As regularly as the trees changing color, when fall comes around, Marshall School teacher Robin Margent takes out past years' leaf projects and shows them to her class. This year, she holds up a colorful packet with leaves taped to the pages. "You'll be making one just like this but with your own special touches,'" she tells her second graders.

This year, Margent teaches a "looping" class, which means that her students come into her classroom in first grade and stay together until the end of second grade. The leaf project is a highlight of their time with Margent. "I love this project," she admits. "I just love trees."

Margent estimates that she has seen well over 200 leaf projects in her years at Marshall, with another class set to come; this year's projects are due Nov. 3.

The windows that line Margent's first-floor classroom look out onto Marshall's tree-lined playground. Earlier this month, students went outside with student teacher Sarah Hanson to gather leaves that were still green.

"What's our hypothesis about what happened to them after a week without sun?" asks Margent. As students hazard guesses, she repeats important vocabulary slowly. "Chlorophyll," says Margent slowly. "Moisture.  Who can tell me another word for moisture?" Now, she explains, the students will become "tree detectives."

Margent and her husband, 30-year residents of South Orange, have watched three sons graduate from Columbia High School, and she models the project she assigns on a similar assignment one of her sons did in ninth grade. "I remember doing it with him," she tells her students, seated on a bright rug in front of her. "We walked around town, through the Reservation."

As she holds up completed projects for the students to admire, Margent notes the dates. "This child," she says of one, "is a sophomore in college now." As the kids marvel at this news, Margent refocuses their attention. "All those years, and it's still a great project," she laughs. "Look how neatly she labeled these leaves."

The leaf project sends students on a scavenger hunt through nature. As Margent introduced the project, para-professional Lori Woolridge distributed packets to the students; each page describes a type of leaf that the students must find. When they find each type, students are asked to provide details of when and where they found each leaf. "Remember that you're tree detectives," says Margent. "And detectives need as much information as possible."

Margent promises that all of the trees can be found in South Orange and Maplewood. As she points to a drawing of the hard-to-find ginkgo, she hints that Memorial Park is a good place to look. "I like that park," says student Jonah. "And we like that park," agrees Margent. 

As she turns the pages of past years' projects, the second graders ooh and ahh with recognition. "I've seen that leaf before," calls Margot, spying a maple leaf. "That's my favorite kind," says another child when Margent displays an oak leaf. "We have a lot of those on Kendall." The project includes leaves attacked by insects, which interest every student. "I changed my mind," says a student. "Now that one's my favorite."

The second graders have completed posters about trees, and she asks a student to bring hers in from the hall. "Is this the same leaf?" she asks the class, holding a project and a poster next to one another. Students turn to one another and speculate. "Almost," says Margent. "This is one kind of willow and this is another."  The second graders nod as she points to the leaves' differences. 

Margent's hope is that her students will take their parents, grandparents and siblings on a walk in search of leaves. Once her students collect a variety of leaves, she further hopes that parents will help their children identify each kind. "The public libraries have books waiting for you," she reminds the class. "What if I don't like the project?" frets a boy. "In all these years," says Margent, "I never had a child who didn't like it." She shows students how to press leaves in a book—she recommends her "absolute favorite," a dictionary—and passes around a tree identification handbook. "Once you look at your leaves, and identify the trees they come from, you'll never forget what kind of tree it is," promises Margent.

The class lines up to go outside, where Margent will show the children how to remove a leaf from a tree safely. "One reason I do this project," explains Margent, as she leads the children towards a maple, "is because before I did it with my son, all we noticed was the blur of green and red. We'd notice how pretty they were, but we never stopped to see how different they all are. Once we started gathering leaves, we noticed how very, very distinct their shapes and colors are."

Standing under a tree, Margent gently pulls a branch towards her and removes a single leaf with a gentle twist. The second graders watch her until a gust of wind blows dried leaves in their direction. They squeal and reach for flying leaves. "I hope they'll stop and notice nature," says Margent of her students, past and present. "That's what the leaf project is all about."

Indeed, past students remember the project fondly. "This is deciduous," declares a seventh grader picking up a leaf from the sidewalk near Flood's Hill. "I remember that from Mrs. Margent."