Seasons

Yesterday I took a break from everything, and sat outside with my camera.  I love to focus in on the tiny details around me, I find it very relaxing.  I took these shots:

Right away, looking at these, you know what season it is - right?  Blooming lilies, insects, hummingbirds, intensely green leaves - it's summer.  And yesterday it really was summer.

Today the crepe myrtles are still in bloom, the temperature is heading towards hot, and I know the farmer's market will be stocked with tomatoes and cucumbers and all the delicious summer fruits that I love, and yet...  Look what I found on my walk this morning:

There it is, fall, lurking around the corner!

This got me to thinking, as teachers will, about prepping for all the fun fall activities that we so love to do with our kiddos.

Finding pine cones had me thinking of all the ways I've used them with the kiddos, from fall sensory bins, to craft supplies.  My kiddos loved making a Thanksgiving turkey from a pine cone, and we made mini Christmas trees with them a lot of years...

Sorting leaves by color, and of course we'd have to read Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert with that...

Oh how we loved playing in the leaves in the back yard!  How many piles of leaves have I facilitated over the years?!

 All those fall leaves and other treasures are wonderful for making mandalas, and talking about symmetry and number.  We used a salt dough base to hold them in place....

 ... and the plastic tray that once held party food to sort them...

We've made Leaf Man pictures to follow up another great Lois Ehlert book for fall...  and if I keep going back through my photos, or open my teacher binders, there are so many more great activities!

I've been thinking about all this, and have made several activities about changing seasons.

 This one would be perfect in a pocket chart...

 ... or on a sorting board like this one, made with colored poster board.

My five year olds who were starting to read really enjoyed sentence-picture matching games, like this one...

... and the challenge of logical reasoning, figuring out clues, like this:

Yes, I must say, I'm ready for fall!  Which season or special seasons activity does your class most love?