Autumn Reflections

As Autumn makes its way toward us, our home started reflecting this change with many little gestures.

Our nature table, is now reflecting autumn with its oranges and yellows. We have added a lot of crystals in it and a cave with wee gnomes – a reflection that this is the season to look inward. Soon we will also add pumpkins there and by the end of the month a dragon will appear gracing the sky…

Our autumn books have also come forth. We will also have other stories throughout this season that are not mentioned here because they are stories that we have found online or passed through friends that encompass the festivals we celebrate. As always our books reflect the current season and a story is retold for a whole week before another one is read.

Here is a list of our books.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak: it is a great book to understand the changing season – a boy greeting the trees, puddles, sticks, leaves etc and them telling him what is happening to them now that autumn is approaching.

Autumn by Gerda Muller: like its sequel Summer, this is a lovely picture book that leaves you open to invent the story you wish in the language you wish.

Brambly Hedge Autumn by Jill Barklem: A lovely story of mice harvesting and by the end of the day a storm started and one young mouse was missing and the adventure till she was found and went safely home.

The Little Yellow leaf by Carin Berger: this is one of my favourites. The story of a leaf afraid to let go but finally she does and finds that it is not so hard and lovely to let go of fears.

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert: a sweet story about how leaf man got blown away by the wind and the many places he could have passed – which of course are all autumn related.

Wild Child by Lynn Plourde: another favourite in this house! Not only the pictures are alive, but the story is of a mother who is trying to put her child to bed and it goes through all the changes of autumn before that happens and then ‘winter child’ wakes up.

Harvest by Kris Waldherr: this is a wonderful story to teach about how we get our food. The girls tells how hard she worked till she got to today – harvest day- and how after the harvest everyone, including the garden will rest.

The butterfly children, Nuts & Leaves by Angela & Pat Mills: another autumn story, involving butterfly children gathering fruits and nuts and how they helped a squirrel find its missing winter store.

Flower Fairies of Autumn by Cicely Barker: beautiful poetry and pictures by this wonderful author who takes us through the whole 4 seasons describing the flowers that we are likely to see through autumn.

Lastly this month we will start celebrating our beloved festivals: Autumn Equinox, Independence day, our main festival Michaelmas and this year because my second is learning about the Jewish religion and customs Rosh Hashannah.

How are you reflecting autumn to your family?