Fall is Here!

HAPPY FALL!
We had great fun playing in fall leaves, just like in the book, Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert.

Painting our hands in fall colors and printing them on tree trunks made beautiful autumn trees.

We used child-sized rakes to take turns raking up leaves that had "blown" to the ground.

As we raked them up we sang to the tune of London Bridges:

Autumn leaves are falling down,

falling down, falling down.

Autumn leaves are falling down.

To the ground.

Use a rake to pick them up,

Pick them up, pick them up.

Use a rake to pick them up,

From the ground.

Just like in the book, The Biggest Leaf Pile

by Steve Metzger,

we jumped into our pile of leaves and they went flying everywhere!

We went on a leaf walk. It was a perfect fall day. We collected leaves we found on the ground of all kinds, colors and sizes.

When we got back, we mounted our favorite ones on waxed paper and added shaved crayons for some beautiful displays of autumn colors.

Nuts to You! by Lois Ehlert is one of our favorite books this week. It's about a sneaky squirrel who digs in window pots, steals seeds from the birds, and begs for a treat at an apartment window. Through a tear in the screen, the rascal sneaks inside for a look around. The narrator leaves a trail of peanuts and the words, "nuts to you" to lure it out of the house.

We read The Chipmunk Song by Joanne Ryder and Frederick by Leo Leonni. The little creatures in these books (well, all but Frederick- he was busy collecting other things) scampered about in the fall leaves, collecting food and getting ready for winter.

We collected peanuts outside and put them in a bag (because we don't have little pouches in our cheeks!), just as squirrels and chipmunks collect food like berries and nuts in the fall and put it in their burrows or nests, to get ready for the long winter ahead.

As we searched we sang, "Found a Peanut".

Found a peanut, found a peanut

found a peanut, just now.

Just now I found a peanut,

Found a peanut, just now.

Cracked it open,

Cracked it open, just now.

Just now, I cracked it open,

Cracked it open, just now!

After about our third peanut hunt, we left some of our peanuts on the front porch while we went inside to play. It wasn't long before a sneaky squirrel crept up on the porch to steal some of our peanuts.

When he saw us watching him, he scurried up into the tree. We retaliated with a resounding,

"NUTS TO YOU!"

Fall is in the air!