autumn & trees - teaching students with visual impairments leaves begin to change colors, days...

Autumn & Trees

1 Hands-On Units by Carmen Willings Teaching Students with Visual Impairments teachingvisuallyimpaired.com

Autumn & Trees This Curriculum is designed for students in elementary school who are Blind or Visually Impaired with additional disabilities who are not following the standard course of study. Unit Introduction As leaves begin to change colors, days get shorter and colder, it is a natural time to discuss the change of season and to discuss Autumn, trees and activities associated with the season. Students can hear the crackle of dried leaves as they walk, feel the crispness in the air, and smell leaves burning.

Unit Objectives: Students will identify why leaves change colors. Students will identify different activities that are associated with autumn. Students will identify ways that animals prepare for the winter during autumn. Include

traits that assist them in survival. Students will identify that fallen leaves make food for a plant. Students will identify weather patterns in autumn (starts to get colder) Students will identify living resources associated with autumn. Students will identify jobs associated with autumn and different ways to earn money.

Introduce the Unit Introduce the unit by presenting materials related to the unit on the table or on a tray. Encourage students to explore the materials visually and tactually. Encourage the students to either verbally identify the objects or to obtain the requested object. Present print/braille labels of each object presented. Encourage the students to read the words. Discuss what the object is used for. Challenge students to predict the topic based on the objects presented and discussion. Provide various powered magnifying glasses and if available, a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV). Have students examine the materials under the magnifying glasses. Possible MATERIALS for this unit include but are not limited to: acorns berries brown lunch bags cider gourds

hay leaf bags pinecones rake real leaves

scarecrow silk leaves twigs walnuts

Riddles Help students develop familiarity and understanding of the materials and vocabulary by presenting the students with riddles and encouraging students to touch or tell the object:

By name (ex. Find the acorn.) When presented with the print/braille word, match the word to the object (ex. Match the

word berry to the berry.) By description (ex. Find the one that is brown, long and thin) By function (ex. Find the object that is used to gather leaves into a pile.) By texture (ex. Find the object that is hard and prickly.)

Autumn & Trees


Nature Feely Bag Encourage students to reach inside a bag and try to identify objects related to Autumn. Once students have identified the object, have them match it up to the written words. These could be items collected on a nature walk (acorn, leaf, pine needles, etc.) I Spy Leaves Scatter leaves around the classroom at a variety of heights within students reach. Encourage students to visually scan to locate and obtain leaves. Fill-in-the-Blank Present student with simple sentences using the objects. Omit the object words from the sentence and encourage the students to collaboratively or independently complete the sentences by selecting the word paired with the object that would complete the sentence.

1. A rake is used to gather leaves into a pile. 2. Squirrels gather acorns for the winter. 3. Leaves fall from trees in Autumn. 4. Farmers use scarecrows to keep birds from eating their crop.

Unit Vocabulary Building & Web Present students with pre-printed cards (using a simple, bold font such as Arial and in a large font for comfortable distance viewing, add braille as needed) with vocabulary words related to the unit. Present each word and assist as needed in sounding out the word. When possible, pair objects or pictures (e.g., slide show, PowerPoint, photo, etc.) with each vocabulary word. Provide a brief verbal description of each word. Possible Vocabulary Words for this unit include but are not limited to: acorns bags berries birch brown burning cider

cobwebs cold corn fall football gourd hay

hayride leaf blower leaves maple nuts oak orange

pinecone rake red scarecrow yellow

. Inform the students that these words have things in common and can be grouped together. Present a simple web with headings of categories. Have students take turns coming to the front, reading the word and placing in the category where it may belong. If the student has difficulty, encourage them to request help (e.g., “I need help” programmed on a switch” and allow them to select a peer to help them). Sometimes a word could belong in more than one category. When this happens, allow students to select where they would like it to go, or write the word on two cards and place it in both categories. Possible Web Categories include:

Types of trees: birch, maple, oak, walnut Fall colors: orange, brown, red, yellow Fall activities: football, raking, burning , blowing, hayride Products of Trees: acorns, berries, leaves, nuts Signs of Autumn: bags, cider, cobwebs, corn, gourd, hay, scarecrow

During this activity, students may generate words that are not printed on the cards. If the words

Autumn & Trees


are related to the topic, write the word on a card and place it in the correct category on the web. If the students think of additional categories, encourage them to use those ideas for further study and research. Autumn Memory Game Place a variety of autumn related objects in front of the students on a tray (ex. Acorns, rocks, shells, twigs, leaves, gourds, etc.). Encourage the students to visually and tactually scan the various items. Briefly remove the tray and remove one of the items. Return the tray and encourage the students to recall what item is missing. Extend the activity by removing more items and encourage the students to recall all missing items. Autumn Mad Lib Tell the students that you are going to make a silly story about Autumn. To do this, you will ask them to provide a part of speech. Go through the Mad Lib and ask students to provide you with nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, exclamations, etc. Use MadLibs or create your own. Ex. In Autumn it starts to get (adjective) and gets (adjective) early. The (plural noun) turn pretty colors on the trees and then they (verb) to the ground. It can be fun to jump and (verb) in the (plural noun). You gather them with a rake and put them in a (noun), burn them or place them in a compost pile to (verb) food for plants! Autumn Riddles Following classroom discussions about various types of transportation, encourage students to determine the vehicle based on the description. Ex.

