Leaf Man & Autumn Leaves

Samantha Boyd
Cynthia Lambert, Kindergarten, River Bend Elementary
October 7, 2013
TYPE OF LESSON
This lesson is based on the book Leaf Man. The teacher will read Leaf Man
(Lois Ehlert) and Autumn Leaves (Ken Robbins) in the morning after the
announcements. The students will go directly into journal writing, where they will
draw a picture about where they think the leaf man would go next. In the afternoon,
after specials, the students will make their own leaf man.
CONTEXT OF LESSON
This lesson is appropriate for my practicum kindergarten class at this time
because the seasons are changing and the leaves are falling off the trees. After
recess they look at the line of trees on their way inside and see which ones have the
most of each color. They have asked questions like, Why do the leaves change
color? and Why do the leaves fall off the trees? This tells me they are interested
in the topic and would enjoy learning about it. It is also important for the students
to learn about these natural phenomena because it gives them a better
understanding of nature and their world. Beyond the science portion of this, it is
vital for students to be creative and this art lesson will enable that.
OBJECTIVES AND ASSESSMENT
Developmental Objectives
1. The student will draw a picture about
the leaf man and write about it in their
journal.

2. The student will create his/her leaf

man and describe it as a person or an
animal.

Plan for Assessment

The teacher will collect the journals and
have the students describe the picture
and read their sentence or story to the
teacher. The teacher will know if they
have written about the leaf man based
on what they tell her. Their picture
should show leaves.
The teacher will have the students share
their leaf men with each other during
table jobs. She will collect their artwork
and review it with them, asking them
about their piece and how they came up
with their idea.

COLLECTION OF ASSESSMENT DATA

Please see the attached data collection form.

RELATED VA STANDARDS OF LEARNING

K.1 a) Listen to a variety of literary forms, including stories and poems.
(English, Oral Language, growth in oral language)
K.9 g) Discuss characters, setting, and events. (English, Reading, fictional
texts)
K.10 a) Use pictures to identify topic and make predictions. (English,
Reading, nonfiction texts)
K.12 b) Draw pictures and/or use letters and phonetically spelled words to
describe pictures or write about experiences (English, Writing,
communicating ideas)
K.9 a) The student will investigate and understand that there are simple
repeating patterns in his/her daily life. Key concepts include weather
observations. (Science, Earth Patterns, Cycles, and Change)
K. 3 The student will follow a sequence of steps used in creating works of art.
(Visual Arts, Visual Communication and Production)
K. 6 The student will create works of art that include the human figure as
subject matter. (Visual Arts, Visual Communication and Production)
MATERIALS NEEDED
Leaf Man Samantha
Autumn Leaves Samantha
Student journals Mrs. Lambert
Pencils Mrs. Lambert
Crayons Mrs. Lambert
Leaves Samantha & Mrs. Lambert
Googly eyes Samantha
Glue Mrs. Lambert
PROCEDURE
PREPARATION OF THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
The teacher will have the books ready in the morning with her lesson plan
close by. The journals will be set out on each students desk with their pencil box.
At the Leaf Man job table there will be a cup of googly eyes, paper, leaves, glue, and
pencils for the students to use.
INTRODUCTION AND ORGANIZATION
The teacher will introduce the activity to the children by telling them, We
are going to read a few books this morning: Leaf Man and Autumn Leaves. This is a
normal routine for them. After reading, the students will be sent to their desks to
complete their journal work.
Following specials, the teacher will have the students sit on the rug and will
explain to them what they will be doing at the different table jobs, their daily
routine. One of the table jobs is making a leaf man. During table jobs, they will be
split up based on their reading groups because one of their daily jobs involves going

to reading group. They will cycle through the table jobs as they finish each one. The
students and teacher will sing the clean-up song when it is time to do so.
IMPLEMENTATION
Once the books Leaf Man and Autumn Leaves are introduced to the children,
the teacher will give the children the name of the author and illustrator and will ask
a few questions. Autumn Leaves will be read first.
- Autumn Leaves:
o Do you know why leaves change color?
o What color leaves have you seen?
o Do all leaves look alike? What makes them look different?
- Leaf Man:
o Show the students the front and back covers.
o Have you ever seen a leaf man?
o What do you think he does?
o Do any leaves look familiar that you see on this book?
o Have you ever seen leaves in all of these colors?
Throughout the book, the teacher will ask questions and make comments
that go along with the topic and interests of the students.
- Autumn Leaves:
o Autumn and Fall are just different words for the same season.
o On the page where it describes how leaves are different, talk about
diversity and how people are different, yet all important.
o What trees are in the Shenandoah Valley? (Birch, Cherry,
Dogwood, Poplar Maple)
- Leaf Man:
o What animals do you see?
o What is a marsh? (A wetland where lots of grasses grow and
where ducks like to hang out.)
o When do you see pumpkins? What season do you think this story
is taking place during?
o When have you heard the word orchard before? What is an
orchard? (Apple orchard; Planting trees for food)
o When the author writes, Where a Leaf Man will land, only the
wind knows, have the students predict where he will go.
Once done with the books, the teacher will ask the students what they
learned about leaves and where they think the leaf man will go next. She will then
explain the journal assignment and tell them that they will have the opportunity to
make their own leaf man later in the day after specials.
Upon returning from specials, the students will sit down on the carpet and
the teacher will flip through Leaf Man and will remind the children of the different
animals and people that were pictured in the book. She will explain how to make a
leaf man and what they are to do at that table job. The supplies will be ready and
they will already be split up into their groups. There will be a teacher or parent
helper at this job to assist the kids with their leaf men.

