Fall, Fall, Beautiful Fall!

 It all starts with the Fall bookshelf!  There are so many great Fall-centric books for young children.  I love to mix some nonfiction with fiction each day as we explore our changing Fall world.  We can see  the trees changing daily, but what do the animals do to get ready for Winter’s arrival?  Fall is a very busy time in the natural world!  Here’s a peek into my Fall bookshelf…maybe you will find one you don’t already have!

It’s time for Fall Festival Fun in our dramatic play area! I have a Fall Harvest Festival Dramatic Play Set available in my TPT store to help create just the right Fall feeling and inspiration!
The kids had a blast taking leaves off trees and pretending to be at the pumpkin patch!  It is a fantastic way to celebrate Fall and lead into the Halloween Season!  Just wait until you see what we did to make it even better!  (Coming this week)
One of my favorite Fall art Project is what I like to call “Squishy Paint Leaves”. It really is a wonderful way to bring Fall and all of it’s colors into your classroom!  We start with a large leaf cut from white or manilla construction paper.  Then, with dollar some squeeze bottles, we squirt red, orange, yellow, and purple (I use mostly fluorescents except for red) I tell my kiddos that we need house at least 2 colors…but they always opt for all 4!  Next, we cover your paint-squirted leaves with plastic wrap and then manipulate to cover the paper leaf and been the colors.  The reveal is the best part…The kids peel the plastic and are awestruck by the results…it’s magical!  When the leaves are dry, I display them out in our hallway mimicking leaves blowing in the wind…it is BEAUTIFUL!

Fall means leaves, but it also means learning.  I love to begin some ‘seek and find’ letter activities around this time of year with my PreK kids.  They know quite a few of their letters by now, but I like to assess and find out where they really in letter identification.  I have a center that I call ‘Mark the Letter’ just for this purpose.  I have a printable with alphabet letters in either uppercase, lowercase, or a mix…I choose which level I think the kids are capable of doing.  I also have some nice Fall alphabet flash cards in both upper and lowercase that we use for a ‘draw’ pile.  The kids use daubers to mark the letters as the cards are drawn and placed face up on the table.  We talk about words that have the beginning sound of the letters as they come up.  It is fun, engaging, and all the kids cancel successful. Flashcards and printable are available in my All bout Fall Literacy Centers and All About Fall 5-Day Complete Lesson Plans Available in my TPT store.
More Fall yet to come!  Have a great week, and HappyFall!