1. This falls from evergreen trees. It is round and prickly. (pinecone) 2. This tool gathers leaves into a pile. (rake) 3. This is used to keep birds out of cornfields. (scarecrow),

Autumn Word Match Display a variety of autumn related objects. Have student’s identify the item. Next, encourage the students to match the objects to printed labels. Leaf, lawn bag, football, hay, acorn, nut, berry, Indian corn, rake, cider, gourd, etc. Scrambled Fact Sentences Declarative 1. In the fall, the leaves change colors. 2. In the fall the temperature gets cooler. 3. In the fall people begin to change their summer clothes to warmer clothes. 4. Fall is a time when farmers harvest crops. Imperative 1. Go rake the leaves. 2. Go pick up the acorns. 3. Don't let the dog eat the acorns.

Exclamatory 1. Stop jumping in the leaf pile! 2. Those leaves are beautiful! 3. Ouch! That acorn fell on my head! Interrogatory 1. Do you like the smell of burning leaves? 2. What is your favorite Autumn activity. 3. Have you ever played in a leaf pile?

Autumn & Trees


Reading Foundations

These activities, accessible to students who are blind and visually impaired and their sighted peers, are designed to build students' phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, understanding and knowledge of concepts of print, the alphabetic principle, and other basic conventions of the English writing system. Developing a strong reading foundation is a necessary part of reading program in order to develop proficient readers. Choose from the following activities, with the unit, to meet your students unique learning needs.

Activities To Develop Listening Skills What's That Sound? Talk to the students about the importance of sounds and how they give us information. Record a variety of fall sounds (ex. Raking leaves, wind, howling, leaf blower, crumpling leaves, etc.) Encourage students to identify the sounds. Extend the activity by having students locate the object or printed word to match the activity. End the activity by summarizing the importance of sounds and how they convey meaning. Sequencing Sounds Have the students listen to recordings from nature walk. When they are done listening, have them tell you what order they heard the sounds in. "Scarecrow" Says Listening Students practice directional and body concepts by playing Scarecrow Says (Scarecriw Says, put your fingers on your ears, etc). Move body in relation to objects (acorn, pine cone, etc). Stand beside, step over, etc. Have students place their fingers on your: ears, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, hair, hand, feet, brain, heart, stomach, shoulders, knees, elbows, ankles, wrist. Make the activity more challenging by having the student put hand on foot, elbow on knee, nose on knee, etc. Ex. "Scarecrow says, put your acorn/leaf/pine cone on your head." "I'm Going on a Trip" Sitting together as a group, have the students decide on a place to take an imaginary trip hiking in the woods. The first student will share an item to bring (e.g., "I'm bringing bug spray'). The second student will repeat the last student's item and then share their own (e.g., "We're bringing bug spray and a backpack). Continue around the circle until someone forgets a previously mentioned item. You can then choose to end the game, or start a new trip.

Phonological Awareness Activities Rhyming Have students come up with a list of words that rhyme with autumn words. Provide clues to help students come up with additional words. nut. but, cut, gut, hut, jut, nut, rut, shut, strut, tut, beechnut, chestnut, clean-cut, crosscut, haircut, peanut, shortcut, uncut, walnut, butternut, hazelnut, uppercut hay bray, lay, clay, bay, neigh, day, gray, jay, may, pay, ray, stay, tray

Autumn & Trees


twig rig, big, dig fall ball, call, doll, hall, crawl Blending Guess Have students blend and identify a unit word that is stretched out into its basic component sounds. Tell the students that you are going to say a word using "snail talk", a slow way of saying words (e.g., /llllleeeaaffffff/ for leaf). Encourage the students to determine what word is being said. Autumn Syllable Count Present the students with a variety of autumn related objects (leaf, acorn, hay, football, nut, berry, cider, gourd, pumpkin, rake, pinecone). Clap out the syllables for each word. Have the words written on leaf cut-outs and have students sort the leaves by the number of syllables in their name. Autumn Lotto Game Find stickers or pictures of autumn related pictures. Use them to create a Lotto Game. Create various boards. Have some boards with various levels of visual discrimination required. Create a large tactual lotto board for those that are tactual learners or unable to discriminate pictures. Attach the items to the board and provide a duplicate set on cards for students to attach to the board with Velcro.

