Begin the lesson by reading, "Why Do Leaves Change Color?" by Betsy Maestro. Take the children outdoors to look at the fall leaves. Ask the children to gather fallen leaves and discuss their findings. Focus on shorter days in fall cause less sunlight. Explain to the class that less sunlight triggers the leaves to begin to die and fall from the trees. Follow up the activity by mounting pairs of matching leaves gathered by the children on card-stock and laminating the cards to make a leaf matching game. Place the leaf cards in a tote and leave out for the child to match.
Introduce the first day of fall to the children by locating the date on the classroom calendar. The first day of each season changes year to year. Write the words "Autumn, Fall" on chart paper. Use markers in fall colors when writing such as, brown, red, orange, and yellow. Explain how these two words mean the same. Read the book, "Autumn" by Gerda Muller. This book does not have print. It is meant to be a discussion book with young children. After discussing the book, write the word "weather," under the words of Autumn and Fall. Ask the children to list fall weather terms such as, cool, windy, rain, frost, crisp, damp and cloudy. Use these words throughout the month of September when discussing the daily weather. Follow up activities may include the children drawing a fall weather picture, or have the children pick one weather word from the list and illustrate examples of that word on paper with crayons.
Gather several types of seasonal children's clothing and store in a bag. Focus on several pieces of fall clothing such as, a jacket, hat, and gloves Wearing a coat, read the book, " Walking Coat", by Pauline Watson to the class. Discuss with the children what types of clothes they should be wearing in fall weather. Place the bag of clothing in front of the class and have each child pull out an article of clothing and make a pile of appropriate fall clothing. To conclude the activity dress one child in a fall jacket, hat and gloves.
Read a fall picture book each day in September to the class. Upon completion of the each book, discuss the story and ask the class to pick a main weather word, phrase or idea learned from the text. Using chart paper, list the class choices. During the last week of the month, with class participation, create a class poem in regard to September weather. Fall-themed books are "Leaf Man" and "Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf" by Lois Ehlert, "How Do You Know It's Fall?" by Allan Fowler, "It's Fall" by Linda Glaser, "Why Do Leaves Change Color?" by Betsy Maestro,
"Autumn" by Gerda Muller, "Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic" by Steven Schnur, "Goats in Coats" by Jennifer Nagy and Cynthia Szijgyartp, "Mouse's First Fall" by Lauren Thompson, and "Walking Coat" by Pauline Watson.