Leaves contain something called chlorophyll which turns them green. Without chlorophyll, leaves start to turn to different shades of orange and yellow. The leaves need sunlight and water to produce food that is then stored inside the leaf.
There isn’t enough sunlight in autumn to produce any food, so the leaves start to lose chlorophyll and turn orange or yellow.When all the stored food has gone, the leaves start to die and turn brown. When they have died they fall from the tree. Once we'd this done we went outside and explored the environment. We collected leaves and seeds from the sycamore, ash and beech tree and on returning to the class we examined the leaves and some seeds also.