AUTUMN LEAVES

LESSON RATIONALE

I developed this idea when I read the book Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber, and I Can Name 50 Trees Today! By Bonnie Worth.

I thought it was interesting to learn about and identify the many different types of leaves/trees and how they change for the fall season.

PA State Standard: 3.3 Biological Sciences, 3.3.4 D: Identify changes in living things over time.

MATERIALS NEEDED FOR LESSON

Books: Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber, Illustrated by Leslie Evans.

I Can Name 50 Trees Today by Bonnie Worth, Illustrated by Aristides Ruiz and Joe Mathieu.

PA State Standards: Biological Sciences

Construction Paper, white printing paper

Pencils, Markers, Crayons, Watercolors, Puffy Paint

Leaf and Tree templates (optional)

Foam paper

LESSON PROCEDURES Read Leaf Jumpers to the class as an introduction to a lesson about leaves.

Ask students about their experiences with leaves and trees

Discuss some of the trees that grow in Pennsylvania:

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/commontr/index.aspx

Ask students if they notice when leaves change colors, and why they think leaves change colors

Next I would explain the process of why leaves change their color

1. Plants take water from the ground through their roots and take carbon dioxide from the air. The use the sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into a glucose (sugar). This process is called Photosynthesis

2. Plants use the glucose as food for energy to grow.

3. A chemical called chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll is what gives plants their green color.

4. When summer ends, trees must get ready for winter. During winter there is not enough sunlight or water for photosynthesis, and the trees will live off of the food that they have stored during the summer. Plants stop making food and the chlorophyll disappears from the leaves.

5. The colors we see, have always been in the leaves, we just do not see it in the summer because of the chlorophyll.

Review vocabulary

Deciduous trees: trees that have leaves which fall off or shed during a particular season or stage of growth.

Photosynthesis: “putting together with light.”

Chlorophyll: what gives plants their green color

LESSON PROCEDURES

Review the leaves that are mentioned in the book, and show a picture of each before they change colors in the autumn

Sycamore (PA)

Ginkgo

White Oak (PA)

Sugar Maple (PA)

Basswood

Red Maple (PA)

Birch (PA)

Willow (PA)

LESSON PROCEDURES

Explain to the children that we will be making an autumn tree with the leaves mentioned in the book

Distribute materials: Construction paper, pencils, markers, and crayons

Have students trace their hand and arm to make the branches and trunk of a tree

Next, have students trace the different patterns of the different types/shapes of leaves.

Different station for each different leaf

Students will color each leaf as it appears in the book

Cut and paste onto tree

Label each leaf

Adaptations for Special Needs

Vision-Impaired: Provide foam cutouts of the leaves and foam paper for the student to trace his or her hand. Student will be able to feel the different shapes of the different leaves. Puffy Paint can be used to outline the leaf and create the veins of the leaves

Hearing-Impaired: Provide a written set of instructions and a copy of the book

EVALUATION

I would evaluate students on their effort on the project.

If they listen to directions, and have their leaves the correct color and label them correctly then they show an understanding of the different leaves.

Another way to assess would be to give a quiz by labeling the different leaves without the help of the book

Vocabulary or matching quiz

REFERENCES

Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber

I Can Name 50 Trees Today! by Bonnie Worth

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/fall/mfalltree.html

PA State Science Standards

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/commontr/index.aspx

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/leaves.html