"We do actions for It's autumn time: It's autumn time-clap The leaves are falling down: hands go down like leaves It's all around the town: turn around There's yellow, red, and brown: hold up fingers 1-2-3 Bright colors can be found: hands up and palms"  I started teaching this song 3 weeks ago.  This is what I did.

Week One
 

I had yellow red and brown leaf cut outs glued to a popsicle stick.  We passed them out to the children and did actions with the sticks as we sang the song.

It's autumn time ... sway side to side above head

leaves falling down ... slowly lower leaf as if falling

It's autumn time .... sway side to side above head

around the town ... circle leaf above your head

It's autumn time .... sway side to side above head

yellow, red, brown ... raise leaf when color is said

It's autumn time .... sway side to side above head

colors can be found ... shake leaf above head

Week Two
 

I had them sing the song in review.  And then told them that I had a surprise for them.  I asked them to sing it again and while they sang I (and a helper) tossed artificial leaves out to them, up above their

heads.  It was so fun.  We then cleaned up the leaves but I told them to look carefully because some of the leaves had the name of the other songs we would be singing that day.

Week Three
 

I made a leaf blowing box.  It had a hole in the side for me to insert the wind (hairdryer on cool setting) and a hole in the back for the children to stick their hand in to try and "catch a song".  It's Autumn time was one of the songs on the leaves inside the box.  They really enjoyed the leaf box.
 

(Idea by Luana Willis) I got dollar store pompoms awhile back (2 in a pack for $1). I got 4 colors, red, blue, purple and green. They sound just like rustling leaves when you shake them, so I have incorporated them into my singing time plan for tomorrow. I give each child one pompom.

What does Autumn LOOK like?

"Autumn winds begin to blow; Colored leaves fall fast and slow.  Twirling, whirling all around. 'Til at last, they touch the ground."  It gets dark by dinnertime, and some mornings there is fog.  The grass is still green, but the leaves are beginning to turn colors. Red, yellow, brown, orange. There are orange pumpkins everywhere! The world is beautiful in the fall.

SING: My Heavenly Father Loves Me, p. 228

Blue pompoms up on blue blue sky.
Green pompoms fly overhead like wind.
Red pompoms pop up tall on velvet rose
Purple pompoms walk by lilac (as if taking steps)
ALL pompoms up making circles in air on "I'm glad that I live."

What does Autumn FEEL like?

"Heat and cold chase one another like pups playing—-yesterday
ovenish, today cold storage. Oh, perfect in the pauses when the wind
forgets and the sun remembers! (by Emily Carr)

The wind blowing through my hair, trying to twirl me up into the air.

SING: Rain is Falling All Around, p. 241
(wind is blowing, leaves are falling)
All pompoms make big wind.
All pompoms make soft floating motions, with leaves landing on faces.

What does Autumn SMELL like?

Apples. Apple juice, and apple pie baking in the oven. And spicy
pumpkin pie. Fall flowers. The musty smell of leaves turning brown.

One of the nicest beds I know,
isn't a bed of soft white snow.
Isn't a bed of cool green grass,
after the noisy mowers pass,
isn't a bed of yellow hay,
making me itch for half a day--
but autumn leaves in a pile that high;
deep, and smelling like fall, and dry.
That's the bed where I like to lie,
and watch the flutters go by. --Aileen Fisher

SING: Popcorn Popping, p. 242 (rewritten by me)

I looked out the window and what did I see?
Leaves are falling off the apricot tree!
Fall has brought me such a nice surprise,
leaves are falling right before my eyes.
I could take an armful and make a bed,
a big leaf pile just to rest my head.
The wind begins to blow, and I begin to see—
leaves are falling off the apricot tree!

What does Autumn SOUND like?

"I hear the songs, of autumn singing,
The wind, it hurries through the trees.
The air is getting crisper daily,
A chilly nip, is in the breeze." (by Nevin Hawlman)

Two sounds of Autumn are unmistakable, the hurrying rustle of crisp
leaves blowing along by the wind, and the gabble of a flock of geese
flying south for the winter.

We hear all kinds of wonderful sounds outside in Autumn. Let's sing
about something we hear INSIDE. There is no wind in the primary
room, there are no birds flying by.

SING: When I Hear My Father Pray

Let's hold the pompoms as still as can be.
Let's listen to how quiet we can hold the pompoms while we sing.

What does Autumn TASTE like?

It is too hot for soup for supper in the summer, but not in the
fall! Fall tastes like soup. And apple cider with donuts. Mothers
cook up wonderful smells in the fall.

SING: When Mother Bakes

ALL pompoms shake to the beat of the song.
Big shake fermatta on "and so I wish and wish.............."

Just one more song in celebration of Autumn:

SING: It's Autumntime, p. 246
Verse 1: All children stand up like trees, pompoms make motion of leaves falling down, then all twirl in a circle on "it's all around the town".

Verse 2: All children stand up like trees, pompoms holding still
until the last line when everyone waves the colors all around.
 

We do actions for It's Autumn Time:

It's Autumn Time - clap
The leaves are falling down - hands go down like leaves
It's all around the town - turn around
There's yellow, red, and brown - hold up fingers 1-2-3
Bright colors can be found - hands up and palms up
 

Today I focused on songs for the Fall/Winter. I sewed up a whole bunch of scarves in the colors of yellow, red & brown. Then we sang It's Autumntime doing scarf movements to the music and the best part was when the song says, "yellow, red & brown", they got to lift up their scarf with their color.  This was for Junior Primary. (My 11-year old assures me that Senior would not enjoy it - but she's one of those "so ready to leave primary" girls). Anyway - they really enjoyed it and we have a BIG junior primary (50 kids or so). (Idea by Melanie Harper)
 

I found 2 really great autumn pictures that go very well with "It's Autumn Time", from the Friend. The Friend has the best art of all!

September 2001 cover, and November 2004 page 35.  (You can go to www.lds.org and see the pdf layout of these pictures if you don't have them yourself).

It works like a book, pages laminated and taped together so they fold in half to fit in a file folder.

Verse 1. I googled and got a yellow, and a red leaf, and an arrow pointing down. The first page says "autumn time" across the top.

Under that are the yellow and red leaves. Under those is the arrow pointing down and then at the bottom of the page the words "down" and "town". Opposite this page is the Sept. 2001 Friend cover.  Looks fabulous.

Verse 2. Flip that over and the first page is 3 big leaves matching the words "yellow" "red" and "brown". Opposite that is the Friend Nov. 2004 p. 35 with the words "bright" and "colors" printed on either side of the tree trunk. So there you go! (Credit Unknown)