Fall is synonymous with the harvest, crisp air, falling leaves, geese flying overhead, pumpkins and apple cider. It is the season to be thankful and to be surrounded by the people you love. Enjoy your time gathered together.
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Bella’s Fall Coat
Lynn Plourde – Author
Susan Gal – Illustrator
Bella is growing, but she wants things to last forever. She loves the sights and sounds of fall–the crinkle-crackle of fallen leaves, the crunch of crisp, red apples, the honking and flapping of migrating geese. She also wants her fall coat–the one her Grams made especially for her–to last forever. Whenever Grams kindly mentions the need for a new coat, there’s a “WHOOSH,” “WHIZZ,” or “ZOOM” as the ruddy-complexioned child sprints out the door to play in the natural world. But the coat is worn-out and too small. . . . With a snip and a whir, Grams makes sure Bella will be warm when the first snowflakes fall. And Bella finds a perfect use for her old favorite coat — on the first snowman of the season. Adorned with beautiful fall oranges, reds, and yellows, this read-aloud will help families celebrate both fall and winter.
Adults may feel nostalgia over seasons past—and young readers will be introduced to the enticing lure of autumn and the joys of sharing it with someone they love .
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“FULL OF FALL” is a beautiful book you may want to include in your home library. It is written and illustrated by April Sayre. I have included the author’s marvelous photographs and a description of the book’s content.
A carpet of leaves; a canopy of leaves—a crescendo of leaves. This book explores the transformation trees undergo in fall, and it takes us through the leaves’ initial change from green to red, yellow, and orange, the shedding of the leaves, and the leaves crumbling as winter approaches. There is extensive back matter that explains the science behind this process to our budding scientists.
“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.”– Emily Brontë
Margins. Midribs. Sunlit Veins
“It’s a great time to appreciate a leaf’s edges, called margins. Some leaves have a thickened central vein called a midrib. It helps support the leaf. Veins are bundles of xylem and phloem. Xylem carries water and nutrients to the leaf. Phloem carries sugars made by the leaf back to the rest of the plant.” April Sayre
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Kelton on a Fall Day in Our Neighborhood
ART PROJECT – FALL LEAVES
There is a rustling outside – colorful leaves are falling from the trees. The wind whirls them through the air in the sunlight: high time to let the children collect leaves!
Materials needed: Watercolor paints and brushes, pencil and permanent black pen, scissors, glue stick
BACKGROUND – To create the impression of swirling autumn leaves in the air, blue shades are best suited for the background. But purple tones can also be very appealing.
A wide flat brush is ideal for this work. Here we go: touch the blue paint and start in the upper left corner of the picture. Now move quickly over the whole sheet to the right and slightly offset downwards back to the left. Quickly continue over the entire sheet. It can get a bit streaky. Then set aside to dry.
TRACING LEAVES – Depending on the abilities of your children, you can either use leaves on the template (see download area) or trace the contours yourself using the autumn leaves you have collected. When all leaves are traced in pencil, go over lines with a Sharpie marker.
PAINTING LEAVES – The colors should run into each other, so lightly moisten the area of one leaf at a time and add colors. Yellows, oranges, reds, and greens are best for this. An autumn leaf should be ready in about a minute. It is better not to paint on it too often, otherwise the colors may get muddy.
When the leaves and the background are well dry, cut them out and glue them on.
The colorful autumn leaves emerge
Fall Leaves – template
