Awesome Autumn

Wow! Today we had a totally awesome autumn day! We have been reading this book "Awesome Autumn" for the past couple of days! It is a great science read aloud that has sparked some amazing conversations between my firsties! Friday we discussed "why do leaves change color?" and "how do leaves know when it is time to fall off the tree?" We had responses like "the leaves change colors to match the season, they are old." Some more great responses were "the earth is spinning and the leaves can't hold on, there is more gravity in autumn that summer so it pulls the leaves down, the leaves lose their grip and let go." I LOVE hearing all of their thinking and reasoning behind it. Of course we learned the real answers to these questions...see if your kiddos can explain it to you :) Do you know why leaves change color in the fall?

Jackson and Xan started a great discussion about what happens after the leaves fall onto to ground.  Jackson was convinced that the leaves provided a blanket layer of protection from rain water over the dirt underneath. Xan said that there was no way that rain water would stay on top of the leaves because water is a liquid and liquid can make itself skinny to get through the cracks. Seriously a great discussion! Both boys were so sure that their theory was right so...we had to test it out today!!!!

 

First, we went outside and collected as many leaves as we could fit into a gallon size plastic bag.

They had a BLAST with this part of the project! They were so observant of the leaves that were  falling off the trees and the different ways leaves were changing colors! It was a perfect day for this activity!

 

When we got back to class we got out a Tupperware container. On the bottom we put paper towels to represent the "dirt". We squeezed a few drops of food coloring around the paper towels thinking that IF the paper towels got wet the colors would spread!

Before we started the kids had an opportunity to change their thinking...some kids did and some were reassured that their thinking was right!

  Then we used a spray bottle full of water to be the "rain". Everyone got a chance to make it rain on our little forest floor!

 After we sprayed the leaves really good we wondered what would happen to the water that was sitting on top of the leaves if we let it sit for a few minutes! Sophia explained that the water would evaporate (unbelievable!) and Mackenzie explained gravity might pull it down...so we decided to give our little experiment time to rest. We waited 10 minutes and then came back to check on our leaves. MOST of them were DRY! Amazing results! We pushed back the leaves to check on our "dirt"...it was soaked and all the food coloring drops had spread together! Jackson decided that Xan's thinking was right :) They shook hands and we THANKED them both for the great discussion that opened the door to a fantastic learning opportunity for our class!

Great job boys!