Phonics & Word Recognition Case Match Die Cut Use a leaf die cut to create a variety of colored leaves. Write the letters of the alphabet in upper on one set and the lower case on the other set of leaves. Scatter the leaves around the room or gathering area and encourage the students to scan to locate the leaves. Once all leaves have been found, have the students match the uppercase to lowercase letters. Have students place them in alphabetical order. Adaptation: Encourage student to match objects or pictures with the same beginning letter. From A to Z Write the names of words associated with autumn, action words associated with autumn, or names of various deciduous trees on leaves on leaf cut outs. Accentuate the first letter (when writing in print). Scatter the leaves around the classroom at various heights. Encourage the students to visually scan to locate the leaves. After students collect the leaves, assist the students in lining them up in alphabetical order. Provide duplicate words and encourage the students to find the matches. Assist the students in sounding out the words.

acorn berry cobweb deciduous elm fir gourd

hay Indian corn jump kick leaf blower maple tree nuts

oak pine cone rake scarecrow smoke tree wood

Adaptation: Locate objects/pictures of theme related items and present these to the students paired with an auditory description. This is an acorn. Acorn starts with the letter "a". "A" says

Autumn & Trees


"aaaaa". Can you touch the acorn? Encourage student to touch the picture of the acorn in order to advance to the next picture (may be presented on iPad) Build-a-Word Provide the students with vocabulary words from the unit along with needed letter tiles in print/braille. Encourage the students to create the word(s) using their letter tiles. Alternatively, present a choice of three letters for the student to choose from as a letter is requested in order to build the word. Enhance the activity by discussing the letter sounds each letter makes and words that begin with that letter. Adaptation. Provide students with objects or pictures of unit related items. Discuss the sound the initial letter makes and compare to other words that begin with the same sound. Word Family Sort (rimes) Attach a cut out of a nut or leaf or glue the object to the outside of a brown sandwich bag with the top rolled down. Label the leaf with the word "red" and the nut with the word "nut". Provide a collection of "-ut" and "-ed" word family words. n-ut. but, cut, gut, hut, jut, nut, rut, shut, strut, tut, beechnut, chestnut, clean-cut, crosscut, haircut, peanut, shortcut, uncut, walnut, butternut, hazelnut, uppercut r-ed. bed, bled, bred, fed, fled, led, shed, ted, wed, bloodshed, bobsled, coed, cornfed, crossbed, dayded, deathbed, dogsled, embed, flatbed, hotbed, inbred, moped, misled, outsped, riverbed, toolshed, woodshed, featherbed, underfed chipm-unk. bunk, chunk, clunk, drunk, dunk, flunk, funk, gunk, hunk, junk, plunk, shrunk, skunk, slunk, spunk, stunk, sunk, thunk, trunk, debunk nutsh-ell. bell, cell, dell, dwell, fell, sell, smell, shell, spell, swell, tell, well, yell, clamshell, inkwell, misspell, seashell, stairwell, upwell Word Jumbles How many words can students make from existing Autumn words. Provide each student or small group of students with letter tiles or cards to form the word(s). Have students move letter tiles around to try to create as many new words as possible. Encourage students to write down the created words. Autumn ant, nut, man, tan, mat Leaves seal, sale, eve, lease Leafblower row, blow, bow, flow, slow, sale, bale, fall, sell Onset-Rime Partner Up Create a set of cards with unit related words and pictures/objects/tactile graphics. Leave off the first letter or letter blend at the beginning of each word and replace it with a Velcro dot. Provide students with letters and blends to match that will create the correct word. Sort by onset Provide students with baskets labeled with cut outs of theme related items labeled with vocabulary words and onsets to focus on. Provide students with words written on the cut outs that use these onsets to place in the correct container. Encourage students to read the word and use it in a sentence before placing it in the correct holder. If students need help, allow them

Autumn & Trees


to ask peers for assistance. ex. l-eaf. left, large, land, lead, list, lamp r-ake. rest, ripe, read, rope, ramp sc-arecrow. scare, scant, scold, score Words we know Present students with vocabulary words they know from the unit. Have students use consonants and consonant blends printed on cards to create new words. Provide shakers or musical instruments for each student. Have students take turns drawing consonants and blends from the draw pile. If they created a real word, shake the shakers signifying it's a real word. Encourage students to use the word in a sentence. Place the words on the word wall. Compound Words Discuss with students how compound words are made when two words are put together to form a new word. Inform students that they are going to play a game with compound words. Provide each student with part of a compound word. Have each student read their word out loud prior to the activity. Next have students find a peer that has a word that can be added to the beginning or end of their word to create a new word. Select known or common words. After students make a match, provide them with new cards.

