We couldn't let a week of leaf investigation end, without reading a few leaf themed books.
Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert, is a deceptively simple story, about the shapes made by falling leaves. Deceptive, because while each page holds only one, or two short sentences, the pictures are quite complex. I'm not sure my youngest children could actually make out all the ducks, and cows, and vegetables depicted, even after I pointed them out, but they enjoyed trying. And, I'm quite certain we have a Leaf Man inspired art project, on the way.The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger, also offers a lot of interesting visual appeal, with cut, and recycled paper illustrations, to go along with the touching story of fearing, and embracing change, in the seasons of life.
Investigating Why Leaves Change Their Color by Ellen Rene, proved a bit too wordy for my youngest (ages 4 and 5), but provided the older children with a lot of information about deciduous leaves in the fall, including some facts about anthocyanins, that lead nicely into another fall science project.Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, was our clear winner for the week. It looks, and reads like a normal picture book. But, it's absolutely packed with kid friendly, scientific information about leaves, and how they grow, and function through all four seasons. There is a crayon rubbing activity at the back too, that has inspired the little ones to pull the crayons back out, and demand, yet another, leaf walk.
Hopefully, we'll be posting some follow-up activities to go along with these books, over the next few days.
But, in the meantime, you can find more children's book reviews, and recommendations, at this week's What My Child Is Reading blog hop, hosted by Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
We really enjoyed A Leaf Man last year and hope to read it again. All other books sound great too, and I think we will have our own Leaf Day (or a week) in October here.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't read The Little Yellow Leaf. I'll have to look for that one.
ReplyDeleteWe're in Texas, so not many leaves on the ground yet. We'll have to check these out next month.
ReplyDeleteThe tree bark illustrations in The Little Yellow Leaf are very visually interesting. While we haven't read Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! yet we did enjoy the same author's apple book, Apples, Apples, Apples this week. I agree that Wallace does an excellent job in inserting factual information and activities into a fictional story.
ReplyDeleteSelena always has a hard time understanding why our leaves change, but never seem to leave the trees. Some do, but they get soggy from all the rain and moisture. Most trees here though keep leaves year round.
ReplyDeleteargh, I can't request any more books till we go pick them up at the library. I love stopping by here each week to find good book recomendations
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