Celebrating Fall! I. Introduction

Celebrating Fall!

I. Introduction

A. Celebrating Fall:

a. This is a language arts unit studying the season of fall and seasonal objects through

reading, writing, and hands-on-experiences.

B. Grade Level:

a. This unit was created for use with Mrs. Fisher’s first grade students at Cochranton

Elementary.

C. Duration:

a. This is a 10 day unit plan with instructional periods ranging from 10 minute pieces to

thirty minute lesson pieces in various sections of the language arts block.

b. See block plan for spacing.

D. Context:

a. This unit will be taught at the beginning of the school year. It will begin the second last

week in September and will continue into the month of October.

b. It will take place in the first grading period, and students will just being acclimated to

school procedures and routines.

c. This unit will be running in the midst of the regular classroom textbook materials.

They will be working beside each other. Many materials listed are found within the

Storytown Textbook resources.

II. Content:

A. Goals:

a. Students will listen to seven pictures books on autumn themes through large group

reading.

b. Students will gain fluency in reading two large poems based on fall concepts.

c. After hearing about fall in reading and class discussions, students will write and

illustrate 8 fall book pages for their individual fall book.

d. Students will more fully understand and appreciate fall objects on their field trip to

Port Farms.

B. Concepts:

a. Through interactions with novels, students will identify the objects that are generally

associated with fall. They will see how this will relate to weather, the other seasons, and

their own personal lives.

b. Students will improve on their writing, using correct punctuation, grammar, and

capitalization and complete an individual book about fall.

c. Students will gain strategies on how to improve on their fluency in reading texts.

d. Students will have hands-on-experiences with fall activities and gain in their schema

about the season of fall.

C. Vocabulary:

a. fall- a season with characteristics such as leaves changing color and falling, pumpkins and

apples being harvested, and the seasons of Thanksgiving and Halloween

b. fall- to move from a higher place to a lower place, unexpectedly

c. hibernation- a deep sleep that some animals fall into in the cooler months when there is no

food.

d. tall-tale- a story that stretches the truth of what actually happened.

e. swish- the sound that leaves make when they rub on the ground

D. Skills:

a. Making inferences and predictions

b. Reading fluently

c. Presentations Skills

d. Participation and Cooperation in a Group Setting

e. Writing to fit a prompt

f. Using correct writing conventions and proofing skills

III. Objectives:

A. Overall:

a. Given teacher instruction and writing prompts, TSWBAT create an individual

book of writing that contains at least 7 original, complete sentences and

drawings about the season of fall.

b. Given teacher instruction and writing prompts, TSWBAT contribute one

sentence and matching illustration to the classbook that is being created.

c. Given mini-lessons and classroom discussions, TSWBAT list two or three

characteristics of the season of fall that makes it unique to any other season.

d. Given classroom read-alouds, TSWBAT be exposed to 7 books with fall

themes.

e. Given class field trip, TSWBAT experience fall activities and objects through

a four hour field trip to Port Farms.

B. Daily Objectives

a. Poem of the Week:

i. Days 1-5: Given daily teacher instruction and the poems “Oh Fall!”

and “The Leaves of the Trees,” TSWBAT improve each day in their

reading fluency and knowledge of the text to the teacher’s satisfaction.

ii. Days 1-5: Given daily teacher instruction and writing prompts,

TSWBAT utilize the whole space of a paper to illustrate and complete

sentences for four pages of the class book.

iii. Days 6-10: Given daily teacher instruction, the poem The Leaves of the

Trees, and current thinking skills, TSWBAT improve each day in their

reading fluency and knowledge of the text to the teacher’s satisfaction.

b. Read A-loud

i. Day 2: Given teacher instruction and the reading of There was an Old

Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves, TSWBAT state one characteristic

of the season fall that was found in this book. ii. Day 3: Given teacher instruction and the reading of the book, Leaves,

TSWBAT state one characteristic of fall that makes it unique to the

other seasons.

iii. Day 4: Given teacher instruction and the reading of Johnny Appleseed,

TSWBAT tell one fact they learned about Johnny Appleseed.

