Fall is Here! Ms. Prevost, Louisianna

We began observing Fall Changes on September 22, 2005. Because we live in Louisiana, we hardly noticed a change in the weather. The temperature continued to be in the 80's and 90's. There were many days that the students were able to wear shorts to school.

During the week of November 1- 6, the temperature dropped dramatically and it felt as if it were winter. Everyone had on pants, turtlenecks, and large coats. Louisiana is noted for having weather from one extreme to the next.

Following an extremely cold week, the weather became very humid and wet. Many of our students were absent because of becoming sick-- thanks to the weather. Along with the humidity, mosquitoes were everywhere. Presently, the weather is starting to cool off a bit.

As a class, we felt that we kind of missed out on fall. Now, the leaves are really starting to fall to the ground similar to the books that we have read about fall. Students do remember previous years in which they were able to jump in the leaves. As the leaves continue to fall, it will not be long before they can jump in the leaves this year.

We selected a tree on our school campus in which we took a picture on the first day of fall. We took another picture of the same tree on October 22. The trees looked exactly the same. A final picture of our tree was taken on November 10. It is in this picture that we can see the signs of Fall.

Our Class Poem

September 22 is here
It feels as if Fall is not too near.
The weather is hot.
The trees are green.
Why is Summer being so mean.

We are tired of the hot weather
Enough of the heat
Come on Fall
We want to have a ball.

Fall is a time to play outside.
Running and jumping, catching the leaves
Oh, Mr. Fall, please appear PLEASE!

Pumpkins have grown
We picked the best one
Halloween has passed
And what do you know

The signs of fall
are starting to show
LSU is winning
And we are all a grinning.

Fall is Here! We Love It!

In our class, we talk about the difference between what is fiction and what is non-fiction. We looked at books about Fall which were non-fiction. We also read several books about Fall that were fiction. One of our favorites was the book entitled-- Those Calculating Crows. It is a story about a man and his family who have several crows who appear to be able to count. The students are introduced to the number 7 in this book because it is supposed to be the magic number that a crow is able to count. Of course, this is fiction.

Our next activity is included in our Math lesson. This is an original story that I wrote and my students loved. They were involved in the lesson and just loved the story.

Materials:

Story of Roscoe Raccoon (written by Sharmon)
Leaf cutouts/counters ( I used artificial leaves)
Baskets
Connecting Cubes

Procedure:

Read the story about Roscoe Raccoon. It is a story which includes addition, subtraction, and number concepts.
After each addition of a leaf being added to the basket, ask students to tell how many leaves there are altogether.
After a leaf is subtracted, ask how many are left.
Give the students connecting cubes to reread the story.
When Roscoe sees the first leaf, tell the students to place one cube in front of them.
Explain to the students that each time Roscoe gets a leaf to put into his basket, they are to add a cube.
At the end of the story, ask how many students have the correct number of cubes in front of them for how many leaves Roscoe put in the basket.
This is a good story for making a connection between cardinal and ordinal numbers by asking, "Which was first, second, third, etc?"
You may want to get pictures of the animals in the story to create a story board.

Objectives:
TLW count a set of 9 or fewer objects by establishing a 1-to-1 correspondence between number names and objects. (N-1-E) (N-3-E) (A-1-E)
TLW use the ordinal numbers 1st through 5th to discuss positions in ordered lists. (N-1-E)

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1Roscoe Raccoon
by Sharmon Prevost

    Roscoe Raccoon was not your everyday raccoon. Most raccoons would only come out at night to dig in trash cans, but not Roscoe. Roscoe loved collecting leaves to put them in a basket. He would collect all kinds of leaves- big leaves, little leaves, long leaves, skinny leaves, red leaves, green leaves- It really didn't matter as long as it was a leaf. He was always in search of leaves.
    As Roscoe would search for leaves, he had a funny little song that he would always sing. And that song was.....
            My name is Roscoe
            I like to go -go.
            I'm going to get some
            Leaves for me.
            Please don't stop me-
            When I'm counting
            Or I will stick you in a tree.
    One day, Roscoe was in search of leaves so that he could make a new bed with his new leaves. He walked a little way and saw 2 beautiful leaves under a tree. He thought to himself- "My, how gorgeous. I will put these leaves in my basket." As Roscoe picked up the 2 leaves in his basket, he started singing. (Sing song.)
    Roscoe went further and found 3 more leaves. He thought to himself- "My, how gorgeous. I will put these leaves in my basket." As Roscoe picked up the 3 leaves and put them in his basket he started singing. (Sing song) Now, let's count how many leaves Roscoe has in all. 2 leaves and 3 more leaves are 5 leaves in all. Roscoe was so happy. Imagine 5 leaves. He needed more to make his bed, so he took off singing. (Sing song)
    Roscoe met his friend, Donnie Dear. Donnie likes leaves like Roscoe, so he said, "Roscoe, you know how much I like leaves. Could you please give me 4 leaves?" Roscoe, who was a pretty friendly guy, said, "Sure, I have 5 leaves and you want me to give your 4. If I take away 4 leaves- that will leave me with only 1 leaf." Roscoe's mama taught him that it was better to give than to receive so he gave the leaves to Donnie. "Thank you Roscoe, " and Donnie went away.
    Again, Roscoe went in search of leaves while singing. (Sing song) Much to his surprise, Roscoe found a pile of 8 leaves. He felt like he was a pirate who had just struck gold. Roscoe ran to the pile of leaves and started counting.........1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 1 more gives me 9 leaves in my basket.
    Roscoe was so excited! He started jumping up and down. Now he had enough leaves for his bed. He had finished his goal for the day. 9 leaves to make a new bed. Roscoe was so happy about his leaves that he didn't hear Sly Sylvester Fox run up behind him and take 3 leaves out of the basket. After Sylvester took the 3 leaves, he hid behind a tree. If the fox took away 3 leaves, how many leaves did Roscoe have now?
    Roscoe was now ready to go home. He decided to count his leaves again before leaving the forest. he started to count... 1,2,3,4,5,6. What? 6? I thought I had 9. Oh, no. What happened?
    Just then, Sylvester Fox jumped from behind the tree. "Ha! Ha! Ha! I have some of your leaves." Roscoe quickly thought in his head- "How many of my leaves does he have?" Let's help Roscoe figure how many leaves the fox took away from him. (3) I know how many leaves you took away from my basket. Sylvester said, "Oh, yeah--How many?" Roscoe said, "First, I found 2 leaves. Next- I had 3 leaves. Then I gave Donnie 4 leaves, so that left me with 1 leaf. Next, I struck gold like a pirate and I found 8 leaves. So, that means I should have 9 leaves altogether. Now, Fox- give me back my leaves."
    Sylvester said, "Roscoe, if you can remember all of that, I am impressed. You are so smart." "That's right," said Roscoe. "I am smart and you know what--you interrupted me while I was counting. I'm going to take you and stuff you inside that tree so you will never bother me again." Roscoe picked up Sylvester and shoved him inside a tree. "Now, that will teach you a lesson."
    Roscoe, now happy that he had all of his leaves in his basket, took off singing. (Sing song.)

(Ed. Note: You have Sharmon's permission to print out this story to use only in your classroom if you include her name as author.)