Fall is almost here! We’re making it through back to school and it’s time to start thinking about our upcoming units. When moving from “getting to know you” and procedural-type activities, it is easy to lose engagement. Using themes that can be carried throughout your content will keep your kiddos focused and engaged! So, today I am going to talk about bringing fall into your lessons with fall-themed ELA activities and resources!
Practicing Communication Skills with Speaking & Listening
A great way to practice your speaking and listening skills is to have theme-based activities. These will provide your students with structure and focused topics. So, incorporate fall topics, themes, and scenarios in your speaking and listening activities. A great way to add a fall-themed activity is to have a picture card of a fall scenario. Then, students will use question prompts to practice their conversation skills.
Auditory and listening comprehension is a large part of your students’ speaking and listening development, too. So, grab your favorite fall read alouds and videos! You can use conversation slips like the ones above to have students compare the book and video. This is great for working on key detail and connection skills.
The benefits of these fall-themed ELA activities will carry across your students’ skill development. Not only will their conversation skills improve, but it will also build their comprehension skills, their ability to express ideas and opinions, recall relevant details, and more! Students will continue to benefit from these practices throughout the year.
Using Fall Themes to Inspire Writing
Next up, is writing! Students have likely been doing some writing for back to school. With getting-to-know-you activities and procedural writing, back to school is great for building some writing stamina in our students. Now, it is time to focus our writing lessons.
Students are going to be using each of the writing styles (Narrative, Opinion, Informational), and they will likely be spiraled throughout the year. One way to keep them feeling fresh is to vary the topics and themes. So, if you add themed topics to their writing activities, they will be more engaged! Fall-themed writing activities may look like narrative writing prompted with a story card. Or, it could be fun how-to writing! Students can practice their transitions and details with a “How To Make a S’mores” or “How to Build a Scarecrow” piece!
Learning Scientific Topics about Fall with Reading Informational
Informational reading is always an excellent way to tie in science content. So, for fall-themed information reading activities, think about the science of the fall! Students can read about how the leaves change color, weather, the life cycle of an apple or a pumpkin! Choosing topics that are relevant to your students at the time, will create high-interest reading. Plus, you’ll be getting science content in and opening up your science block for more hands-on activities!
Relating Fall Themes to Their Real Lives with Reading Literature
Similarly, your fiction reading can be tied to fall. Students will be able to practice their RL skills while reading about a trip to a local orchard, or going to a fall festival. The fact that they are reading stories about things that could be happening currently in their own lives, will build connection and interest. Additionally, these stories will build their experience and serve as mentor texts for their own writing!
Practicing Partner and Small Group Cooperation with Foundational Skills and Language
It may not seem as important, but tying fall into your language activities can have its benefits! Students will be able to practice their language skills with a partner while talking about the five senses of fall. They can build reading foundations by using a fall-themed vowel teams activity or improve their fluency with a sight word speed read. Partner and small group activities like these will also help your students with cooperative learning skills!
So, although adding fall-themed ELA activities may seem like a simple idea, it can greatly improve your students’ connection and engagement! Consider adding some themed activities to your fall lesson planning!
Suggested Resources That Will Perfect Your ELA Lessons This Fall
Throughout this blog post, I’ve shown activities from the 1st and 2nd grade Fall ELA set. Here are all the grade levels I have for you.
