The Leaves are Falling...

This was a project that I did with my sixth grade students, but can easily be done with any grade level.  I like to use leaves as stencils during the Fall because it helps the students understand that there are many different kinds of leaves and different shapes.  I also like the students to see, firsthand, the array of colors that leaves are this time of year.  I had the students do a simple line/shape drawing of their leaf and then mount the leaf on a variety of colors of construction paper to create a 'rippling' effect, or a repeated shape pattern.  We discussed composition in this assignment, and I had the students think about arranging their leaves in such a way that it looked like the leaves were falling from the trees.