The first-grade scientists have been hard at work noticing seasonal changes in weather, animals, and trees. During a recent outdoor scavenger hunt, the first graders observed many changes around the Unquowa campus. With binoculars in hand, the class looked at trees for some clues that the season is changing from fall to winter. Do leaves really change color? How do they get ready for winter? The class found out that the leaves are not actually “changing” color but revealing color packages that were always present in the leaves. All spring and summer the green chlorophyll packages(green) are working the hardest of all of the colors turning sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into food for the tree. When the temperature starts to change in the fall the tree closes up the water tubes inside the leaves with a thin layer of cells preventing the chlorophyll from making more food for the tree. Now, the orange packages called carotene, and the yellow packages called xanthophyll are revealed! “What about the red and purple leaves,”  our little scientists wondered. The answer to this mystery is that sugar(sap from the tree) was stuck inside the leaf’s water tubes!