iv. Given teacher instruction and the class book page, TSWBAT illustrate

an apple and write at least one sentence describing the apple.

v. Day 5: Given teacher instruction, writing prompt, and the reading of I

Know It’s Autumn, TSWBAT write at least one sentence and illustrate

a picture of one movement action that they can perform in fall.

vi. Day 7: Given teacher instruction and the reading of Too Many

Pumpkins TSWBAT state one text-to-self connection that they found

within the story.

vii. Given teacher instruction and the reading of Too Many Pumpkins,

TSWBAT correctly write one sentence about pumpkins and illustrate a

picture based on the sentence.

viii. Day 8: Given teacher instruction and the reading of the book, Apples

and Pumpkins, TSWBAT state one activity that the little girl was able

to do at the farm.

ix. Given teacher instruction and the reading of Apples and Pumpkins,

TSWBAT correctly write one sentence about what clothing we wear in

fall and illustrate this picture.

x. Day 9: Given teacher instruction and the reading of Patty’s Pumpkin

Patch, TSWBAT describe to a partner how a pumpkin is grown in a

pumpkin patch.

xi. Given teaching instruction, reading of Patty’s Pumpkin Patch, and the

writing prompt, TSWBAT write one sentence about where they can

find this animal.

c. Grammar:

i. Day 2: Given teacher instruction and a writing prompt, TSWBAT

write at least one sentence about an animal he/she can see in the fall

and illustrate this sentence using the whole page.

C. Standards:

P.A.1.1.1.D

P.A.1.1.1.E

P.A.1.2.1.C

P.A.1.2.1.D

P.A.1.2.1.E

P.A.1.2.1.E

P.A.1.3.1.A

P.A.1.3.1.C

P.A.1.3.1.D

P.A.1.6.1.A

P.A.1.6.1.B

IV. Learning Experiences:

A. Lesson Plans

Day One

Poem of the Week- 15 minute lesson

Anticipatory Set:

Show students multiple type of fall leaves. Try to have a variety of shapes and colors. Let

students examine the leaves for themselves in small groups.

Have students use all of their senses (except taste!) to describe the leaves.

What do the leaves smell like, feel like, look like, and smell like?

Have students think-pair-share in groups and then come back together.

Purpose statement: Today, we’re going to look at a poem about fall! Let’s see if they mention

leaves at all in our poem and what else we can learn about the season of fall!

Procedures:

Teacher will read through poem alone, while students simply track the first time.

Teacher will point out more difficult words: beautiful, colorful, and leaves for the students.

Have students read through the poem two more times. Remind students of punctuation to help

them with their fluency.

Introduce the class book that we will be creating over the next two weeks. The book will be based

on the season of fall, and the experiences that we will have both here in the classroom and outside

it (on our field trip).

Pass out the first page that we will work on: Leaves.

Give students time to draw and color a leaf on the paper. On the bottom of this paper, the

students will write one or two sentence about the leaves they have seen. (Examples: The

leaves are brown, crunchy, wrinkly, fall from trees etc.)

Modifications/Adaptions:

Have rows that contain our lower readers to read several lines so they have more practice.

Work with individual students that often struggle with writing to help them come up with their

idea and to start the writing process. Those students who do not finish can complete this

assignment during small group time.

Encourage our high achievers to write complex sentences.

Evaluation:

Did students meet objective?

What changes to my lesson or materials might have produced better results and could be

used in subsequent lessons?

Day 2 Poem of the Week: (15 minute lesson)

Anticipatory Set:

Project for students multiple pictures of fall objects such as pumpkins, leaves, corn, frost,

scarecrows, etc…

Ask students if they have ever seen these objects before?

Can they think of other objects that we often see during the fall?

Write additional ideas on the board

Procedures:

Read through poem at least 2 times as a whole group. All students should track during

this time. The last time the poem is read have students read in a gruff football voice.

This should demonstrate to students how tones can change the feeling of a poem.

Ask students: Why is fall most beautiful of all? What makes fall beautiful?

Pass out next page in our class book.

The next page is divided into two groups. Some students will have the words, “In fall,”

Other students will have, “there are so many new things!”

Both groups will illustrate their paper will fall objects that were shown earlier in the

lesson.


