Leaf Man

Earlier this week, we went on a leaf hunt to gather leaves for our project to be completed on Friday.  Before beginning our leaf project, I read the story Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert.  On each page there are objects and animals made out of leaves.  It was really fun to try and find what was hiding in the leaves on each of the pages.

After reading the story, my students then were to create their own leaf man or animals using the leaves we collected.  Most of them chose to make a leaf man, but I did have two decide to make animals.  Here are some of their creations:

I thought they all turned out really cute and they really got creative adding eyes, ears, and even a hat on the last one pictured.  I put them all in page protectors (in case any of the leaves fall off as they're only taped on) before putting them on display in the hall.  This project will be on my to do list every fall!

We're Going on a Leaf Hunt

This week's theme is leaves.  Luckily there are still some falling from the trees so my class could go on a leaf hunt today.  Before going on our leaf hunt, though, I read the book Going on a Leaf Hunt. It's great for both text to self as well as text to text connections with the book Going on a Bear Hunt.

With their Ziploc bags in hand, off my students went on their leaf hunt on our playground.  They had so much fun!  They were especially excited when they found leaves with a color other than brown (and I was too since I knew what these leaves were going to become).  And just what are these leaves future purpose?  Well we're going to make leaf animals with them.

I found this beautiful book, Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert, while browsing last week at the bookstore.  If you can, get a chance to look at this book in person.  The illustrations are simply amazing as well as how the pages are designed (I'm not going to give away all it's secrets as I want you to discover this book for yourselves).  As you can see from the cover, the different leaves form a "man".  In the story, "fall has come, the wind is gusting, and Leaf Man is on the move. Is he drifting east, over the marsh and ducks and geese? Or is he heading west, above the orchards, prairie meadows, and spotted cows? No one's quite sure, but this much is certain: A Leaf Man's got to go where the wind blows."


I then stumbled across this picture, thanks to Pinterest, on the blog Charlotte's Fancy.   

And I was inspired to create leaf animals, just like the ones Leaf Man blows by in the book.  I can't wait to do this activity on Friday and come back here and post the pictures of how they turned out.  And my students are dying in anticipation to find out what they are going to be doing with the leaves.  Check back this weekend to see how the animals turn out.