Summer Green to Autumn Gold Uncovering Leaves' Hidden Colors

**Lisa Bueno** (0:00)
Okay, our friends. So today, as you know, we are heading back to school. It is time. The summertime has been wonderful and fun, and you've probably had some great adventures, but now it's time to head back to school, or to school for the very first time. Maybe you're going to kindergarten, maybe you're going to first grade, second grade, I don't know. Maybe you're homeschooled and you're gonna be at home, or maybe you're going to a private school, I don't know. There's lots of different places that you can go to get your education, but one thing for sure always does happen, and that is that the season changes and time has come to do something new. And how do you know that? Well, there's a clue outside. You look out your window and you'll start to notice something. Those leaves are going from bright green to something different, right?
So today we will be reading a story called Summer Green to Autumn Gold. And it has a subtitle called Uncovering Leaves, Hidden Colors. The story was written by Mia Posada, and it's read today by Mommy, and...
Philip! Philip!

**Philip** (1:28)
You ready for your story?

**Lisa Bueno** (1:30)
Yep!

**Philip** (1:30)
Let's do it!

**Lisa Bueno** (1:33)
When we first open the book, we can see a lot of different leaves. There's elm and cottonwood and ash and dogwood and black walnut and silver maple and all sorts of different kinds of trees. And it says, what kind of leaves do you see in the summer? And I would say probably the uniform thing here is that they're all green, right? And then it says, from emerald to jade, and every shade in between, summer leaves fill the world with green.
The secret to their green color is found deep inside each leaf. Would you like to hear the science on that?
Tiny parts in the leaf called cells hold even tinier parts called chloroplasts. And inside the chloroplasts is something called chlorophyll. And chlorophyll is a green pigment or color, and it's what makes the leaves green. And in this book, my friends, you've got to get this book if you don't have it.
It zooms in and you get to see what it looks like if you were to look at it under a microscope.
Very cool. Besides making plants green, chlorophyll has a job to do. It helps make food for trees and other green plants. Uh, I don't know about that. When the sun shines on the plant's leaves, chlorophyll collects some of its energy. The energy combines with water from the ground and gas from the air to make food. Okay. The food helps the plant grow, just like with you. Right? When you eat food, you grow. Yay! Yeah.
The green chlorophyll is also hiding something. It is covering up other colors inside the leaf. Orange and yellow pigments hide beneath the bright green, and all through the warm summer, they wait.
Slowly, summer creeps toward fall. The air cools and the nights grow longer, and these changes tell trees it's time to get ready for winter. The growing season for trees is over. The leaves stop making food.
They don't need chlorophyll anymore. The chlorophyll slowly disappears, and the leaves' green color fades away. Now, the hidden yellows and oranges are finally revealed. Some leaves turn fiery red, deep purple or bright pink. These bright colors form inside the leaf as the weather cools. Other leaves have brown pigments hidden inside. As the chlorophyll fades, these leaves turn brown. And in the picture, we can see all these different kinds of leaves. They're so beautiful, aren't they? Many leaves have mixtures of yellow, orange, red and brown pigments. The world is a rainbow of scarlet and orange and burgundy and gold. Soon, the stems of the leaves start to separate from the tree. The wind blows them loose and they drift to the ground, piling up.

**Philip** (5:54)
And when they pile up, what do we do, right?

**Lisa Bueno** (5:59)
The fallen leaves feed the forest floor. They break down and become part of the soil. They become food and shelter for insects, snails and worms.
Mmm. Yay!

**Philip** (6:15)
The worms are like, yeah, I don't mind if I do eat those dead leaves. Mmm.

**Lisa Bueno** (6:22)
The bear trees sleep through the winter. It's kind of like hibernating, right?

**SPEAKER_3** (6:28)
Yeah, it really is.

**Lisa Bueno** (6:30)
This is their resting time. And so when you think of it, everyone has to take a rest, including the trees, right? Amazing. And in the spring, fresh leaves sprout from awakening buds full of chlorophyll and filling the world with green again.