LESSON 3 TEACHER’S GUIDE
How the Leaves Got Their
Colors
by Jane Manners
Fountas-Pinnell Level K
Fantasy
Selection Summary
When a rich man hires Tom to make a painting and it doesn’t turn out
to his liking, Tom abandons the painting on the beach. Then nature
takes over, removing the paint from the painting and applying the
colored water to the fall leaves.
Number of Words: 476
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
• Fantasy
• Third-person narrative
• Definition of genre stated on last page
• Cause/effect structure
• Art and painting
• Leaves change color in fall.
• Explanation of water cycle incorporated in story
• Artists create art based on their personal interpretations.
• Explanation for how fall leaves got their colors
• Sea and woodland settings important to plot
• Story begins with traditional language (Long ago…).
• Sentences with introductory clauses (In one painting, the water was red and the sky was
green.)
• Questions in dialogue (“Which painting will you buy?” asked Tom.)
• Words related to art: artist, painting, paints, colors
• The word fall used both as verb (“I saw colors fall from the sky”) and as noun (“The fall is
pretty”)
• One- and two-syllable words
• Many words with inflectional endings (lived, painted, looking)
• Illustrations depict characters’ emotions.
• Sentences carry over two to three lines.
• Some pages with illustrations only, no text
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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How the Leaves Got Their Colors
by Jane Manners
Build Background
Help children think about what happens to the leaves on trees in the fall. Build interest by
asking a question such as the following: How might an artist change the color of leaves?
Read the title and author and talk about the cover illustration. Tell children that this story is
fantasy, a story that could not happen in real life.
Introduce the Text
Guide children through the text, noting important ideas, and helping with unfamiliar
language and vocabulary so they can read the text successfully. Here are some
suggestions:
Page 3: Explain that this story offers an imaginative explanation about how the fall
leaves got their colors.
Suggested language: Turn to page 3. Here is a picture of an artist named Tom. He
is busy painting the water and the sky. Look at Tom’s painting. What colors has
Tom used for the water and the sky? Why do you think Tom chose those colors?
Page 5: Call attention to the illustration. The man with the tall black hat wants to
pay Tom to make a painting of the trees. Do you think this is a good idea? Why or
why not?
Page 6: Tom is setting up his paints in the woods. Can you spot the chipmunk in
the picture?
Page 7: Have children look at the illustration. What colors does Tom use to paint
the leaves? How do you think the man buying Tom’s painting may feel about these
colors? Why do you think that?
Now turn back to the beginning of the story and read to find out what happens to
the leaves.
Target Vocabulary
busy – working hard on
something, p. 2
chipmunk – an animal that looks
like a squirrel but is smaller
and has stripes on its back,
p. 7
Grade 2
grew – became that way, p. 10
picked – chose from several
options, p. 6
south – a direction, p. 4
turned – something about it has
changed, p. 9
woods – an area where many
trees grow, p. 6
tops – the highest parts of things,
p. 10
2
Lesson 3: How the Leaves Got Their Colors
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Read
Have children read How the Leaves Got Their Colors silently while you listen to individual
children read. Support their problem solving and fluency as needed.
Remind students to use the Analyze/Evaluate Strategy
feel about the text, and why.
to tell how they
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite children to share their personal responses to the story.
Suggested language: Do you think Tom is a good artist? Why?
Ways of Thinking
As you discuss the text, help children understand these points:
Thinking Within the Text
Thinking Beyond the Text
Thinking About the Text
• Tom paints a picture with yellow,
orange, and red leaves for a rich
man.
• Artists make art based on the
creative, imaginative way they
see the world.
• When the rich man is unhappy
with the unusual painting, Tom
leaves the painting on the beach.
• Art does not have to be realistic.
• The author’s purpose in
writing this tale is to tell in an
imaginative way why leaves
change colors.
• The paint becomes rain and falls
down to color the leaves on the
trees.
• This is a fanciful explanation for
why the leaves change color in
the fall.
• The paintings by the main
character show his colorful,
artistic view of the world.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Further Support
• Fluency Invite children to choose a passage from the text to present as Reader’s
Theater. Remind them to use the right expression to show how the characters feel.
• Comprehension Based on your observations of the children’s reading and discussion,
revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind children to go
back to the text to support their ideas.
• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word parts, using
examples from the text. Remind children that long vowel sounds can be spelled with
two letters. For example, in the word sea on page 2, the long e sound is spelled ea.
Provide other story words as examples, pointing out each long vowel sound and
spelling: green and day (page 2), paints (page 6), rain and leaf (page 10), bow
(page 12).
