A multidisciplinary lesson plan: Autumn

   Autumn, as well as the other seasons, is a very interesting topic to work at school because it can be approached from different subjects, Science, Art, Language and even Maths.

   In my case, the lesson plan on autumn has a place in the Art programme during the first term of the school year. It is planned for the 3rd cycle of Primary Education.

   The Art contents involved are mixing colours, collage techniques and painting vocabulary.

  The contents related to ESL are dates (reading and writing), fruit vocabulary, animals, weather and clothes, and traditions.

  
   The first lesson of the unit will mainly deal with talking about the season, so students and I make a brainstorming on autumn covering the following points:

• Autumn months.

• Start and end of autumn (dates).

• American name.

• Colours.

• Weather – clothes used.

• Fruit and food (acorns, chestnuts, corn, nuts…)

• Scarecrows

• Special Dates (Columbus Day, Halloween, Chestnut Party and Thanksgiving days): what day is it celebrated? where does it come from? traditions involved and why?

• Hibernating animals (hedgehog, beaver, squirrel)

• Autumn facts.

   The different points will arise out of the observation of some pictures, see the example below:

   At the end, the students and I will design the sketch of an autumn poster.

   During the second lesson students will learn a song about autumn and they will work on the poster.
 

   In the third lesson we will watch a video to learn some facts and vocabulary about this season and they will continue with the poster.

   The following lessons will help review the contents learned and finish the poster.

   This unit can be also adapted for lower levels. A good clipart autumn book to work with lower levels is the one that follows:

clipart_autum

   You can check how the students performed their task by watching the poster:

   Apart from the poster, it’s possible to do some crafts related to autumn or to special dates, depending on the time you have. Some easy craft ideas are:

• Leaves collage.
• Leaves place mat.
• Scarecrow.
• Turkey.