Autumn



Remember:
one leaf - two leaves!

 

What may be
"new words"
are in italic;
 many words
can be presented
with drawings.

 

 

Explain in English what autumn is in an easy way. In my fifth classes I use to hand out a few words, which we read together such as:

"Autumnal Equinox or autumn is commonly known as fall, named after the falling leaves. The fall season officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere on September 22nd.
Nights get longer, days get shorter, temperatures begin to cool and trees begin to change their colour."

We talk about what is changing in the nature.
Probably the children will first talk about the leaves. You/they can bring leaves in the classroom and use them to repeat colours, numbers, sizes.
You can make some crafts with leaves:
Leaf stamping
Leaf rubbings
Leaf people
Pressed leaves


I do not expect the elder kids to read the following lines on their own, but it may be nice to read  these words together:
"Leaves have a very important job, they soak up energy from the sun and turn it into food for the tree. During the winter there isn't enough light for the leaves to turn into food. Therefore, the leaves of the trees begin to change from green to various shades of yellow, red and orange. The leaves then fall from the trees."

The children know that some animals in autumn do something special: some kind of birds migrate, because the winter is cold and they won't be able to find food enough.

Some children may remember animals as for example squirrels, bears, hedhoges, tortoises, and so on.
Make a poster with the children's drawings and the names of the animals and what they eat - in English!

Squirrels gather food such as nuts and mushrooms during the fall. When they have eaten all they want, they begin to store the food they find, hiding it in many different places. Squirrels usually place the food into tree holes or shallow holes in the ground.

During the fall, bears begin to prepare their hibernation for the winter. First they eat, and eat, and eat! Bears need to gain as much weight as possible,  eating nuts, honey, berries, fish, and what else they can find.
Brown bears and Grizzly bears are capable of gaining as much as 40 pounds per week! WOW! Bears will eat day and night, and rest very little during this time.
They also prepare a den for hibernation, in a hillside, under tree roots, and so on.
Then they are ready to hibernate. Hibernation allows them to rest throughout the winter months when food is hard to find.