Down! Down!

Down, down!
Yellow and brown
The leaves are falling
Over the town.

Leaves
Red leaves and yellow leaves
Orange leaves and brown,
Leaves are dancing everywhere
Happily dancing down.

Leaves Are Falling
(Tune: Jingle Bells)

Leaves are falling
Leaves are falling
One fell on my nose

Leaves are falling
Leaves are falling
One fell on my toes

Leaves are falling
Leaves are falling
One fell on my head

Leaves are falling
Leaves are falling
Yellow, orange, and red.

Fall is Here
(Tune: The Farmer and the Dell)

The leaves are falling down
The leaves are falling down
Read and brown they flutter down
The leaves are falling down

The squirrels hide their nuts
The squirrels hide their nuts
They hide them away for a winter day
The squirrel hide their nuts

The children go to school
The children go to school
They learn and play throughout the day
The children go to school.

Five Little Leaves

Five little leaves so bright and gay (hold 5 fingers)

Were dancing about on a tree one day (flutter fingers)

The wind came blowing through town (wind sounds)

One little leaf came tumbling down (remove 1 leaf)

Four little leaves so bright and gay.

Repeat until there are zero little leaves so bright and gay.

Five Little Leaves

Five little leaves up in the tree
They’re bright as can be
Along came the wind
And blew them all around
And one little leaf fell to the ground

(Four, Three, etc.)

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf
by Lois Ehlert

Why Do Leaves Change Color?
by Betsy Maestro

I Am a Leaf
by Jean Marzollo

Nuts to You
by Lois Ehlert

When Autumn Comes
by Robert Maass

Autumn Leaves
by Ken Robbins

Good-Night Owl
by Pat Hutchins

Autumn Days
by Ann Schweninger

Shared Reading
Down, down.
Yellow and brown,
Leaves are falling
All over the town.

Day 1:   Introduce poem, invite predictions, discuss the message
Day 2:  Read poem together, discuss new/interesting vocabulary
Day 3:  Read poem together, use poem to introduce or reinforce any new print concept.   Review left-to-right directionality. 
Day 4:  Read poem together, move/stamp/clap/snap to the rhythm, reinforce print concepts.  Use leaf cut-outs to act out the poem.    
Day 5:  Students add poem to poetry journal, then illustrate.

Guided Reading
The Four Seasons
(Creative Teaching Press)

Day 1: Make predictions using the front/back cover, introduce book, title, author, and illustrator, then read for enjoyment! 
Day 2:  Reread the book with the children, focus their attention on new vocabulary. Discuss season terms.
Day 3:  Reread the book with the children, focus on print conventions.   Introduce sight words "and" and "to". Find sight words "I" and "see".
Day 4:  Reread the book with the children, experimenting with intonation and expression, focus on same/further print conventions or language targets, the concept of punctuation, focusing on periods.
Day 5:  Reread and respond (responses can be oral, written, or visual, depending on the shared reading book)
Create a chart
"It's fall.  We can see ..."
List/illustrate all the fall things the children can think of!

Independent Reading

The following books are appropriate for Browsing Boxes and Independent Reading:

Level A  (Fountas & Pinnell)
Trees (Wright)

Level B (Fountas & Pinnell)
Football (Wright)

Shared Writing/Predictable Charts

My leaf is _____. (describe properties)

I jumped in the leaves and ______________.

When I see red and yellow leaves_______.

Interactive Writing

Write a class story using the following story prompts or one chosen by the class:

I went to the football game.
When the squirrel saw me_________________.



Make a class book using the following pattern:
"Listen now, don't you hear?
Fall is our favorite time of year.
(name) loves to (activity) you see.
Yes, fall is best! We hope you agree!

Independent Writing

*Draw a tree in the fall.
*What do you wear in the fall?
*Draw things that "fall" in the fall.
*What do you like to do in fall weather?
*What can you hear/smell/taste in the fall?

Estimating

How many candy corns are in a jar?
How many acorns we can hold in one hand?

  Graphing

Have children bring in leaves. Graph them by color, shape, size.

Put equal numbers of red, yellow, orange, and brown leaves in a bag.  Then each child "grabs and graphs" his/her leaf on the graph paper. This is a great way to teach probability, as well as graphing.  

  Sorting  

Use the leaf pattern cards and then sort the leaves by shape. (smooth-edged, hand-shaped, or needle)

Sort a basket of nuts by type, color, and size.

  Patterning 

Using any leaf pattern, make patterning strips from sentence strips. Students will duplicate and then extend the patterns with their own cutouts.  Try leaf cut-outs on sentence strips to make hats or leaf cut-outs on paper plate "wreaths".  

Make patterns with various types of nuts.

  Matching Activities

Program a squirrel shape with numerals 1-10.  Collect acorns and match the number of acorns with a numeral on each squirrel.



Match numerals on a set of leaf cutouts.

Make a Concentration game using fall leaf stickers on index cards.



