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Reading
When The Frost is On the Pumpkin
By James Whitcomb Riley.
Although the reading level is middle school and above, this is a fun
read aloud poem to share with younger children. Notice
the rich and colorful language. Not only does it create a
sensory rich image of autumn, but it preserves a wealth of old time
regional dialect that's fun to interpret.
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin
An online presentation of Beatrice
Potter's classic storybook. Beautifully illustrated.
It's Autumn Time
A cute and funny story
about a clever mouse who ends up enjoying some bountiful fall
snacking.
Seasons
A cute
online Kidzclub book that
kids can read themselves, or listen to. Pre-k through 1st
grade.
The Anxious Leaf
A short story suitable to
accompany The Laughing Leaf writing exercise below. For early
elementary kids.
Songs, Fingerplays, &
Flannel Board
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Leaves, Leaves
(tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
Leaves, leaves
falling down
Falling to the
ground
Orange and yellow,
red and brown
Autumn’s come to
town
Fall Is Here
(tune: Frere Jacques)
Fall is here. Fall
is here.
See the trees. See the trees.
Autumn leaves are falling.
Autumn leaves are
falling.
All Around. All Around.
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Grey
Squirrel
Grey
squirrel, grey squirrel
Swish your bushy tail!
Grey squirrel, grey squirrel
Swish your bushy tail!
Wrinkle up your funny nose
Hold a nut between your toes
Grey squirrel, grey squirrel
Swish your busy tail!
Pumpkin Song
(tune:
I'm a little teapot)
I'm a little pumpkin
Orange and round.
Here is my stem,
There is the ground.
When I get all cut up,
Don't you shout!
Just open me up
And scoop me out!
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The Leaves on the
Trees
(tune: "Wheels of the Bus")
The leaves on the trees turn
orange and brown... orange and brown... orange and brown
The leaves on the trees turn orange and brown
All through the town.
The leaves on the trees go swish, swish, swish... swish, swish,
swish... swish, swish, swish
The leaves on the trees go swish, swish, swish
All through the town.
The leaves on the trees come tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down
The leaves on the trees coming tumbling down
All through the town.
The leaves on the ground
go crunch, crunch, crunch... crunch, crunch, crunch... crunch,
crunch, crunch
The leaves on the ground go crunch, crunch, crunch
All through the town!
Apple Tree
Way up high in the apple
tree (shake two fists up
high)
Two little apples smiled at me
(point to smile)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (pretend to
shake tree with both hands)
And down they came
(fists fall in zigzag pattern to floor)
And mmmm were they good!
(pantomime scooping and eating apples)
Harvest/Pumpkin Poems and Songs
Fall/Woods Songs from Everything Preschool
Great songs and finger plays about
squirrels, owls, leaves, and more.
Writing
Fall Haiku
Falling leaves, a brisk gust of the
fall breeze... this time of year lends itself well to the clean,
crisp style of haiku poetry. Haiku is a traditional Japanese
poetry form consisting of only three lines. The first
line has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables, and
the third line has five syllables. The goal of haiku is to
paint a concise, clear expression of images, feeling, and meaning.
Fall Similes
Similes are a useful tool to powerful
writing, especially for poetry. In this lesson students create
descriptive autumn similes and write them on fall-themed paper:
The leaves are as orange as a
pumpkin.
The weather is as crisp as fresh lettuce.
The scarecrows blow in the wind like big rag dolls.
The Laughing Leaf
Collect a leaf to be your prop or
"muse" while you are working on the project above. Then
click on the link above for the printable worksheet. For
additional guidance,
click here.
Apple Poem
Print the apple shaped lined paper
and the brainstorm words having to do with apples. Use the
paper to write your finished poem.
Scary Similes
Simple writing exercise for young
students (1st and 2nd grade).
Silly Scarecrow Alliteration
A short worksheet to help young
students practice their alliterative skills.
Social Studies
A Biography of Johnny Appleseed
The fascinating true story of the man
who helped make the apple tree so widespread in the U.S.
For additional details, especially his importance to the settling of
the west,
read this version also.
Teaching About Elections
Designed to help U.S. 5th grade students gain an understanding of the process by
which we elect our leaders, relate government principles to students' lives through
diverse activities, and instill in students an appreciation for their
responsibilities as U.S. citizens.
See also:
Elections, 5th Grade
and
Voting
Columbus Day
A wealth of Columbus related history
resources from Kids Domain.
Science
Why Leaves Change Color
The largest factor in
why leaves change color in the autumn is photoperiodism-the length
of day and night. As the nights get longer in Autumn, the process of
senescence becomes apparent through color change and the falling of
leaves, leading the tree into it's winter dormancy.
Read more
(Middle School and older)
Autumn Leaf Color -- Explanation and
Experiment
This site explains how plants get
ready for winter, including why leaves change colors.