Watch closely over those students who have trouble staying on task. Make sure they have

a plan for their drawing.

Those students who do not finish can complete this assignment during small group time.

Evaluation:

Did the students meet the objectives?



Read A-loud: 15 minute lesson

Anticipatory Set:

Ask students to give characteristics of fall that they are already heard about in the lessons.

Write these characteristics on the flip chart along with the title and author of the book.

Purpose Statement: Let’s see if we can find anymore characteristics of fall in our book today.

Keep your eyes and ears open for something that we haven’t mentioned yet!

Procedures:

Discuss with students that though this book is fictional and fantasy, we can still find some

true facts (like characteristics of fall) inside of it.

Read story to the students.

Allow them to make predictions of what will happen next when the old lady swallowed

something

Ask students: why the old lady was swallowing all these objects?

Discuss with students cause and effect.

o What happened after the little old lady swallowed all of the objects

o Have students name objects that the little old lady swallowed that are “fall”

objects. Write these on the flip board. Have students categorize these objects in

order that the little old lady swallowed them.

o Allow students to add objects to their “In fall” or “there are so many new things”

book page based on the class discussion.


If students are distracted give them a “part” in the book. Allow them to say the name of

an object/stand whenever their object is mentioned. (Possibly have pictures for students

to hold and stand)

Conference with students if they need help narrowing down what object they can add to

their book page.

Evaluation:

Did the students meet the objective?

What changes to my lesson or materials might have produced better results and could be used in

subsequent lessons?

Grammar (10 minute lesson)

Anticipatory Set:

o Bring out Mr. Who, the owl. Remind students that he asks the question “who” in the

sentence to help us find the naming part of the sentence.

o Have students proof sentences:

o i will have milk

o kayson sat in the car

o Have Mr. Who ask the students who or what each sentence is about.

Purpose statement: Let’s see if Mr. Who can help us find the “naming part” of our sentence

today.

Development:

o Remind students that the naming part of the sentence is the part of the sentence that

answers “who” or what the sentence is about.

o Write the following partial sentences on the board:

o _____ am six.

o _____ like pizza.

o _____ have a cat.

o Have student volunteers write “I” in the blanks on the board. Ask students who

this sentences are about.

o Read the sentences once as a whole group. Then have students that the sentence is

true about them (they are six or they do like pizza) to stand and read the sentences

chorally.

Guided Practice/Independent Practice:

o Have students write a sentence about what animal they can see in fall. Have students use

their names when describing the “who” in the sentence. Have them following the prompt

(Child’s Name) can see ____ (animal) in the fall. Have students describe the animal more

(making it the “who” in the sentence) if possible. Students can illustrate their picture

when they are finished.

o Teacher will model this on the board.

o Miss Dudt can see squirrels in the fall. Squirrels hide their nuts.

Closure:

Have Mr. Who ask each student “who” their sentences were about. Remind students that

this is the “naming part” of the sentence.

Adaptations and Modifications:

o Have our lower achieving students dictate to the teacher what they are going to write on

their writing prompt before they complete it. Pay close attention to them during the

independent practice.

o If students do not finish their work, they can complete it during morning seat-work the

following day.

Evaluation:



subsequent lessons?

Day 3:

Poem of the Week (15 minute lesson)

Anticipatory Set:

Ask students: What are the seasons?

Introduce to students the four seasons: summer, winter, fall, and spring. Use pictures

from Melvin Berger’s The Four Seasons. Focus on the weather during the seasons,

especially fall. Show students the pictures of what students are wearing in the seasons

and what changes in scenery occur.

Purpose Statement: Let’s see if we can find any other season mentioned in our poem! Let’s see

if the poem’s author can convince us today that fall is the most beautiful season of all!

Procedures:

Read through the poem at least three times as a whole group. The first time read it as a

complete class. The second and third times, split the class in half and see which side can

read it with the best expression and volume. (Emphasize that the loudest isn’t always the

best). Students should track throughout the reading.

Have students circle the weather words in the poem. (Winter and fall)

Ask students: Which season comes first: winter or fall? How is the weather in winter

different from fall?