CLOSURE
Reflecting on the reading experience will be done through the journal entry
and through making their leaf man. The transition from the books to the journal
entry will be smooth. Once the teacher asks them what they learned and where they
think the leaf man will go, she will tell them to write their answers down in their
journal and draw a picture to go with it. After returning from specials, the teacher
will remind the students about their readings and have them split up into their jobs.
Once they are finished with one job, they will go on to the next. This is their normal
daily routine, so the transitions are smooth. Every job will have something to do
with leaves.
CLEAN-UP
There is no clean up necessary for the reading or journal entry time. Each
student will pick up his/her mess before going to the next job once they get to the
Leaf Man activity. The helper for the day will sweep up the broken leaves off the
floor and make sure all glue sticks are put away. The teacher will make sure the
station is clean and ready for the next activity.
DIFFERENTIATION
This lesson has been planned to meet the needs and interests of a variety of
children. The reading encompasses two genres: fiction/storybook (Leaf Man) and
nonfiction (Autumn Leaves). This allows for two different ways to learn about the
same topic. The pictures in both books will help those students with limited English
proficiency. The teacher will talk about the different types of trees and where they
are found in different countries and cultures. Nature is a universal topic, so there is
little need to worry about being culturally sensitive.
This lesson involves three major disciplines: English, Science, and Art. This
will benefit the left-brain and right-brain learners and allow the students to exercise
both sides of their brains. It gives the opportunity to practice what theyve been
doing with letters and reading, as well as allows them to have some fun and be
creative.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO
ABOUT IT?
- Problem: The students dont answer any questions regarding the books.
Solution: Ask the children different questions individually, going around
in a circle.
- Problem: There arent enough leaves for the students to make their own
leaf men.
Solution: Go outside on a leaf hunt with the kids.
- Problem: The students dont understand why leaves change color.
Solution: Explain it to them in a different way and have their peers try to
explain what they understand to the group.

Leaf Man Lesson

Reflection Questions
1. How did youre actual lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes
you made and explain why you made them. Be thorough & specific in your
description.
Much of my lesson did not go exactly as planned. I doubt many lessons I
complete will ever go perfectly as planned. Children require flexibility and thats
what I had to do for them during this lesson. Almost every aspect of this lesson was
changed at least a little during the actual lesson. The read aloud questions were
different than I had planned, the creation of a leaf man changed, and the clean up
was a little different. The same ideas were presented, but the methods were
changed a little.
To begin, we read two books. When presenting my ideas to my teacher I was
hoping to allow the children to choose the order of the books, but she did not like
that idea, so I was unable to do that. The questions I had prepared were relevant to
the books and topic, but I did not use all of them. I fed off of the childrens responses
to the books and asked questions that were more appropriate in that moment.
Every child I read those books to is going to have different reactions and questions.
One specific question that did not work for this class was, When the author writes,
Where a leaf man will land, only the wind knows, have the students predict where
he will go. That concept was a little too much for my kindergarten class, so I just
continued without asking it.

The actual creative art assignment was creating a leaf man. As we were
setting up the assignment, my cooperating teacher gave me the idea to have them
create a leaf creature instead of a leaf man. This allows for more creative thinking.
We were not planning on having them draw around their leaf creature, but they
wanted to, so we werent going to stifle their creativity. I was planning on flipping
through the Leaf Man, but once I started doing that the students would try to copy a
certain creature on a page. We decided that was not helping them be creative so
decided not to show them the book a second time.
Finally, the clean up portion of the assignment happened differently than
expected. We were running late completing the assignment and getting to our next
special, so instead of having the daily helper clean up with me, I just went ahead and
cleaned it up myself. My cooperating teacher helped me as well. We didnt want to
waste the childrens time by making them clean up when they were going to a
special.
2. Quantify and summarize the data you collected on each objective. What
were you able to learn about individual children and the group? Cite multiple
examples of student behavior & language that document your conclusions.
I collected data on two boys in the class and observed the rest of the children
completing the assignment. I sat at the table where they were working on the
project so I was able to accurately observe. I created two objectives for this lesson:
1. The student will draw a picture about the leaf man and write about it in
their journal.
2. The student will create his leaf man and describe it as a person or animal.

