How one book led our morning....

Monday, November 9, 2015 - Leave a Comment

So here's how my morning went...I arrived at school this morning, for once, completely prepared for a Monday morning. Attendance, lunch count, morning work completed without a hitch. We moved seamlessly into calendar time and math then went outside for our first recess of the day. When my students came back in we settled onto the carpet for a read aloud - one of my favorite parts of the day. I worked on activating prior knowledge by discussing what we had learned about fall - and specifically leaves - last week. Students were quick to raise their hands and give answers - making me proud. I then read this book Leaves by Marilyn Easton.

It's a book from a Scholastic book order and I've used it for several years now. My students are always FASCINATED by the pictures and facts in this non-fiction story and we always love learning 'big' words like chlorophyll and pigments. The students listened intently and answered questions throughout the book, excited to learn more. Toward the end, a student commented about noticing the changing leaves outside at recess. Suddenly, it was very important we investigate. So, the whole class bundled up again, I grabbed our iPad, and we took a walk to the best tree on school's property - the big tree out front. This is what we found...

We found leaves of all colors. Leaves with a lot of chlorophyll left...

And leaves without any..

We also found the perfect leaf to take a closer look at. We took this little guy inside and put him on my document camera.

We then zoomed in and put him on the big screen. It was easier then to point out the midrib and veins.

We then decided we were going to write about the leaves we collected. Each kiddo chose their favorite leaf to write about. I paired their writing with their leaf and a painting they created in art class. I love when I can double dip a little bit. :)