Pass out the weather paper for the class book. Have students illustrate what the weather is

like in the fall. (Examples: wind blowing, sunny, cloudy, colder). Allow students to write

a sentence at the bottom of the page about the weather. (It is colder in fall. The sun shines

in fall. Etc.)


Give students that struggle writing their own sentences modified sheets that have the

prompt started for them or options of what they can write about. Make sure these students

have a plan before they start. Students can finish their word during small group or writing

if necessary.

Evaluation:



subsequent lessons?

Read Aloud (15 minute lesson)

Anticipatory Set:

Have students discuss again what the weather is like in fall compared to winter. (As

discussed in the Poem of the week).

Purpose Statement: Now, we are going to look at how the weather and changes of fall affected

a bear.

Procedures:

Read story, Leaves By: David Ezra Stein, to the students.

o Ask students: What genre book do you think this is? Fiction/Fantasy or non-

fiction? Why?

Why do you think the bear asked the leaf if it was ok?

Why is the bear filling a hole with leaves?

What will happen to the bear now that winter came?

How as the weather changed?

How did the weather change in spring?

Identify the seasons, weather, and characteristics of the seasons as they are mentioned.

Show pictures of all 3 seasons in the book. Compare and contrast.

Discuss hibernation with students.

o Relate to students how bears can sleep that long and why they do.

Think- pair-share: How fall was shown in the book? What is one characteristic of fall that you

learned from the book? How is this characteristic different than all the other seasons?


Pass around the book to partner pairs that are struggling, so they can see the pictures.

This may help spark their conversation.

For students that are higher achievers, encourage them to find out other animals that

hibernate and how they get ready for hibernation.

Evaluation:




Day 4


Anticipatory Set:

Teacher will pretend to get a phone call on the classroom phone.

Teacher will pretend it’s the homophone-company calling! Apparently, they have heard

that there are homophones in our poem and they wanted in on the fun!

Introduce to students that if two words sound the same but have different meanings they

are called homophones “phone”-– fall (season) fall (action)

Purpose Statement: Let’s see if we can find these homophones in our poem! I wonder if we are

starting to read our poem with more fluency!

Procedures:

As a whole class read the poem 2 times (once in whisper “phone voice” and normal

voice).

Have students find the two “falls” in the poem. Define these words again for students.

Randomly select the word fall on the large class poem. Ask students to read the line

where the word is located and decide what definition of fall the author is using in that

line.


Putting phone to ear might either distract from reading or may help with interest

(Depends on student behavior). Make changes based on classroom behavior.

It may be helpful to act out the action of falling and show a picture of fall for students if

they are struggling with this concept.

Emphasize to our lower students that fall begins with an “f” and ends with “l.” See if they

can find these letters anywhere else in the poem.

Evaluation:




Read A-loud (15 minute lesson)

Anticipatory Set:

The teacher will dress up like Johnny Appleseed. (Use pan hat and knickers!)

o Introduce myself and my story.

o Johnny Appleseed’s real name was John Chapman. He loved to plant apple seeds

all over the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. There weren’t very many

people there at that time. Actually, really there were only a whole lot of trees and

animals. I went around planting trees so that people would never go hungry. They

could come to my trees and get something to eat free of charge!

Purpose Statement: Someone wrote this book about me, some of it is true. Some of it is fiction

(made-up!). But, let’s see if you can learn something about me!

Procedures:

Read story: Johnny Appleseed: A Tall-Tale Retold and Illustrated

To help students not get confused about too many of the tall-tales of Johnny Appleseed

and mix this with the truth read up to the page that begins “John went out of his way to

lend a helping hand….” And skip to the page that begins, “As the years passed…”

Introduce a “tall-tale,” and tell about how people’s stories can sometimes stretch the truth

of what happened.

Focus student’s attention on some of the true facts about Johnny Appleseed that were

found in the story. (Planting apple trees, living in Ohio, PA, and Indiana, that he loved

animals, etc.)

Think-pair-share: What fact did you learn about Johnny Appleseed?

Have students look at a couple real apples.

o How does it look? What does it smell like? How does it feel? Allow a student to

taste it. How does it taste?

