Why Do Autumn Leaves Change Color? Lesson Plan

Make a Fall Leaf Collection as a Kinesthetic Science Activity

© Renee Carver

Aug 29, 2008

Have children gather and organize autumn leaves into a collection with an introduction that explains what they have learned from books and their own observations about why leaves change color.

Objectives

1. Students will collect, preserve, identify, and label leaves.
2. Students will compare and contrast leaves to identify changes that happen in fall.
3. Students will chart leaves by color.
4. Students will demonstrate an understanding of why leaves change different colors by writing descriptions of their leaf collections.

Materials

• Leaves
• Newspaper
• Heavy books
• White construction paper
• Tape
• 3-ring folders
• Pens
• Three-column charts

Collect and Preserve Green Leaves

1. Before leaves turn colors, take children on a nature walk. Ask them to collect one good example each of as many different kinds of green leaves as they can find.
2. Have children arrange their leaf collections between sheets of newspaper and stack heavy books on top. Water from the leaves will seep out into the newspaper over the course of the next week until the leaves become completely dry.
3. Once leaves have been pressed, have children tape them by their stems to sheets of white construction paper, leaving room next to each leaf to label it, and store the sheets in 3-ring folders. For ideas about how to arrange their leaves, show them the front endpapers from Fall Leaves Fall! by Zoe Hall [Scholastic, 2000] or Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace [Marshall Cavendish, 2003].

Collect and Preserve Fall Leaves

1. After several weeks, when most leaves have changed color, take children on a second nature walk. Ask them to collect the same kinds of leaves as they gathered before, but this time find ones that have changed color. The new leaves should match the previous examples as closely as possible in shape and size.
2. Have children press these leaves also and then tape them to paper in the same arrangement as the green ones.

Label and Examine Leaf Collections

1. Provide children with copies of Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins [Scholastic, 1998], Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert [Harcourt, 2005], Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro [HarperCollins Publishers, 1994], Leaves! Leaves! Leaves!, and/or other books containing information about identifying kinds of leaves. Have children use these resources to identify and label each of their leaves as best as they can.
2. Have children compare and contrast the front and back endpapers of Fall Leaves Fall and Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! Ask how the front sets are the same as and different from the back sets. (They show the same kinds of leaves, but the leaves at the beginning are green, and the ones at the end have changed color.)
3. Ask children to identify how their two sets of leaves are alike and different. Have children name colors they see in their leaves.
4. Provide children with a three-column chart and have them label the columns yellow/orange, red/purple, and brown.
5. Ask children to fill in the chart with the names of their leaves according to what color each became.

Learn Why Leaves Change Color

1. Remind students that nonfiction books do not need to be read cover to cover. Instead, you can read only the parts of a book that talk about the information in which you are interested.
2. Read aloud and discuss the portions of Why Do Leaves Change Color? that tell why leaves are green (green chlorophyll pigment), yellow or orange (yellow and orange pigments are revealed when chlorophyll fades and is not replaced), red (sugar trapped in a leaf changes the leaf's pigment to red when exposed to sunlight), and brown (some leaves make brown tannin).

Assessment

Have children write paragraphs that describe their leaf collections for the front page of their folders. They should identify their leaves, group them by color, and explain why each group has turned this particular color.

For enrichment, try other primary-level, fall-themed lessons and activities for such topics as Why Do Maple Leaves Turn Red? and The Autumn Leaf Life Cycle.

Collected Fall Leaves

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