Pre-K embraces fall with arts, songs and lessons

Kristin Risedorph’s preschool music class at Golden Hill Elementary School is putting the fun in fall with a lesson on the changing seasons, a time-honored tradition in her class.

The teacher put up a paper tree outside her classroom, and adapted the tree to match the weather and season outside. Risedorph began by inviting her preschool classes to color leaves for the tree during creative time. She then attached the leaves to the tree, and encouraged her students to “sing to the tree” every time they had music class. 

“As the fall progresses, I take leaves off the tree and we pile them at the trunk until all the leaves are gone,” she said. “There's a little lesson about subtraction in there too!”

The lesson teaches students about repetition, notes on a scale and how to sing a descending-to-ascending major scale.

“I want them to hear their singing voice and know that they can sing,” Risedorph said, adding that she wants her students to “feel as though they are in an enchanted forest.”

This fall-themed lesson has become a seasonal favorite at Golden Hill for years. Risedorph noted that this is her 15th year teaching the lesson about changing seasons, using the tree as a visual aide. Older students still talk about the lesson and pause when they see the tree set up in the hallway. Some even sing the song. 

Risedorph is preparing her preschool students for their upcoming Pre-K Winter Celebration concert, to be held on Dec. 16 at Golden Hill.