Autumn & Trees


Reading Foundations

These activities, accessible to students who are blind and visually impaired and their sighted peers, are designed to build students' phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, understanding and knowledge of concepts of print, the alphabetic principle, and other basic conventions of the English writing system. Developing a strong reading foundation is a necessary part of reading program in order to develop proficient readers. Choose from the following activities, with the unit, to meet your students unique learning needs.

Activities To Develop Listening Habits What's That Sound? Talk to the students about the importance of sounds and how they give us information. Record a variety of fall sounds (ex. Raking leaves, wind, howling, leaf blower, crumpling leaves, etc.) Encourage students to identify the sounds. Extend the activity by having students locate the object or printed word to match the activity. End the activity by summarizing the importance of sounds and how they convey meaning. Sequencing Sounds Have the students listen to recordings from nature walk. When they are done listening, have them tell you what order they heard the sounds in. "Scarecrow" Says Listening Students practice directional and body concepts by playing Scarecrow Says (Scarecriw Says, put your fingers on your ears, etc). Move body in relation to objects (acorn, pine cone, etc). Stand beside, step over, etc. Have students place their fingers on your: ears, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, hair, hand, feet, brain, heart, stomach, shoulders, knees, elbows, ankles, wrist. Make the activity more challenging by having the student put hand on foot, elbow on knee, nose on knee, etc. Ex. "Scarecrow says, put your acorn/leaf/pine cone on your head." "I'm Going on a Trip" Sitting together as a group, have the students decide on a place to take an imaginary trip hiking in the woods. The first student will share an item to bring (e.g., "I'm bringing bug spray'). The second student will repeat the last student's item and then share their own (e.g., "We're bringing bug spray and a backpack). Continue around the circle until someone forgets a previously mentioned item. You can then choose to end the game, or start a new trip.

Phonological Awareness Activities Rhyming Have students come up with a list of words that rhyme with autumn words. Provide clues to help students come up with additional words. nut. but, cut, gut, hut, jut, nut, rut, shut, strut, tut, beechnut, chestnut, clean-cut, crosscut, haircut, peanut, shortcut, uncut, walnut, butternut, hazelnut, uppercut hay bray, lay, clay, bay, neigh, day, gray, jay, may, pay, ray, stay, tray

Autumn & Trees


twig rig, big, dig fall ball, call, doll, hall, crawl Blending Guess Have students blend and identify a unit word that is stretched out into its basic component sounds. Tell the students that you are going to say a word using "snail talk", a slow way of saying words (e.g., /llllleeeaaffffff/ for leaf). Encourage the students to determine what word is being said. Autumn Syllable Count Present the students with a variety of autumn related objects (leaf, acorn, hay, football, nut, berry, cider, gourd, pumpkin, rake, pinecone). Clap out the syllables for each word. Have the words written on leaf cut-outs and have students sort the leaves by the number of syllables in their name. Autumn Lotto Game Find stickers or pictures of autumn related pictures. Use them to create a Lotto Game. Create various boards. Have some boards with various levels of visual discrimination required. Create a large tactual lotto board for those that are tactual learners or unable to discriminate pictures. Attach the items to the board and provide a duplicate set on cards for students to attach to the board with Velcro.

Phonics & Word Recognition Case Match Die Cut Use a leaf die cut to create a variety of colored leaves. Write the letters of the alphabet in upper on one set and the lower case on the other set of leaves. Scatter the leaves around the room or gathering area and encourage the students to scan to locate the leaves. Once all leaves have been found, have the students match the uppercase to lowercase letters. Have students place them in alphabetical order. Adaptation: Encourage student to match objects or pictures with the same beginning letter. From A to Z Write the names of words associated with autumn, action words associated with autumn, or names of various deciduous trees on leaves on leaf cut outs. Accentuate the first letter (when writing in print). Scatter the leaves around the classroom at various heights. Encourage the students to visually scan to locate the leaves. After students collect the leaves, assist the students in lining them up in alphabetical order. Provide duplicate words and encourage the students to find the matches. Assist the students in sounding out the words. acorn berry cobweb deciduous elm fir gourd

hay Indian corn jump kick leaf blower maple tree nuts

oak pine cone rake scarecrow smoke tree wood

Adaptation: Locate objects/pictures of theme related items and present these to the students paired with an auditory description. This is an acorn. Acorn starts with the letter "a". "A" says