Pass out to students the Apple Class book page. Have students illustrate an apple. Then

write a sentence about the apple telling about how they “sensed” the apple.


o Give student pairs the story to look at if they need help coming up with ideas.

o Allow students time to ask Johnny Appleseed questions at the beginning and end, if they

are too distracted by the character or if we have extra time

Evaluation:




Day 5


Anticipatory Set:

Poll the students: Do they think that fall is the most beautiful season? Have each student give

their vote for the season that they believe is the most beautiful season.

Purpose Statement: For our last day, let’s read our poem like we really believe that fall is the

most beautiful season. With excitement and attention!

Procedures:

Read the poem as a whole group sitting at the desks. Then have the boys and girls read the poem

separately, with each group coming up to read the poem (like a reader’s theater).

Have students work on any of the prompt that they have not yet completed from earlier in the

week. Add any additional color or sentence to the paper if possible.


Conference with students if they are far behind in creating these prompts. See if you can

scaffold them into finishing any of these prompts during a different part of the day.

Work individually with students if needed.

Evaluation:





Anticipatory Set:

Have students complete the sentence, “I know it’s Fall when….”

Prompt them with questions like, “what could we smell?” “what have we tasted?” “What

have we heard.”

Purpose Statement: Eileen Spinelli has some more ideas as to how she knows it’s fall! Let’s see

how she knows that it’s fall by reading our story.

Procedures:

Read story with students.

Point out to students different objects that the children in the book are performing: Going

on a hayride, sitting at a bonfire, raking leaves, picking apples, carving pumpkins, etc.

Use pictures in the book to really show students the different activities if they are

unfamiliar with them.

Think-pair-share: What are some of the activities that were mentioned in the book that you

have done before or are going to do this fall?

Pass out to students the I can…. Prompt worksheet. On the sheet, the students will write

one activity that they can complete in fall. (Examples: I can rake leaves around my house.

I can pick apples from a tree….etc.) Students will then add illustration.

Emphasize that students should mention another person in their writing as much as

possible. (Try to use the I, me, my, and, we, as much as possible)


Conference with students that need extra help. Talk over a response with them before

they begin writing. Write words on their word-wall if needed to help them gain ideas for

the prompt.




Day 6: Poem of the Week (15 minute lesson)

Anticipatory Set:

Show a leaf rub to students. Ask them what it looks like. Tell students that we will once

again be looking at the leaves and fall for our poem of the week!

Purpose statement: Today, we’re going to look at a poem about fall! Let’s see if they mention

leaves at all in our poem and what else we can learn about the season of fall!

Procedures:

Teacher will read through poem alone, while students simply track the first time.

Teacher will point out the repetition in the poem: Orange and red, tumbling down, and

swish, and all through the town.

She will show students how this poem is similar to The Wheels of the Bus. (If needed,

she can sing!)

Have students read through the poem two more times. Remind students of punctuation to

help them with their fluency.

Allow students to do a leaf rub. Demonstrate to students how to put the leaf between the

paper and how to make the impression on the paper by rubbing the crayon over it.

Have students show each other their leaves that have come “tumbling down.”

o Teacher will hang these leaves in the classroom’s ceiling so the leaves will look

like they are tumbling down to the students’ desks


Work one-on-one with students that struggle to complete tasks quickly

If needed tape the leaf to the students desk so that it does not move too much

Evaluation:




Day 7


Anticipatory Set:

Show students sentence strips with the words “orange and red” “tumbling down” and “swish” on

them.

Purpose Statement: Tell students that we will be putting these in order based on how they

appear in the poem. We better pay close attention to our poem as we read it!

Procedures:

Read through poem at least 2 times as a whole group. All students should track during

this time. The last time the poem is read have students bounce up and down to the beat of

the poem.

o This should demonstrate to students how the rhythm should flow in the poem.

Ask students what does “tumble down” mean.

o Remind students of the homophones that we learned last week. Tumble down is

similar to “fall”

Ask students what swish is.

o Show with hands the swishing movement.

Have student volunteers put the sentence strips in order on the board.

Read through the poem one more time.