Then it talks you through a simple do-at-home
experiment that allows you to
separate colors in a green leaf using chromatography -- very cool!
Online Tour of Fall Leaves, Various States
This website offers links to sites
about fall leaves in various states. Great photos!
Leaf Identification
With all these leaves falling to the
ground, what a great time to go on a nature walk and collect
different types to sort and identify. Check out
this page with photos of different
types of tree leaves, or get a book from the library. Be sure
to discuss the different kinds of shapes the leaves have as well as
what tree they came from. (A book showing trees as well as
leaves would be perfect.)
To turn this into a math activity,
have the students count up how many different kinds of leaves each
student found. Do some graphing about who found how many
leaves and/or how many of each kind of leaf was found.
Now that you have all those leaves
laying about, be sure to scroll down this page for great
leaf arts and crafts projects.
Fall Science Challenge
This worksheet helps
students review and test their knowledge of fall.
Apples and Seasons
This lesson plan uses the book The
Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons to teach seasonal
changes. Includes instructions for story discussion plus
a fun art project that reinforces the lesson about the different
seasons. (Pre-k through - kindergarten)
How to Build a Squirrel Nestbox or Feeder
Squirrel Facts
This comprehensive site also
includes a page of
history,
photos, games, and more.
Math
Graphing Fall Leaves
Students gather fall leaves, sort and
count them according to color, and then create a bar graph to
display the results.
Favorite Apple Survey and Graphing
Print the survey form and then ask
people to name their favorite kind of apple. (A variety of
apples could be purchased, and then sliced into small pieces for
taste testing. For example: Granny Smith, Macintosh,
Golden Delicious, etc.) Then tally up the results.
Which was the most popular apple? Least favorite?
Now
print the bar graph form and fill
it in with your information so everyone can easily see the results
of the survey.
Math Worksheets
Just select the age and type of
problems you need (addition, multiplication, etc.)
Games & Fun
Scarecrow Songs &
Games
You'll find songs, games, poems and more in
this lesson plan for pre-k and kindergarten.
Apples Word Search
Scarecrow Word Search
Bobbing for Apples
To play this game you'll need an
extra, extra large bowl (try a party supply store for an inexpensive
version) as well as an assortment of apples, and of course water.
To bob for apples, your hands must remain behind your back while you
bend over the bowl and try to catch the apples with your teeth only.
Then the apple must be dropped into another bowl, or a basket,
towel, etc. before going back for the next apple. Let kids
take turns to see who can get the most apples. For older
children, use a timer and see who can get the most in the allotted
time -- or time them to see how long it takes each child to get all
the apples. For more fun, have two bowls side by
side and let kids race, two at a time, to see who can clear their
apples first.
Please note, this is not an ideal
activity for a classroom setting as there will be considerable germ
sharing. But for an at home event, where no one has a
cold... it's great fun. Especially if you have video recorder
rolling.
play an online bobbing for apples game
Scarecrow Dress Up Game
More online fun.
Fall Arts &
Crafts Ideas
Columbus Day Activities!
Apple Prints
This activity can be adapted for any age,
toddler through adult, for a fun fall craft.
It's really easy to do, very hands on sensory for the kids, and it
looks great!
For this craft you need:
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apples of various sizes
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tempra paint (or fabric paint)
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something to make prints on
(paper, paper plates, an old light colored table cloth, a
white T-shirt, etc.)
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old metal pie plate or old jelly
roll pan (can be covered with foil for easier clean up)
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Old newspapers or other covering
to protect your work table and floor.
 Slice the apples in half, slicing some from
top to bottom and some crosswise to create a fun variation of
shapes. Select your paint colors. You may want to
use traditional "apple" colors like red, yellow, and green. Be
sure to use only a thin layer of paint in your paint tray. Now
gently press the flat, cut side of the apple into the paint, and
then press it onto your paper or cloth surface. If you are
making a cloth project -- such as a T-shirt, tablecloth, or tote bag
-- you will want to practice your print making on paper first!
This will help you get a feel for just how much paint to use and
hard to press.
After your project dries, you can embellish
it by painting on some little leaves and stems. Or better yet,
you might try adding some leaf prints or gluing on some actual
leaves (dried or silk)
Corn
Husk Dolls
Use these great instructions to make your
own corn husk dolls. Just be sure to save your corn husks and
let them dry first!
For some other ways these can be made,
click here or
here.
How to Make Dried Flowers
Dried flowers are a wonderful home
decoration all by themselves, or use them as the basis for creating
lovely crafts for gifts or holiday decorations.
Pumpkin Seed Art
Don't know what to do with all those
pumpkin seeds you scooped out? Well, you could
roast them on a
tray in the oven for eating... or... you could just dry them and use
them to make interesting collage art. Draw simple shapes on
paper, like a flower, and glue the dried pumpkin seeds on to fill up
the shapes or follow the lines. Make silly faces, strange
designs, or a big creepy crawly spider for Halloween! When
you're done, you can paint your art work.