Autumn & Trees


"aaaaa". Can you touch the acorn? Encourage student to touch the picture of the acorn in order to advance to the next picture (may be presented on iPad) Build-a-Word Provide the students with vocabulary words from the unit along with needed letter tiles in print/braille. Encourage the students to create the word(s) using their letter tiles. Alternatively, present a choice of three letters for the student to choose from as a letter is requested in order to build the word. Enhance the activity by discussing the letter sounds each letter makes and words that begin with that letter. Adaptation. Provide students with objects or pictures of unit related items. Discuss the sound the initial letter makes and compare to other words that begin with the same sound. Word Family Sort (rimes) Attach a cut out of a nut or leaf or glue the object to the outside of a brown sandwich bag with the top rolled down. Label the leaf with the word "red" and the nut with the word "nut". Provide a collection of "-ut" and "-ed" word family words. n-ut. but, cut, gut, hut, jut, nut, rut, shut, strut, tut, beechnut, chestnut, clean-cut, crosscut, haircut, peanut, shortcut, uncut, walnut, butternut, hazelnut, uppercut r-ed. bed, bled, bred, fed, fled, led, shed, ted, wed, bloodshed, bobsled, coed, cornfed, crossbed, dayded, deathbed, dogsled, embed, flatbed, hotbed, inbred, moped, misled, outsped, riverbed, toolshed, woodshed, featherbed, underfed chipm-unk. bunk, chunk, clunk, drunk, dunk, flunk, funk, gunk, hunk, junk, plunk, shrunk, skunk, slunk, spunk, stunk, sunk, thunk, trunk, debunk nutsh-ell. bell, cell, dell, dwell, fell, sell, smell, shell, spell, swell, tell, well, yell, clamshell, inkwell, misspell, seashell, stairwell, upwell Word Jumbles How many words can students make from existing Autumn words. Provide each student or small group of students with letter tiles or cards to form the word(s). Have students move letter tiles around to try to create as many new words as possible. Encourage students to write down the created words. Autumn ant, nut, man, tan, mat Leaves seal, sale, eve, lease Leafblower row, blow, bow, flow, slow, sale, bale, fall, sell Onset-Rime Partner Up Create a set of cards with unit related words and pictures/objects/tactile graphics. Leave off the first letter or letter blend at the beginning of each word and replace it with a Velcro dot. Provide students with letters and blends to match that will create the correct word. Sort by onset Provide students with baskets labeled with cut outs of theme related items labeled with vocabulary words and onsets to focus on. Provide students with words written on the cut outs that use these onsets to place in the correct container. Encourage students to read the word and use it in a sentence before placing it in the correct holder. If students need help, allow them

Autumn & Trees


to ask peers for assistance. ex. l-eaf. left, large, land, lead, list, lamp r-ake. rest, ripe, read, rope, ramp sc-arecrow. scare, scant, scold, score Words we know Present students with vocabulary words they know from the unit. Have students use consonants and consonant blends printed on cards to create new words. Provide shakers or musical instruments for each student. Have students take turns drawing consonants and blends from the draw pile. If they created a real word, shake the shakers signifying it's a real word. Encourage students to use the word in a sentence. Place the words on the word wall. Compound Words Discuss with students how compound words are made when two words are put together to form a new word. Inform students that they are going to play a game with compound words. Provide each student with part of a compound word. Have each student read their word out loud prior to the activity. Next have students find a peer that has a word that can be added to the beginning or end of their word to create a new word. Select known or common words. After students make a match, provide them with new cards.

Autumn & Trees


Language Arts

Literature Related To "Autumn & Trees" Stories A Tree for All Seasons - Bernard Autumn Leaves - Robbins Autumn Leaves - Saunders-Smith Chicken Little Crinkleroot's Guide To Knowing the Trees - Jim Arnosky Frederick – Leo Lionni Hello, Tree! - Joanne Ryder Once There Was A Tree - Natalia Romanova Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf - Lois Ehlert The Oak Tree - Laura Jane Coats The Tremendous Tree Book - May Garelick Tree Trunk Traffic - Bianca Lavies Why Do Leaves Change Colors? - Maestro Poetry A Late Walk – Robert Frost Autumn Fires - Robert Louis Stevenson Going for Water – Robert Frost In Hardwood Groves – Robert Frost October – Robert Frost October Paint – Carl Sandburg Out, Out – Robert Frost The Last Word of a Bluebird – Robert Frost The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost Songs Children's Songs: The Leaves are Falling Down (sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell") – Leaves – Mailbox Magazine

The leaves are falling down, The leaves are falling down,

Red, Orange, Yellow, & Brown, The leaves are falling down.