Keep students who have trouble tracking close to me, so that they can be monitored on

how they are tracking.




Read A-Loud (15 minute Lesson)

Anticipatory Set:

Ask students to tell you about pumpkins (what do they look like, color, size, what’s

inside?) Make a list of characteristics on the flip chart.

Purpose Statement: Let’s see if we can find anymore characteristics of pumpkins in our

book today. Keep your eyes and ears open for something that we haven’t mentioned yet!

Procedures:

Read story to the students.

o Allow them to make predictions of what will happen next when Rebecca does

something with the pumpkin patch!

Ask why did the pumpkins grow when she buried them?

Ask students what types of things did Rebecca do with the pumpkins after they grew?

Think-Pair-Share: Have you ever done anything with pumpkins that Rebecca did in the

book? What does this story remind you of doing?

Have students complete the Pumpkin Class book Page.

Read prompt to students have them complete at least one sentence on pumpkins and then

illustrate the page.

Tell students that we will be learning all about pumpkins this week in preparation for

our field trip on Friday!


Conference with students if they need help narrowing down what they will write

about on their page.

Do not give paper to students until they know what they will write about.

Evaluation:



subsequent lessons?

Day 8 Poem of the Week (15 minute lesson)

Anticipatory Set:

Play the Karaoke Music of The Wheels of the Bus. See if students can identify the music.

Purpose Statement: We’re going to use this music to read to today. Tomorrow we’re going to

perform for each other, so today let’s practice with the music!

Procedures:

Read the poem once without music.

Teacher will demonstrate once how to read the poem with the music.

Students will read twice with the teacher. Have them bounce and sway with the music if

it helps them. All students should continue to track.

Ask students if it hard or difficult to read with the music. Does it help them read more

fluently?


If students are having trouble tracking and keeping up with the music, have students just

follow along with the teacher’s tracking on the large poster if this helps them keep up

with the rhythm.





Anticipatory Set:

Ask students what we will be doing on Friday. (Answer: going on a field trip to the pumpkin

farm)!

Purpose Statement: Now, we are going to read a book about a little girl that went to a farm.

Let’s see if we can see the types of things she did on the farm and what she wore to be ready for

the fall weather!

Procedures:

Read story: Apples and Pumpkins By: Anne Rockwell.

o Ask students if they should climb apple trees in the book? Why would this be

dangerous?

o Where are the pumpkins growing? In the air or on the ground? Where did the

apples grow?

o What are the people wearing in the story? Shorts and a tee-shirt? Jackets? Long

pants? Scarves? Hats?

o What else other than making, jack-o-lantern could she do with her pumpkin?

What did we learn yesterday?

Think-Pair-Share: What activities did the little girl do at the farm?

• Compare this to the activities that we will be doing on our field trip

Give students the Class book page on Clothing in fall. Have students write at least one

sentence about what clothing we wear in fall. If possible, have them compare this to what

they wear in a different season. Allow students to illustrate their picture. Students should

be able to work independently.

Ask students what they think they should wear for their field trip on Friday and what

about their field trip they are most excited about doing.


Conference with students about what they are going to write about and give them a plan

before they start to work independently.

For more advanced students, see if they can add a sentence about how the weather

changed what they are wearing.

Evaluation:




Day 9


Anticipatory Set:

It’s performance day! Students will perform the “reading” of the Leaves of the Trees.

Procedures:

Read through the poem through one time as a warm up!

Then, have the boys stand in front of the class and start the music. Allow the boys to read

through the poem once.

Then start the music for the girls. Have the girls read the poem.

Ask students if it was easier or harder to read the poem at the beginning of the week or

now. Ask students if it was easier or harder to read when they had to read with the

rhythm.


Make sure every student has a place at the front of the class. Ensure that none of the

students are “hiding” behind each other.

Evaluation:





Anticipatory Set:

Ask students what letter is at the beginning of each of the words in Patty’s Pumpkin

Patch. Answer: P. Ask students what sound the p makes.

Purpose Statement: Once again, we’re going to be looking at what it’s like for a pumpkin to

grow in a pumpkin patch. Keep your eyes open for more letters and even some animals in the

book. See if you can spot every letter and lots of animals!