The first objective was the one I was sure wasnt going to go as well. The
majority of the kindergarteners in my class are not yet reading. They can certainly
draw a picture and write some letters, but usually the letters dont correspond with
what they are trying to say. As we were collecting the journals I saw that many
children were able to tell me what they drew and most had leaves in the picture in
some way. I was surprised with their writing abilities as well.
They seemed to really enjoy this assignment because it was a creative
thinking journal. They were to write about where the leaf man would go next. It
was fun seeing that most of them had very logical responses: the pumpkin patch, the
apple orchard, the woods, etc. It showed me that as a whole the students
understood that this was about fall and the logical places for the leaf man to go
would be somewhere that had to do with fall. Mike had his leaf man in the pumpkin
patch, while Jacob had his in the jungle.
The second objective was fulfilled through the art assignment later in the
afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised with how creative the children were with the
leaf man activity. They created many different kinds of creatures and put them in
different settings. As a whole I was interested in how they tried to copy one
another. A ton of them wanted to make turtles and put them in the pumpkin patch
as Mike had. I had to redirect them to think about another creature they could
make. Jacob had no problem diving into this assignment creatively. He is a very
artistic five year old.

3. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally

appropriate practice in a better or more thorough way if you were to present
this lesson again.
If I were to do this assignment again, I would make sure to have many
different kinds of leaves and have the students see them up close. It is important for
this age to be able to feel and see things they are learning about. I would allow them
to pass the leaves around and possibly play a game with the different kinds of
leaves. Kids love games and a little competition in the classroom. I would also make
sure to have better questions for the read aloud portion of the lesson. I have better
ideas of what to ask now that I have done the assignment. I still believe it is very
important to feed of the feedback the children are giving you though.
4. If you were the teacher in this classroom, what follow-up experiences
would you plan? (Develop your answer based on the data that was collected
and your observations during the lesson.)
If I were the teacher I would make sure to share the leaf creatures. We were
not able to do that in small groups due to the chaotic atmosphere in the classroom
on the day I was completing my lesson. I would have the kids sit down on the rug
and tell their peers about their leaf creature. This allows them to show ownership
of their project and be proud of what they created.
Something that my cooperating teacher has done a few times is give the
children the opportunity to make a class book about something. They absolutely
love this and show me the books every time I come in and there is a new one. I think
it would benefit them to create a class leaf man book. They could each illustrate one

page and all tell the story of where the leaf man is going and what he is doing. This
fosters cooperation within the class and allows for ownership.
Based on the feedback I received in my observations, I would make sure to go
over different ecosystems and what kinds of animals live where. I have never seen a
turtle in a pumpkin patch, so giving the children the appropriate locations of a turtle
would help them in the future with creative projects like this. I would also have
them investigate different ecosystems and create a project on it as a group. It would
have to be a very simple activity, but this also fosters cooperation within the class
and that is something this class needs.
5. Describe how you incorporated Interaction Guide #4 Ask questions that
make children think. Share specific questions you used successfully and
childrens responses.
I had three specific questions I asked my students that I believe really made
them think. Where would the leaf man go next? What season is this taking place
during? How do you know? What do you think the leaf man does? The first
question is a critical thinking question and allows some creativity on the part of the
children. This question was asked through their journal entries. From the pumpkin
patch to the beach, there were quite a variety of responses.
My second question helped me see if I explained the book well enough before
reading it. The children should be able to answer that the story is taking place in the
fall because of the color of the leaves and that the leaves are falling from the trees.
That is something they have learned in the past, so it is a sort of informal
assessment to see if they have actually been learning in class. Finally, the last

question would be asked while doing a picture walk before reading the book. It
would allow the children to do story telling based on what they see. It is an
important concept for them to learn before learning to read.

Data Collection Sheet

Leaf Man Lesson
Lesson Objectives

Behavioral
Indicators

Mike

Jacob

Objective #1
The student will
draw a picture
about the Leaf Man
and write about it in
their journal.
The teacher will
collect the journals
and have the
students describe
the picture and read
their sentence or
story to the teacher.
The teacher will
know if they have
written about the
leaf man based on
what they tell her.
Their picture should
show leaves.
Mike wrote, A leaf
man is going to
pumpkin patch. He
drew grass and two
pumpkins with a
person. The person
had leaf arms and
regular legs.
Jacob drew a
picture of what he
described to me as a
leaf man in the
jungle. There were
trees with red
leaves and a smiling
red man. There
were no words or
letters in the journal
entry.

Objective #2
The student will
create his/her leaf
man and describe it
as a person or an
animal.
The teacher will have
the students share
their leaf men with
each other during
table jobs. She will
collect their artwork
and review it with
them, asking them
about their piece and
how they came up
with their idea.

He made a leaf turtle

that was going to the
pumpkin patch. He
said he likes turtles
and fall, so he wanted
to put the turtle there.
He first wanted to
create a turtle, but I
asked him to choose
another creature
because a few other
children had done
turtles. He chose a
gorilla and put him in
the jungle. He used
the leaves as body
parts and the head.
The head was
disconnected from
the rest of the body,
so he drew a line as
the neck.

Cues for Subsequent

Experiences

The teacher will

listen for language
that indicates a
desire to explore the
topic further or not.
She will also consider
behavior when
developing follow-up
plans.

Mike would benefit

from studying
pumpkins further,
since he has an
interest in them.
Maybe a trip to the
pumpkin patch
would be a good idea.
Jacob clearly likes
the jungle, so he
would probably be
very interested in
studying different
ecosystems and what
kinds of animals live
in them.