Pop Culture Songs: Autumn Almanac - The Kinks California Dreamin' - The Mamas and the Papas Forever Autumn - The Moody Blues October - U2 Scarborough Fair - Simon & Garfunkel September - Earth, Wind & Fire

Autumn & Trees


Writing Activities Journal Encourage students to write in their journals about their nature walk. Nature Collage Following the nature walk, use objects collected on the walk such as twigs, seeds, and leaves to create a collage. Afterwards, encourage students to write a poem about the collage or the walk. Dictate and summarize for students who need more support. Leaf Acrostic Cut out a variety of leaf shapes on various color construction paper. Have the students sponge paint with contrasting color paint to resemble real leaves. When the leaves dry, have the students glue the leaves around the edge of a large piece of paper to create a border. Have the students write an acrostic about fall or leaves and glue to the middle of the paper.

Autumn & Trees


Mathematics

The activities identified here are designed to help students gain a thorough understanding of concepts through hands on experiences with materials related to the current topic of study. All students need to begin math understanding with real materials. Exploration of materials is beneficial in supporting all student’s understanding in mathematical and logical thinking. This will also reinforce concepts being taught throughout the unit and variety of materials to complete math problems will add variety and help students transfer their skills. Select activities based on each students unique learning needs.

Numbers & Counting Acorn Count Provide students with a collection of acorns. Encourage them to count various sets of acorns. Have the students compare sets to determine which set is greater than, less than or the same as the objects in another group. Present groups of acorns to students. Encourage the students to group the acorns together by 2’s to determine if the amount is odd or even. Have students group and count acorns by 5s and 10s to 20, 50, or 100 as able. Leaf Number Match Create a leaf number match on a poster board or in a file folder. Attach leaves numbered from 1 to 10 around the board. Create a matching set of leaves with numbers or tactual dots for the students to match. Count & Number Sequence Present students with small brown bags rolled down at the top to resemble leaf bags that are labeled in print/braille with numbers 1 to 10 or more if able. Add tactual dots for students who need additional support. Have the students place the corresponding number of acorns in the numbered containers. Have the students arrange the containers in numeric order. Leaf Pile Number Sequence Create a leaf pile on a poster with the title "Leaf Pile Number Sequence". Randomly place Velcro dots on the leaf pile to attach numbers to in random order. Next, place equally spaced Velcro dots along the bottom of the board. Encourage the students to obtain leaves and place them in sequential order from 1 to 10. How Many Acorns? Have students determine “how many” in created sets of acorns. Place the acorns in 6 count or 12 count muffin tins. Encourage students to write the number that corresponds to the amount in a set on cards or provide pre-numbered cards for the students to place in the corresponding tin. You may choose to attach Velcro to ensure cards remain in place. Arrange the cards from least to most.

Operations & Algebra Addition & Subtraction Problems Ask students addition and subtraction questions using the materials. Ask questions involving situations where one is “adding to,” taking from,” “putting together” and “taking apart”. Add and

Autumn & Trees


subtract up to a sum of 5, 10, or 20 as able. Possible questions include, but are not limited to: If you have 5 leaves and 2 acorns, how many nature items do you have in all? Number Lines Place objects along a tactual number line from 0 to 10 to determine whether the number is closer to 0 or 10. Compare to base ten models to help students make the connection. Use these models to count larger amounts with ease. Addition/Subtraction Equation Comparison Using school supplies to create sets, encourage students to compare different equations to determine if equations are true or false. 2 (____) + 3(____) = 4(____) + 1 (____) Multiplication & Division Ask students multiplication and division questions using ___. For example: If you have 9 acorns and want to feed them equally to 3 squirrels, how many would each squirrel get? Encourage students to either use the objects or base ten models to solve multiplication and division problems. Place Value Using number tiles or cards, encourage students to put together or take apart three digit numbers into hundreds, tens and ones. Small brown bags that are labeled "hundreds", "tens", and "ones". Use acorns to represent numbers.

Measurement

The Length Of Materials Provide students with materials from the unit or with various size (leaves, acorns, rake, etc.). Encourage students to measure the length using a ruler, yardstick, meter stick or measuring tape. How many Acorns/leaves Tall are You? Encourage students to lay on the ground and have peers measure how tall/long they are in acorns or leaves. Encourage other students to identify tools used to measure with. Smallest to largest Leaves Compare the leaves and encourage the students to arrange from smallest to largest. Encourage students to estimate length using inches, feet, centimeters or meters (or nonstandard units). Provide assistance to students as needed to determine how much longer one object is than another. Create a graph to represent the data and determine which items are the longest. The Weight Of Materials Provide students with leaves, twigs, acorns, etc. Encourage students to weigh the objects. Compare the materials and arrange from lightest to heaviest. Encourage students to estimate the weights. Provide assistance to students as needed to determine how much heavier one object is than another. Create a graph to represent the data and determine which items are the

Autumn & Trees


heaviest. The Volume Of Materials Have students determine how many acorns it takes to fill a cup, bowl or basket.

