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The first day of fall is a timely (and easy!) way to bring seasonal lessons into the classroom and tie them to concepts and phenomena students already recognize. Changing leaves? Shorter days? Fall sports? All engaging.
These first-day-of-fall activities turn that interest into ELA and science conversations and don’t require you to build brand new units from scratch.
Start with the seasonal changes students already notice, like shorter days, cooler weather, and colorful leaves. Then turn them into science questions about sunlight, ecosystems, and weather.
Seasons happen because Earth tilts as it orbits the Sun. This changes how directly sunlight reaches different parts of the planet. Use this first day of fall activity to help students surface, test, and correct the common misconception that seasons happen because Earth moves closer to or farther from the Sun.
Recommended for upper elementary and middle school, this 45- to 60-minute activity helps students use the fall equinox to test a misconception, read for evidence, and revise their explanation of seasonal change.
Focus prompt
What causes the seasons? Feel free to take your best guess.
Warm-up
Have students answer before they read so you can see whether they connect seasons to Earth’s tilt, changing sunlight, or Earth’s distance from the Sun.
Activity
Open the Newsela activity sequence when you want the prompt, article, writing prompt, and extension in one place.
Open the activityAnchor article
Use “Big Questions: What causes the seasons?” to help students identify evidence about Earth’s tilt and sunlight.
Read the articleVisual evidence
Add the tilt explainer when students need a clearer visual model for why sunlight changes across seasons.
Open the explainerComparison text
Use the hemisphere article to help students see that seasonal patterns depend on where you are on Earth.
Compare seasonsSynthesis
Have students return to their first answer and revise it with evidence. For an extension, ask them to define aphelion and perihelion, then explain why those terms do not prove that distance from the Sun causes the seasons.
A leaf chromatography lab turns a known fall observation into an investigation students can test. Start with the hands-on activity, then use the supporting multimodal content to help students connect hidden leaf pigments, seasonal color changes, and the fall equinox.
Newsela STEM activity
Use the leaf chromatography activity as the hands-on anchor, then choose a supporting article or video to help students explain what they observed.
| Resource | Use it to | Reading level / runtime | Spanish? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Find the hidden color of leaves Activity | Start the investigation with a hands-on chromatography activity. | 710L | |
| Big Questions: Why do leaves change colors? Article | Help students explain the science behind seasonal leaf color changes. | 330L–1000L | Yes |
| To survive wintertime, trees ditch those brilliant leaves Article | Connect colorful leaves to how trees prepare for winter. | 400L–1000L | Yes |
| Why do leaves change colors in the fall? Video | Use a short visual explanation before the lab or as a recap after students observe their results. | 2:58 | |
| Goodbye summer: Fall equinox marks the first day of autumn Article | Connect the leaf-color investigation to the seasonal timing of the fall equinox. | 400L–1010L |
Scroll left to right to see the full table.
Fallen leaves do more than pile up and disappear. They become part of a decomposition process that moves matter through an ecosystem. Use this activity to help students investigate decomposers, model how matter moves between living things and the environment, and connect an everyday fall observation to life science.
Newsela STEM activity
Students model how decomposers break down fallen leaves and move matter through an ecosystem.
| Resource | Type | Reading level / runtime | Spanish? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soils and nutrient cycling in the rain forest | Article | 600L–1370L | Yes |
| Recycling the dead: how things decompose | Article | 410L–910L | — |
| Good news: You don’t need to rake your leaves; experts explain why | Article | 580L–1250L | — |
| The dirt on decomposers | Video | 3:18 | — |
Scroll left to right to see the full table.
Use students’ interest in fall sports to get them working on data analysis. They can explore football physics data, look for patterns, then connect what they notice to articles about different aspects of the game. It’s a perfect fit for upper elementary and middle school students.
Generation Genius videos work well when you want a ready-to-use fall lesson without building everything from scratch. Each video includes lesson supports, student-facing guides, vocabulary, discussion prompts, DIY activity guides, and Formative-powered assessment options.
First-day-of-fall activities can support more than seasonal excitement. Use ELA texts to build genre awareness, close-reading habits, and evidence-based comparisons while students interact with multimodal content and supports.
Use fall fiction and poetry to give seasonal reading a clear skills focus. Students can compare imagery, mood, structure, and point of view across genres.
Students can compare seasonal paired texts by reading with a shared focus, annotating evidence, and using graphic organizers to explain how ideas connect.
Newsela Learning Suite
Find fall reading and science resources you can use to explore seasonal changes, compare texts, or start a class discussion.
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Bring a change in the seasons into your ELA and science classes with these engaging winter solstice activities for students.
Celebrate a happy first day of spring with science and ELA lessons that help you tap into students’ curiosity about seasons, weather, and change.
Explore summer solstice activities for ELA, social studies, and STEM to help students learn about seasons, culture, and summer.
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