On a bulletin board decorated to resemble a forest, pin up pictures of animals. Some should be of forest animals, and the rest should be animals that do not belong in the forest. The children's task will be to take down the pictures of the animals that do not belong. Another way to make use of these materials is to leave the forest bulletin board blank and to ask the children to select and pin up only the forest animals.

Draw pictures of different animal tracks on index cards. Make two cards with each type of track. Mix the cards up and ask the children to find the pairs of matching tracks. The children can also play "Concentration" with the cards.

 

Paint the numerals 0 through 10 on the front of 10 small baskets. Give the child a large basket, filled with acorns or peanuts. The child must place the appropriate number of nuts in each numbered basket.

Fall Lotto

Just cut some thick cardboard into little squares and color fall themes like " Leaves" or" squirrels".

  Nuts to You 

Buy different kinds of nuts, let the children look at them, taste, smell... Then name them, what tree they are from... Let the children mix the nuts, and let them put the same nuts into the same plate, bowl.... At the end, draw a big tree on a piece of paper, a on glue the nuts on the tree.

Musical Leaves

Cut out large shaped leaves of different sizes and colors. Use sturdy material such as poster board. The game is played like musical chairs. When the music stops, the children must get on a leaf. Make sure there are enough leaves so that all children will have a space but not too many because you want to encourage children to problem solve and cooperative play by helping other to find a place to stand.

Crayon Resist Leaves

Trace a pattern of a maple leaf on white construction paper. Using  pressure, color leaf with red, yellow, orange or brown crayon.  Paint over leaf shape with green tempera.  When dry, scratch out veins with the tip of an unsharpened pencil, or similar tool.

Sponge-Painted Trees

Use orange, yellow, red, green, and brown tempera paint. Make a tree pattern template. Use the brown paint and the template to sponge paint a tree shape. Add leaves to the tree shape after it has dried using the fall colors and sponges to dab on the leaves. 

Fall Leaves

To make a leaf, pinch the end of a spring-type clothespin and insert a cotton ball. Dip the cotton ball in yellow, orange, green, or red powdered tempera; then rub it on a piece of manila paper. Repeat this process several times, overlapping colors until the paper is completely covered. Shake the excess paint from the paper. Place the manila paper on a sheet of newspaper. Using a water-filled spray bottle, mist the paper. When the paint is dry, trace a tagboard leaf cutout on the paper. Then cut on the resulting outline.

Fancy Foliage

Trace a leaf in the center of a 9x12 black paper. Cut out the leaf shape so that a black frame remains. Finger-paint a white sheet of 9x12 paper with red, yellow, and green paints. Allow to dry. Glue the leaf-shaped frame on top of the painted sheet.

Finger Painting Leaves

Draw a tree with branches on brown paper.  Children "fingerdot"  red, yellow and orange paint on the bare branches.

Crayon Rubbings

Cut leaf shapes from cardboard. Children "crayon rub" them using fall colors.   Place the leaves under white paper and rub with an unwrapped crayon.

Clay Leaf Prints

Use a rolling pin to flatten clay.  Lay a leaf on the clay & roll over it.   Remove the leaf & let the clay dry.  Paint the clay with fall colors using tempera paints.

Fall Window Painting

 Paint a fall scene on your window. Use the following recipe and the paint is easily removed. Give each child a window to decorate.

 Window Paint:
2 Tbs. powdered tempera paint
1 Tbs. warm water
1 tsp. Joy dish washing liquid
Measure powdered paint into a container. Mix in water thoroughly to achieve a smooth paste. Add JOY, mixing completely, but gently, to avoid making paint too sudsy. Dries on windows in 5 - 10 minutes. Washes off easily with a solution of water and vinegar.

Leaf Letters

Match upper and lowercase letters on the leaves.

Alphabet Acorns

Match upper and lowercase letters on the acorn halves.

Nature Walk

Go on a Fall Walk.  Have children collect leaves, nuts, etc.,.  Take back to school.  Glue the leaves on construction paper, paint with sticks, compare leaves, sticks.  Talk about the different kinds of leaves you have collected on your walk.

Football Fun

Cut several football shapes for each child. Provide a picture of a football player on the field.   Children will position the shapes on the worksheet according to the oral directions given by the teacher. Positions include: above, under, in, beside, below, on, between.

Harvest Snack

1/3 c. plus 1 T. butter or margerine.
10 1/2 oz. bag marshmallows
5 1/2 c. puffed rice cereal
1/4 c. dried apricots, finely chopped
6 oz. candy-coated chocolates
Large bowl
Large heavy spoon
13x9x2 in baking pan
Spatula

Use the 1 T. butter to grease the pan. Place the butter and marshmallows in the bowl. Heat in a microwave on high for 2 minutes. stir occasionally. Let the children help you add the rice cereal,apricots and candies- stir thoroughly. Press the mixture into a pan and allow to cool partially. When mixture is firm but still warm, cut into squares. Insert a craft stick into each square. When the mixture is completely cool, remove squares with a spatula.