Grade 2
3
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Writing about Reading
Critical Thinking
Have children complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 3.8.
Responding
Have children complete the activities at the back of the book. Use the instruction below as
needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.
Target Comprehension Skill
Author’s Purpose
Remind children that they can think about the author’s
purpose by using text details to tell why an author writes a book. Model the skill, using
this Think Aloud:
Think Aloud
What do you think the author’s purpose was in writing this book? Think
about the details in the book. One detail is that the artist draws leaves
with colors. A second detail is that the colored water goes up into the
clouds. Another detail is that the colored water turns the leaves yellow,
orange, and red. I think the author wrote this book to tell an imaginative
story about how leaves got their fall colors.
Practice the Skill
Ask children to think of another story they have read about nature. Have them tell why
they think the author wrote the book.
Writing Prompt: Thinking About the Text
Have children write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they
think about the text, they reflect back on the text. They think about the genre, the words
the author uses, and how the story is organized.
Assessment Prompts
• On page 10, what does the word surprised mean?
• What does the rich man learn about artists?
Grade 2
4
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English Language Development
Reading Support Help children understand the meaning of the whole story. The
sequence of how the paint gets from the painting up to the rain clouds may require a fuller
explanation.
Idioms Help children understand that some expressions do not literally mean what they
say. Explain that make some money (page 4) means “receive money for work” and went to
work (page 6) means “got started.”
Oral Language Development
Check children’s comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches their English
proficiency. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the child.
Beginning/Early Intermediate
Intermediate
Early Advanced/ Advanced
Speaker 1: What job does Tom do?
Speaker 1: What colors does Tom paint
the leaves?
Speaker 1: What does Tom do
with his painting of the trees?
Speaker 2: yellow, orange, red
Speaker 2: He puts it on the
beach.
Speaker 2: He paints.
Speaker 1: What does the rich man
want Tom to paint?
Speaker 2: the trees
Speaker 1: What does the rich man think
of Tom’s painting?
Speaker 2: He does not like it.
Speaker 1: How do the real leaves
turn color?
Speaker 2: The colored water
splashes on the leaves.
Lesson 3
Name
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 3.8
Think About It
How the Leaves Got
Their Colors
Think About It
Read and answer the questions.
1. Why do you think the author made the main
character an artist?
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2. What happens after the artist leaves his painting on
the beach?
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3. What is your favorite part of the story? Why?
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Making Connections How the Leaves Got Their Colors is a
made-up story about why leaves change color in the fall. What
is another story you could tell about why leaves change color?
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Read directions to children.
Think About It
Grade 2, Unit 1: Neighborhood Visit
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Grade 2
5
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Name
Date
How the Leaves Got Their Colors
Thinking About the Text
Write a paragraph answering the following questions.
The author has written a make-believe story to explain something that
happens in nature. Do you think the author gives an interesting explanation
for why leaves have such beautiful colors? Why or why not? Use details
from the story to support your answer.
Grade 2
6
Lesson 3: How the Leaves Got Their Colors
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Lesson 3
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 3.8
Date
Think About It
How the Leaves Got
Their Colors
Think About It
Read and answer the questions.
1. Why do you think the author made the main
character an artist?
2. What happens after the artist leaves his painting on
the beach?
3. What is your favorite part of the story? Why?
Making Connections How the Leaves Got Their Colors is a
made-up story about why leaves change color in the fall. What
is another story you could tell about why leaves change color?
Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.
Grade 2
7
Lesson 3: How the Leaves Got Their Colors
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Student
Lesson 3
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 3.12
How the Leaves Got Their
Colors • LEVEL K
page
How the Leaves Got
Their Colors
Running Record Form
Selection Text
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Self-Correction
Rate
Long ago, a poor artist lived by the sea.
3
His name was Tom.
Tom was very busy. He painted all day. In
one painting, the water was red and the sky was
green. He was an artist. So that was how he
saw the water and the sky.
4
One day, a rich man from the South came
to see Tom’s work. The rich man liked the
paintings. He wanted to buy one.
“Which painting will you buy?” asked Tom.
He was happy to make some money.
“I do not want these paintings. I want a
5
painting of the trees just as you see them.”
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/104 × 100)
(# errors + #
Self-Corrections/
Self-Corrections)
%
1:
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 2
Behavior
Error
0
0
1
8
Substitution
Code
cut
cat
1
Self-corrects
cut sc
cat
0
Insertion
the
1
Word told
T
cat
cat

Error
1413728
Behavior
1
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