Geometry Autumn puzzles Locate a variety of autumn pictures from old calendars, magazines, or other sources. Glue pictures onto tag board and then cut them into various piece puzzles for students to assemble. Shadow Match Encourage students to match silk leaves to shadows, cutouts or raised line drawings of the leaves. Determine the area and perimeter Assist students in determining the area of various size brown bags. Find the area of rectangular bags by multiplying the length by the width. Determine the perimeter by adding lengths of the sides of objects. Autumn Sort Have students match/sort autumn related objects. Include leaves, acorns, rakes, football, cider, leaf bags. Regroup and sort by size (big/little leaves, nuts, rakes, etc.).

Fractions Leaves In Pieces Divide cutouts of leaves into two, three, or four equal parts. Identify them as halves, thirds, and quarters. Assist students in determining equivalent fraction. Compare using greater than and less than. Add and subtract fractions using models (or without if able). Use a rectangle divided into 10 equal parts to solve 2/10 + 4/10 by shading 2 parts and 4 parts and then counting the number of shaded parts.

Autumn & Trees


Science & Social Studies

Social studies and science is best taught when students can role-play or go on community outings to have hands on experiences with environments in the community specific to the current topic. Incorporating concrete experiences within the natural environment can provide students with a greater understanding of their world. These science and social studies activities naturally provides students with the opportunities to develop their tactual exploration and fine motor skills through the exploration and manipulation of real materials.

Visual Awareness Activities

The following activities are designed to encourage students to visually attend to lights or reflective materials and to interact with materials or activate switches to activate materials. Lightbox Activities Depending on the students’ abilities, present the following activities for the student.

Display fall leaf shape gel forms on board. Fill Ziploc bags with hair gel or other clear gel substance. Add food coloring and/or fall

confetti. Be sure to secure bag with strong tape! Present Plexiglas shapes in various colors for students to sort into bowls (clear or of

same color) Autumn Lights Obtain a string of vine-ball string lights to wrap around PVC stand. Tie a variety of real and bright silk leaves to the mobile. Plug the lights into a Power Switch. Encourage the student to activate the switch to turn on the lights. This activity can be adapted by attaching a fan to the Power Switch to blow the leaves when activated or to a CD player to play nature music/sounds when activated. Possible Materials to Suspend

metallic autumn balloons birthday streamers string of metallic beads

Pat Mat Obtain metallic gold, green or yellow balloons or fall theme balloons. Deflate them and fill with plastic grocery bags. Re-tape to create a pat-mat. Stuffed Character Play Obtain a switch activated toy and place on a table or other surface that has been covered with leaves. Encourage student to activate switch to make the character move through the leaves.

Sensory Experiences

Color Concepts & Color Associations Discuss the colors of materials associated with the unit. Are they always that color or can they be different colors? What other materials are the same colors?

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Sound Match Fill boxes with grossly different sounds (bells, rice, blocks, etc.) Have students match boxes of same noises.

Science Object Roll In this activity, encourage students to roll or otherwise move an object in a given direction on a path. Provide various surfaces on the path and have students determine what surface is easier/harder to roll the object along. Acorn Roll In this activity, encourage students to roll or otherwise move an acorn in a given direction on a path. Provide various surfaces on the path and have students determine what surface is easier/harder to roll the acorn along. Autumn Categorization Have students group leaves and nuts by their shape; their size; their texture. Prepare for Spring Blooms Obtain a selection of Tulip or daffodil bulbs for students to plant for the spring. Discuss how the bulbs stay cold in the ground during the winter, then when the ground starts to warm, they bloom into flowers. Compare Leaves Compare how a variety of leaves (maple, oak, elm, birch, etc.) are alike and different. Discuss their differences and similarities. Create a Venn Diagram using real or silk leaves. Dry Sensory Bin Provide a variety of Autumn materials in the dry sensory bin. Include leaves, acorns, pinecones, squash, twigs, gourds, etc. Provide scoops for students to scoop and pour. Wet Sensory Bin Fill a bin with water and place a variety of Autumn objects in a bowl beside the bin. Encourage students to guess if the objects with sink or float. Provide scoops, basters, and eye droppers, and sponges and encourage the students to transfer the water to another container. Tree Products Provide a variety of objects that are made from a tree as well as those that are not made from a tree (ex. Pencil, pen, book, flip flop, t-shirt, apple, can, plastic utensils, etc.). Have the students sort the objects between to bins, one from a tree and one not from a tree. Create a graph of items made from trees that can be found in the classroom (including what students are wearing). Create a chart depicting those items and then determine which items there are the most of. Autumn Effect on Animals & Nature Birds and animals have ways of preparing for winter during this season (animals store food and grow winter coats). Birds start migrating. This is also the time when farmers harvest crops.

