We're Going On A Leaf Hunt!

To start out the Fall season I would read "We're Going On A Leaf Hunt" by Steve Metzger. This book is about three children that are going on a leaf hunt and find all different colors leaves. This book is just like the book "Going On A Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen. It has the same concept with the rhythm, repetitive text format and great sound words. Children really seem to like this book it is fun and they really get into it. This lesson plan would focused on number sense and counting.

Introductory Activity: I would invite all the children onto the reading rug so I can read them the story “We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt”. I would ask the all the children if they have ever gone on a leaf hunt. If some of the children say yes I would ask them what they saw and what was different about the leaves. I would also ask them what is different about the leaves now then from when it was hot out. Then I would read them the story and ask them if they wanted to go on a leaf hunt.

Main Activity: I would explain to the children that we were going on a leaf hunt. Each child gets three lunch bags. We are going to go outside and you guys are going to collect as many leaves as you or as many as you can fit in your paper bag. I would tell them that I would like for each child to grab two orange leaves and then as many other colors as they want. Ask the child to count their leaves as they put them in their bags. Stop at 10 – make groups of 10 and then have the child count the leaves by 10s. I would have all the children put on their coats and hand each child a paper bag. We would go outside and collect the leaves.

Follow-up Activity: This activity will begin when we come back into the classroom from collecting our leaves. I would then place the five labeled buckets on the ground. Each child will then go to their sit and with their paper bag filled with the leaves. I will then instruct them to separate there leaves by color. After all the children are done separating them I will have each child individually go to the rug where the buckets and out loud count how many of each color leave they have. Then on the board we will have a chart with the colors and have each child write the number of leaves they have for each color in the correct column.

Evaluation: I would have five different children come to the front of the room and dump out the bucket of leaves and count one of buckets of colors out loud. Then I would write down how many of each color leaf we have and after all are counted I would ask the class which color did we have the most leave of and which one did we have the least.

"Falling leaves hide the path so quietly." -John Bailey