75 and 90 feet tall, and the head gardener hunts for one that is full, tall, and evenly shaped. Once a tree is chosen, a crane lifts it, its branches are tied up snugly, and a huge flatbed truck carries it to the city. Can you imagine sharing the road with a tree longer than two school buses? The truck has to creep along carefully, because a load that long is hard to steer around corners.

Getting the tree upright is only the beginning, because next comes the sparkle. Crews wrap it in about 50,000 LED lights, which use less electricity than old-style bulbs, so a newer invention has changed an old tradition. Since 2018, the top has held a star made with about three million Swarovski crystals, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind. It measures roughly nine feet across and weighs about as much as a grand piano, around 900 pounds. Just as the workers once used paper chains and cans, each generation dresses the tree with the materials it has and treasures.

When the holidays end, the lights go dark, but the tree's job is not finished. In recent years its wood has been milled into lumber and donated to Habitat for Humanity, a group that helps build homes for families. Instead of being tossed aside, the tree gets a second life as part of something people can live in. In the end, a custom that began with builders hanging tin cans on a 20-foot tree now circles back to builders, as its wood becomes part of new homes.

On Christmas Eve in 1931, a crew of construction workers in Manhattan paused in the mud of a huge building site and did something nobody had ordered: they raised a Christmas tree. According to the history told by Rockefeller Center, the tree stood about 20 feet tall, and the workers dressed it with paper garlands, tin cans, and other simple things they could find. Picture it beside today's version, a towering evergreen wrapped in tens of thousands of lights and crowned with a blazing crystal star. Huge crowds squeeze onto the sidewalks every December just to look up at it. How did one homemade tree grow into a landmark that people plan whole trips around?

The answer begins with the mood of that first winter, because the workers' tree was as much a message as a decoration. They were building during the Great Depression, a hard stretch when many families across the country struggled to find work, so having a paycheck was something worth celebrating. Sources describe the tradition's start in two steps, and the difference is worth noticing. Rockefeller Center counts 1931 as the year of the first tree, but it counts 1933 as the first official tree, the year it began lighting one for the public. One was a spontaneous gesture by the workers, while the other was a plan that was repeated, and it is the repeating that turns an event into a tradition.

Repeating a tradition every year, however, raises a practical puzzle: where does a tree that grand come from? The search is led by the center's head gardener, who looks for a Norway spruce, the evergreen that has most often been the choice in recent years. Trees in the running usually stand between about 75 and 90 feet tall, roughly the height of an eight-story building. Height alone is not enough, because the tree must also be full, evenly shaped, and wide enough to look grand from every angle. Many winners have grown in ordinary yards, and their owners give them to the city as a gift after watching them grow for many years.

A gift that size, though, cannot simply be mailed. Crews cut the tree, tie its branches snugly upward, and lay it on a long flatbed truck for a slow drive into Manhattan. There a crane raises it upright, and it is secured so that it can stand firm through winter wind. Then come the lights, which the center says number in the tens of thousands, strung on roughly five miles of wire. Anyone who has wrestled with one tangled string of lights can imagine the challenge.

Once the last strand of lights is finally in place, one crowning piece remains: the star. Since 2018, the tree has worn a star designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, made with about three million Swarovski crystals, about nine feet wide and weighing roughly 900 pounds. Compare it with the tin cans of 1931 and the change looks enormous, yet the materials have changed far more than the purpose has. Evergreens have long been part of winter celebrations, and many Christians see an evergreen at Christmas as a symbol of life and hope as they celebrate the birth of Jesus, while many other visitors treat the tree as a shared seasonal landmark. This double meaning may help explain why the tree draws such a varied audience: it can be read as a religious symbol, a cultural one, or simply a sign that a hard year is ending in light.

Yet the lights do not burn forever, and when the season ends in January, a tree that size raises one last question: what happens to it next? Since 2007, the wood has been milled into lumber and given to Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit that helps families build and repair homes. The idea of reuse suits the tree's beginnings, since the workers of 1931 also made their tree from cans and paper rather than expensive decorations. Think of the cycle: a spruce grows for years, shines for weeks, and then becomes lumber that may hold up a roof for decades. The first tree was raised by workers busy building something new, and today's tree, after its season of sparkle, helps build something new too: a home.