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Autumn Autumn is often called fall. Fall comes after summer and before winter. Autumn is usually defined in the Northern Hemisphere as the period between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. This is usually between September 22nd or 23rd and December 21st and 22nd. The days get shorter during Autumn. In autumn, the leaves change from green to a variety of fall colors including oranges, yellows, reds and browns. Autumn = Cooler Temperature The weather during fall is cooler than summer in most areas. During autumn the weather transitions from summer heat to winter cold. People must wear warmer clothing in fall. It is often called fall in the US because leaves fall from the trees at that time. so there isn’t as much time to play outdoors. Leaves Discuss how some types of leaves are toxic when ingested while others are safe. Many insects and animals depend on leaves for their food supply. People use some leaves for teas, to season foods, or to flavor candy and gum. Leaf Scan Obtain a variety of acorns and artificial leaves. Attach Velcro to them and attach to a felt board of solid contrasting color. Encourage the students to visually or tactually scan and obtain materials. Have students place them in a paper bag with the top rolled down. Extend the activity by having the students sort them into two bags.

Social Studies

Nature Walk Go on an outdoor walk and gather a leaves that have fallen from various trees. Encourage students to feel and explore a variety of leaves and crumple dry leaves. Have the students feel the tree trunks and compare the similarities and differences between the species. Look for a hollowed log to allow the students to feel inside. Also look for a tree stump that would allow the students to see and feel the rings of the tree. Bring along a bag for each student to collect leaves and other signs of nature. Be on the lookout for twigs, fallen branches, acorns, pinecones and other seeds or signs of fall. Bring along a couple of rakes and encourage students to take turns raking leaves into piles. Have students compare trees and determine which are the most common. Have students show their findings on a chart using real leaves. Help students identify trees that are native to the area. Take pictures of items in nature. Nature Walk Hunt Create cards with pictures of objects or use actual objects that students will encounter on their nature walk (ex. Maple leaves, oak leaves, acorns, rocks, twigs, pine cones, pine needles, etc.) Write a number next to each item. Have the students work independently or in pairs or small groups to obtain the correct number of items and place them in a brown bag. Discussion Following Nature Walk Following the experience, encourage students to discuss what they saw, heard, touched and experienced during the experience. Encourage them to provide details and describe people, places and events during the experience. Play back audio record from the experience. As you listen, pause it to have the students identify the sounds. Encourage them to communicate

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feelings or ideas related to the experience. Rules about leaf Disposal Discuss that some local governments have rules on how you can get rid of leaves. Some people burn leaves, but there are rules for where and how you can burn leaves. Autumn Effect on Clothing & Sports In Autumn, people begin to change their summer clothes to warmer clothes. The days are shorter so there is less time to play outdoors in the evening. The baseball World Series occurs in Fall and the football season begins.

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Career, Recreation & Leisure

Vocational Contain It! Provide students with a variety of containers with lids (make the activity more challenging by providing various size containers). Encourage the students to remove the lid, place the correct number of acorns in each container, and replace the lid. Autumn jobs Discuss that there are a variety of ways to earn money. One way is to offer to do chores for others that are physical such as raking leaves. Discuss what would be a fair amount to charge for raking. Would they charge by how much time they spent or how many bags they filled? Helping Others Arrange to have students rake an area of the school campus or rake leaves for neighbors.

Creative Art Leaf Prints Paint the back of a fresh leaf with brown, yellow, orange, red or green paint. Place the leaf, paint side down on a large sheet of paper. Lay a sheet of waxed paper atop the leaves and use a rolling pin to gently roll over them. Lift the waxed paper to reveal the print. Leaf Rubbings Place a leaf or leaves on the table. Use a crayon or colored pencils to repeatedly rub over the leaf. The wax rubbings will create raised lines that the student can feel. Leaf Creatures Provide a variety of shape and size leaves. Encourage the student to glue them on paper to create leaf creatures. Use various size wiggly eyes to create faces. Autumn Woods Painting or Drawing Encourage students to paint or draw a picture of a forest in autumn with a path forking to the right and left. Nutty Buddies Create "nutty buddies" by gluing wiggly eyes and feet to walnuts. Wreath of Nature Cut a donut from a cardboard box to create a wreath. Glue pine cones, nuts, dried leaves, corncobs and other nature materials to the cardboard. Wrap, tie, or glue raffia to the wreath. When the glue is dry, spray the wreath with a clear hobby paint to finish.

autumn & trees - teaching students with visual impairments leaves begin to change colors, days...

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