Procedures:

Read story: Patty’s Pumpkin Patch

Ask:

o How is Patty getting the ground ready?

o What do the pumpkins look like when they first start out? (A flower)

o How do we know if a pumpkin is ripe? (it’s orange!)

o What can we do with pumpkin seeds?

Scoop them out and save them for planting or oil, salt, and roast them for

eating.

Think-pair-share: How is a pumpkin grown in a pumpkin patch? What animals did you see in

the story? (See the bottoms of the pages)

Pass out to students the I see ____ (animal) book page that students have already started.

Have students illustrate the animal based on where they might see the animal. Then they

can add a sentence about what where they might see this animal. Have students work

independently.


Give student pairs the story if they need to see ideas of what animals they can draw and write

about. Conference with students so they can come up with their idea.

Evaluation:




Day Ten:

Field Trip to Port Farms Students will join the other two first grade classrooms on a field trip to Port Farms. On

the field trip, the students will pick a pumpkin and see how farmers harvest pumpkins.

Students will also be able to participate in several fall activity stations including: tunnel

slides, long slide, corn bins, dirt digging, bunny ville, and hay mazes.

Students are encouraged to watch for the fall objects, activities, weather, and animals that

we have previously discussed in class.

V. Evaluation Instruments and Methods:

A. Formative Evaluation:

a. Student book pages will be reviewed each night to see how students are

progressing in the writing process and to see if students need to make any

changes.

b. Student participation in classroom discussion and activities.

c. Observation of student time-on-task when completing work

B. Summative Evaluation:

a. Student Completed Book Pages

b. Final Reading of the Poem of the Week

VI. Evaluation of Objectives:

See evaluation sections of Daily Lesson Plans

VII. Evaluation of Daily Lessons:

See evaluation sections of daily lessons

VIII. Extension Activities:

A. Morning Seat Work: Everyday when students first come into school, they will have a fall

themed worksheet on their desk to complete first thing in the morning and during the day

when they have spare time. This worksheet will concentrate on numbers, letters, shapes,

and fall objects.

B. Problem of the Day: As part of the morning routine, the whole class will work through a

math problem that is written on the board that reviews a math concept that we have been

learning. These problems will be using fall objects (such as pumpkins, apples, and leaves)

as manipulatives to help the students solve problems.

C. Johnny Appleseed Applesauce: The teacher will send a note home asking for students to

bring an apple to school on Johnny Appleseed Day. On this morning, the teacher will

help students cut up their apples and place them in a crockpot to cook for the day. During

the afternoon, the students will have homemade applesauce for a snack. They will discuss

how the consistency and shape of the apples has changed in the cooking process. They

will comment on the taste and smell of apples and how this corresponded to their writing

prompt.

D. Johnny Appleseed Puppets: Students will create puppets to place on their desk on Johnny

Appleseed Day. They will color, cut, and fold these puppets.

IX. Resources

A. Bibliography:

a) Recipe for Applesauce: http://www.kiwicrate.com/projects/Easy-Crock-Pot-

Applesauce/424

b) E-mail Correspondence with children’s librarian at Brookfield Public Library

about fall read a-loud books

c) Ideas for unit and worksheet templates:

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/fall/

B. Materials:

a. Whole Unit

i. “All Done” and “Working” Boxes for student work

ii. Flip Chart

iii. Whiteboard

iv. Projector

b. Day 1

i. Poem of the Week:

1. Large version of the poem Oh Fall! By Tim Rasinski

2. Student copies of poem (used for the week)

3. Multiple kinds of leaves

4. Leaf writing paper for book

c. Day Two

http://www.kiwicrate.com/projects/Easy-Crock-Pot-Applesauce/424

http://www.kiwicrate.com/projects/Easy-Crock-Pot-Applesauce/424

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/fall/

i. Poem of the Week

1. Pictures of fall objects for projector or in book

2. Picture papers for “In fall” and “there are so many new things!

ii. Read A-loud:

1. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves!