 Variation: paint the dried
seeds first! Then glue the colored seeds onto your design.
This technique is called mosaic.
Art
& Lesson Plan Ideas for Fall
Autumn
Coloring Pages
More Fall
Themed Art Activities
Handprint Leaf Wreath
Fall
Leaves -- Patterns for Printing and Cutting
Print out these leaf patterns then use them
for coloring projects or as patterns for cutting out construction
paper, crumpled paper bag material, or cloth.
Click here for more ideas.
Fall Leaves Collage
This is an art activity that can be
coupled with a neighborhood "nature walk" to gather the necessary
leaves. The leaves must be completely dry however, so make sure
that they sit out on some newspaper to dry a day or two if they are
damp. Choose some nice fall colors for your background, like
orange, brown, red, or even purple. Have your child glue the
leaves to the paper. Don't worry if he decides to crumble them and
sprinkle them on this way -- it's all about exploration. Other
elements that could be added to the project
 include acorns or dried seed
pods, glitter or fall-themed confetti sprinkles, or even feathers,
natural or dyed. Paint could be incorporated as well.
Your child could first "do a fall painting" (whatever that means to him
or her) and then, when dry, glue on the leaves. Or the paper could
be stamped/painted with either sponged shapes or cookies cutters that
have been dipped in paint. Another option is to let your child
paint the collage, after the glue has dried. Experiment!
More Fall Collage Ideas
Fall is a great time to visit the garden
for flowers and leaves that have dried. Nature walks too may
have yielded an interesting collection of dried seed pods, feathers,
leaves, acorns, pinecones, and etc. All of these items can be
combined into beautiful collages. But while young children
will be contact with simply gluing these items onto construction
paper or cardboard pieces, older children can find more of a
challenge by using their finds to create a beautiful scene.
Items from nature can be combined with scraps and materials found
around the home, including glitter and paint.
Thus an older child could make whimsical
collage images of strange creatures, using dried flowers and seeds
and pipe stem cleaners. Or a beautiful 3-D garden with sand or
gravel path winding along a cardboard backing amidst clumped
arrangements of dried flowers with dried moss atop sticks serving
for trees. A little paint and glitter on the dried flowers
will bring out new splashes of color.
Leaf Print Note Cards
Leaf Stenciling
 Leaf Rubbings
If you've been collecting leaves, try
making leaf rubbings! Place a sheet of white paper over the
leaf or leaves and, using the side of a crayon whose wrapper has
been removed, rub the crayon back and forth over the hidden leaf.
Experiment with pressing harder or softer. Use different kinds
of leaves and notice the different shapes and patterns of veins that
each has. If you use a really large sheet of paper, try
filling the whole sheet with rubbings of different colors; then save
the result to use for gift wrap.
NOTE: thin paper works
best for this activity and tracing paper produces some
of the best results.
Even More Leafy Ideas!
Fun leaf centered ideas for preschool
through first grade activities for art, science, and more.
Other fall activities as well.
 
Make
Your Own Locker Organizer!
With some wrapping paper and a small box,
like a pop tart box, you can make a handy container for your locker
to keep extra pencils, pens, and other supplies.
Decorate Your Notebooks!
Make Your Own Wacky Book Covers
Great way to make text books more fun!
Note that the "arms" can be used to mark your place in the book, and
don't need to be sticking out all the time.
Troll Pencil Toppers
To print, color, and attach to the top of
your pencil. Very cute...
Personalize Your Back Pack!
Lots of people have really plain back packs
-- because their school gives them out free the first day or simply
because they need something really large that comes with wheels (and
those are usually plain, solid color). But your back pack
doesn't NEED to stay plain! You can decorate with fabric
paints, sew on special patches, sew on pony beads for splashes of
color, attach Shrinky Dink Art, or glue on silk flowers using
special fabric glue (in the sewing department at Wal-Mart or your
local fabric shop). If you're not in to beads or silk
flowers, maybe you have something you like to collect that could
inspire your backpack. Many different small objects can be
either sewn on with needle and thread to glued on with fabric glue.
Shrink Art
Back Pack Tags
A great way to personalize and decorate
your backpack -- plus it will help people know who it belongs to!
Don't forget to add your name, your homeroom number...
Print Your Own Beautiful Seashell Bookmarkers
Use some cardstock or use regular paper and
cut and glue onto something thicker. This is an excellent way
to use old cereal or cracker boxes as a cheap source of think but
stiff cardboard. Glue one image to each side, finish the edges
with a bit of glitter paint.
Back to School Paper
Dolls
Blond
-
Brown -
Black -
Red-haired
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