In this unit, students begin a year-long exploration of the seasons and how weather, plants, and animals are different depending on the season by studying the beauties of fall and fall harvests. Students launch the unit by setting up an ongoing weather experiment in order to understand the patterns of fall and how weather changes during fall. While gathering on-going data about the changing weather in fall, students will learn and observe what happens to leaves in the fall and notice the difference between various types of leaves. In the second half of the unit, students explore the different harvests of fall, particularly apples and pumpkins, and discuss the basic life cycles of both. This unit is a chance for students to stop and think about the changes that are happening in the natural world around them and why the changes happen. It is our hope that by the end of the year, after studying winter and spring in subsequent units, students will have a deeper understanding of the unique features of each season.

In reading, this is students' first introduction to informational texts and reading to learn information. Students will continue to develop their inquisitive side by being challenged to ask and answer questions about the content and text they are interacting with. This unit exposes students to a subject matter that is present in their day-to-day lives; therefore, they should be challenged to ask questions and make connections between what they are reading and learning and what they are seeing outside. Additionally, while listening to stories, students will learn how to use the text and illustrations to determine the key details of a text and then use those details to retell what the text was mostly about. Students will also continue to understand the author's and illustrator's roles in writing texts and should be able to identify and explain both by the end of the unit. In this unit, students will also begin to explore the content in-depth by participating in labs and projects. These teacher-created projects will allow students to interact with and synthesize the material they are learning at an even deeper level.

In writing, students will continue to write daily in response to the text. As with units 1 and 2, students are focusing on using correct details from the text to answer the question. Students should be using a combination of words and pictures, depending on the student's development as a writer. Daily teaching points, based on student data, should be included to ensure that students are progressing as writers.

This activity is a classroom and schoolyard investigation where students collect daily temperature and precipitation readings, weather observations, and weekly phenology reports in a phenology binder and in nature journals. Students then analyze this data and compare to recorded values in the Weatherguide calendar.

This article describes common misconceptions held by elementary students about the cause of day and night and seasons. The article provides ideas for formative assessment, teaching strategies, and the National Science Education Standards.

This article describes six collaborative and real data projects that engage elementary students in collecting and sharing local data and communicating with students across the country and world.

This 7-minute video lesson addresses the question: Are southern hemisphere seasons more severe because of the eccentricity in Earth's orbit? [Cosmology and Astronomy playlist: Lesson 72 of 85]

This 20-minute video explains how Earth's tilt causes the seasons. [Cosmology and Astronomy playlist: Lesson 70 of 85]

This 13-minute video lesson looks at how changes in Earth's rotation can effect Earth's seasons and climate. It discusses Milankovitch Cycles, Precession, and Obliquity. [Cosmology and Astronomy playlist: Lesson 71 of 85]

This 12-minute video lesson clarifies the effect of axial precession on the calendar and the date of perihelion and aphelion. [Cosmology and Astronomy playlist: Lesson 73 of 85]

This 5-minute video lesson looks at seasons and why they aren't dictated by the Earth's closeness to the sun. [Cosmology and Astronomy playlist: Lesson 69 of 85]

This is an integration of science leaf observations with musical composition for early elementary students.

This activity is takes place in nature and in the classroom. Students are gathering different types of leaves and naming characteristics of each then sorting them by those characteristics. Students then make a picture with leaves and writes 2-3 sentences about their picture using the characteristic words.

In this biology lab extension, student will have already collected leaves from the playground and surrounding school areas and sorted them into categories according to leaf properties. Students will use the leave classifications/ sorts to graph the properties of the leaves.

This article provides links to hands-on science activities that could be used in an festival or informal learning event. National standards correlations are provided.

This classroom activity is an inquiry based lesson where students observe and measure temperature changes in order to determine which fabrics are best at keeping in heat.

This activity is a field investigation where students gather temperature and weather data in the a.m and p.m. and develop a new, experimental question to predict temperature over the course of the year.

This activity is a field investigation where students collect leaf samples to be observed and compared monthly.

This activity is a field investigation where students collect leaf samples to be observed and compared monthly.

This article highlights seven science lessons that teach elementary students about seasonal change. Suggestions for integrating literacy and science include two lessons that use informational text and cause and effect relationships.

This activity shows how our experience of the Sun changes with time and location. The sun dagger at Chaco Canyon is thought by many to be a sort of ancient timekeeping device. By creating a place where the movement of the Sun could be tracked day after day, Chacoans could mark the passage of time and gain an idea of when seasons were changing. If the Chacoans could use a particular location and the Sun to tell them about time, can we use time and the Sun to tell us about our location? In this easy experiment, you'll see how the position of the Sun in the sky is related to where we are on the earth.

This video is part of the Learn and Grow with WHRO TV series. Watch Amanda Knighton teach about comparing and contrasting setting in a story.