Students begin a year-long exploration of the seasons and how weather, plants, and animals are different depending on the season by reading about the beauties of fall and fall harvests.
As part of the upgrade to Fishtank Plus, this unit was revised in October 2020. See which texts and materials have changed as part of the revision in this guide to our Kindergarten text adjustments. If you are looking for the previous version of this unit you can find it in our archives here.
In this unit, students begin a year-long exploration of the seasons and how weather, plants, and animals are different depending on the season by studying the beauties of fall and fall harvests. Students launch the unit by setting up an ongoing weather experiment in order to understand the patterns of fall and how weather changes during fall. While gathering ongoing data about the changing weather in fall, students will learn and observe what happens to leaves in the fall and notice the difference between various types of leaves. In the second half of the unit, students explore the different harvests of fall, particularly apples and pumpkins, and discuss the basic life cycles of both. This unit is a chance for students to stop and think about the changes that are happening in the natural world around them and why the changes happen. It is our hope that by the end of the year, after studying winter and spring in subsequent units, students will have a deeper understanding of the unique features of each season.
In reading, this is students’ first introduction to informational texts and reading to learn information. Students will continue to develop their inquisitive side by being challenged to ask and answer questions about the content and text they are interacting with. This unit exposes students to a subject matter that is present in their day-to-day lives; therefore, they should be challenged to ask questions and make connections between what they are reading and learning and what they are seeing outside. Additionally, while listening to stories, students will learn how to use the text and illustrations to determine the key details of a text and then use those details to retell what the text was mostly about.
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Book: Fall Weather: Cooler Temperatures by Martha E. H. Rustad (Millbrook Press, 2011) — 530L
Book: Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro (HarperCollins, 2015) — 580L
Book: Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins (Scholastic Press, 1998) — IG570L
Book: Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert (Harcourt, 2005) — AD310L
Book: We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger (Cartwheel Books, 2008) — AD410L
Book: Leaves by David Ezra Stein (G.P. Putman’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2010) — AD180L
Book: Fall Harvests: Bringing in Food by Martha E. H. Rustad (Millbrook PR, 2011) — 590L
Book: The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons (Holiday House, 1999) — AD570L
Book: Apples by Gail Gibbons (Holiday House, 2001) — 650L
See Text Selection Rationale
This assessment accompanies this unit and should be given on the suggested assessment day or after completing the unit.
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In this unit, students begin to orally explore different types of sentences. Students learn how to craft questions using different question words and practice asking questions over the course of the unit. Students also learn how to orally construct simple sentences, making sure to include who does something and what they do. Some students may be ready to try writing questions and statements during this unit, but at this point, the main focus is on practicing both orally.
In this unit, students begin to learn how to write informative texts to teach back information they learn from a collection of texts. Particularly, students focus on adding details to their drawings in order to explain key facts.
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collect crop fall/autumn forecasting harvest jagged narrow observe record ripe smooth stem vine weather wide
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Discussion
RI.K.1
SL.K.1
SL.K.6
L.K.1.d
L.K.2.b
Brainstorm one or two questions about fall by asking and answering questions about details from a discussion.
Fall Weather pp. 4 – 19
K-ESS2-1
K-ESS3-2
RI.K.1
RI.K.2
SL.K.1
SL.K.6
Describe what weather is like in the fall.
Why Do... pp. 1 – 16
RI.K.1
RI.K.2
RI.K.4
SL.K.1
SL.K.6
Explain what happens to a tree’s leaves as the tree gets ready for winter by using words and illustrations to retell key details in a text.
Why Do... p. 17 — to end
RI.K.1
RI.K.2
SL.K.1
SL.K.6
Explain why leaves change color by using words and illustrations to retell key details in a text.
Writing
L.K.1.f
Orally produce complete simple sentences.
Autumn Leaves
RI.K.1
RI.K.2
SL.K.1
SL.K.6
Describe what different leaves look like in the fall.
Leaf Man
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
Identify where Leaf Man goes by retelling events in a story.
Leaves
RL.K.1
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
Explain why the little bear was confused and what advice you could give the little bear about what was happening with the leaves
We're Going On ...
RL.K.1
RL.K.2
RL.K.3
Retell what happened at the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
Writing
W.K.2
W.K.8
L.K.1
L.K.6
Write an informational text to teach a reader about what happens to leaves in the fall.
Fall Harvests — skip pp. 6-11
RI.K.1
RI.K.2
RI.K.3
Explain what a harvest is and what types of food can be harvested in the fall.
The Pumpkin Book — Stop at page 20
RI.K.1
RI.K.2
RI.K.3
Retell two to three key facts about pumpkins.
The Pumpkin Book pp. 7 – 16
RI.K.1
RI.K.3
Explain how pumpkins grow.
Apples
RI.K.1
RI.K.2
RI.K.3
Retell two to three key details about apples.
Writing
W.K.2
W.K.8
L.K.1
L.K.6
Write an informational text to teach a reader about pumpkins or apples in the fall.
Assessment
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