Apple Activities!

Plants and animals are in the K/1 curriculum, so we focused on a certain kind of plant this week, the apple tree.  This went right along with our farm unit, so it was perfect timing!

I have to send a big thank you out to Jessica Williams.  I found her apple freebie on TpT and used a lot of her ideas this week.  Click here if you want to snag her awesome handouts as well!

We started off the week by learning about Johnny Appleseed.  I read them a couple of books about the man who loved apples so much and they completed papers showing the facts they learned about him.  (The paper is included in the packet mentioned above.)

We made a chart at the beginning of the week to show what we already knew about apples.  They knew quite a bit to begin with (everything in the red apple!)  They also came up with some questions they had about apples.  As you can see, they sort of stuck to a pattern as far as the questions were concerned.  At the end of the week, I filled in the green apple with any new information they had learned.

  I brought in a few apples so we could do a taste test.

The kids predicted which color apple they thought they would like best.  Most of them guessed red or green.  I cut up the apples and gave them each a cup with the three kinds.

They had to use their five senses to observe the apples before tasting them.  This definitely sparked some conversation.  I loved just sitting back and listening!  After the tasting was complete, they colored the apples on their paper to show how they ranked the apples.

I also gave each student a small apple that they colored to show which kind was their favorite.  I taped the little apples to the whiteboard to create a bar graph.  There was an obvious apple winner!

The kiddos completed a bar graph of their own to match mine and then we completed the other sections of their paper together.

To tie in some writing, I had them write about what they discovered when using their five senses.  They completed a paper that told how apples taste, feel, sound, look and smell (this is included in Jessica's packet).  Toward the end of the week we discussed the parts of an apple.  They knew the basics, but core and flesh were two new words for them.  To help them remember the parts, we made apple diagrams.  They had a little trouble finding the core, so we drew some lines down the middle with a pencil.

At the end of the week they did some journal writing.  They were allowed to write about anything that had to do with apples (a trip to an apple orchard, their favorite apple dish, what they know about apples, etc.)  I thought this kinder did an amazing job sounding out her words ("Apples make my favorite juice.")!  I love seeing their skills and confidence grow :)

If you enjoyed our apple activities, come back next week for PUMPKINS!!

--Lauren