Leaves
Are Falling (Tune: “London Bridge”)
Leaves
are falling to the ground,
To
the ground,
to the ground.
Red
and orange, yellow and brown,
Falling, falling down.
Leaf
Hunt - Give
each child a lunch sack and let them collect 2 or 3 leaves from the ground.
Bring these back in the classroom and sort by shape, color, etc. You could also graph the leaves by
shape. (Whenever you collect items outside emphasize the importance of taking things from the ground. Return the objects to where you found them after exploring with them in the classroom.)
Research
– Check out
a leaf identification book from the library. Can children match up their leaves with those in the book to
identify which tree they came from.
Leaf
Rubbings - Lay
a sheet of paper on top of a leaf. Remove the paper from an old crayon and rub
the side over the leaf to make a print.
Hint!
Use
rubber cement to glue the leaf to the table. It will be easier for the children
to make a rubbing, and you can just rub off the rubber cement after the
activity.
Leaf
Book - Let
each child find a "favorite" leaf. To preserve, place the leaf in a
sheet of newspaper and put a book on top. Place the leaf in a zip baggie.
Encourage children to dictate or write a sentence about their leaf. Put the
baggies together to make a class book.
I
Wonder Why? -
Brainstorm why leaves turn colors and fall off trees in the fall. Have children
go home and do a little research with their parents and report results in class
the following day.
Is anybody from
Troy, New York, reading this? I’m
doing a workshop in Troy on October 1st. I’ll be flying into Albany on Friday the 30th of
September and I’d be happy to do a free concert at a school that afternoon if
anyone is interested.
