We love sharing books about the changing seasons with students. If you are looking for a book about autumn to read to your class, we highly recommend Fletcher and the Falling Leaves. This book lends itself to lessons and practice on reading comprehension skills like visualizing and analyzing settings. It can be difficult to find picture books that lend themselves to teaching these skills. This sweet story is also a sensitive way to discuss transitions with students, which can be challenging for so many. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
Fall has made its way to the forest and the trees are starting to change. Fletcher, a young fox, is very concerned about what is happening to his tree. The leaves have turned brown and dry. When the wind blows, leaves start to fall off the tree. Fletcher tries to help the tree by tying the leaf back onto the branch, but it doesn’t work.
As the wind continues to blow more and more leaves fall off the tree. Fletcher gets upset when some of the forest animals start taking the leaves for their nests. Soon enough, his tree is bare despite Fletcher’s efforts to save the leaves. When he wakes up early one morning, he find the tree covered in icicles looking more beautiful than ever. This sight helps him to go back to his den and stop worrying.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
There is so much you can teach with Fletcher and the Falling Leaves. Our book companion for this story addresses a number of reading comprehension skills, integrates a variety of writing styles and introduces grammar and social emotional learning concepts. Here is a sneak peak at some of the different lessons you can use this book to teach.
- Read the book to students without showing the pictures. Encourage them to close their eyes and visualize the story. Discuss their visualization as a class.
- The setting is an important element of this story. Discuss how the setting affects the character throughout the book.
- Allow students to get creative and continue writing this story and tell what might happen next.
- Practice writing poems by having students write poems about the changing seasons.
- Use examples from the book to teach a lesson on interjections.
- Teach a lesson on synonyms and verb tense.
- Discuss transitions with students and share strategies they can use to better manage transitions.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
This resource is all you will need when it comes to planning your read aloud for the book Fletcher and the Falling Leaves. Gone are the days when you have to brainstorm discussion questions, look online for student activities, and spend hours gathering resources. Now everything you need is included in this book companion allowing you to make choices on what you want to use with your students.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Park
- Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms by Julia Rawlinson
- Little Tree by Loren Long
- The Rough Patch by Brian Lies
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