2. Flip Chart

3. “In fall” or “there are so many new things” Book pages

d. Day Three

i. Poem of the Week

1. The Four Seasons By Melvin Berger

2. The Weather Writing Pages for Class Book

3. Whiteboard

ii. Read A-loud:

1. Leaves By: David Ezra Stein

e. Day Four

i. Poem of the Week

1. Classroom Phone

ii. Read A-loud

1. Johnny Appleseed, A Tall Tale Retold and Illustrated by Steven

Kellogg

2. Johnny Appleseed Costume (pan hat and knickers)

3. Apple

4. Apple Class book Page

f. Day Five

i. Poem of the Week

1. Student’s incomplete prompts from earlier in the week

ii. Read A-loud:

1. I can (fall activity) writing prompt

2. I Know It’s Autumn By Eileen Spinelli

g. Day Six

i. Poem of the Week

1. Large version of the poem The Leaves of the Trees!

2. Student copies of poem (used for the week)

3. Multiple kinds of leaves

4. Construction Paper

5. Crayons

h. Day Seven

i. Poem of the Week

1. Sentence Strips

ii. Read A-loud

1. Too Many Pumpkins By: Linda White

2. Flip Chart

3. Pumpkin Class Book pages

i. Day Eight

i. Poem of the Week:

1. Wheels on the Bus Karaoke Music

ii. Read A-loud

1. Apples and Pumpkins By: Anne Rockwell

2. I Wear…. Class book Page

j. Day Nine

i. Poem of the Week

1. Wheels on the Bus Song

ii. Read A-loud

1. I see ___ animal class book page.

2. Patty’s Pumpkin Patch By: Teri Sloat

k. Day Ten

l. Extension Activities

i. Morning Seat Work:

1. Scarecrow:

http://makinglearningfun.com/themepages/ScarecrowPrintables.ht

m

2. Apple: http://kidsfront.com/coloring-

pages/apple_bw_303_picture.html

3. Harvest Coloring Page:

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/coloring-

pages/fall/harvest.html

4. Color By Number Pumpkin:

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.mak

inglearningfun.com/Activities/fallleaf/Fall-

ColorbyNumberPage.gif

5. Fall Mazes: http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Fall-

Mazes.html

6. Fall Word Searches: http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Fall-

Word-Searches.html

7. Fall Coloring Pages: http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Fall-

Coloring-Pages.html

ii. Problem of the Day:

1. Ellison cut-outs of apples, pumpkins, and leaves

iii. Johnny Appleseed Puppets:

1. http://www.frontiernet.net/~goofis1/Images/Food/JohnnyApplesee

d.jpg

X. Appendix

A. Teaching Materials:

a. Block Plan

b. Fall Objects Projection

c. Recipe for Applesauce

d. Wheels on the Bus Karaoke

B. Student Materials:

a. Morning Seatwork Pages

b. Class Book Pages (and filler pages)

http://makinglearningfun.com/themepages/ScarecrowPrintables.htm

http://makinglearningfun.com/themepages/ScarecrowPrintables.htm

http://kidsfront.com/coloring-pages/apple_bw_303_picture.html

http://kidsfront.com/coloring-pages/apple_bw_303_picture.html

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/coloring-pages/fall/harvest.html

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/coloring-pages/fall/harvest.html

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.makinglearningfun.com/Activities/fallleaf/Fall-ColorbyNumberPage.gif



http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Fall-Mazes.html

http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Fall-Mazes.html

http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Fall-Word-Searches.html

http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Fall-Word-Searches.html

http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Fall-Coloring-Pages.html

http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Fall-Coloring-Pages.html

http://www.frontiernet.net/~goofis1/Images/Food/JohnnyAppleseed.jpg

http://www.frontiernet.net/~goofis1/Images/Food/JohnnyAppleseed.jpg

c. Johnny Appleseed Puppet

d. Parent Letter for Johnny Appleseed

e. Parent Letter for Classbook

C. Sketches:

a. Appleseed Bulletin Board

b. “Leaves of the Trees”

c. Student with applesauce from Johnny Appleseed Day and puppet

d. Pictures of students at Port Farms and participating in activities in the classroom

D. Assessment Tools:

a. Checklist of Book Pages and list of students’ names

Documents

Celebrating Fall! I. Introduction