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Ideas...

Bring in some apples. Encourage children to look at things that are the same and things that are different about the apples. Do different colored apples have the same shape? Which apple smells the best? Do all of the apples have the same kind of stem?

Place apples in water. Which ones float? Which ones sink? Cut an apple in half – will it still float? Have students draw predictions beforehand.

Read a story about the star in the apple, then cut open an apple and count the seeds. If apples are the same color, do they have the same number of seeds? Do the insides of apples look the same if you cut them horizontally and vertically?

Let seeds dry 2 weeks and then plant them in the classroom.

Make apple prints with apple halves and tempura paint.

Have a taste test with different colors of apples. Cut out red, yellow, and green die-cut apples. If a student likes the red apple the best, s/he writes name on red die-cut apple, etc. Count and graph – which color of apple is the least/most popular?

Make applesauce. Peel and slice apples. Place in crock pot with a small amount of water, a little sugar, and cinnamon. Cook on high for several hours until soft.

Send home apple survey. Look at and let students try different apple products, such as apple butter, apple jelly, etc. Graphs results of survey.

Read The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree. Each child makes a book, The Seasons of _______’s Apple Tree and illustrates it with paint for each season.

Read books about Johnny Appleseed on his birthday, Sept. 26.

Read Apples up on Top and have class make their own big counting book with die-cut apples.

Make the All About Apples books as you go along.

Have students color the Apples mini-book, practice reading it, and take it home.

Do apple math sheet. Students practice writing numbers, then cut up, mix up, and glue back in order on a ½ sheet of construction paper.

Have students create an apple art project. Students tear (no cutting!) yellow/green/red construction paper in shape of apple, tear out leaf and stem, and glue onto black ½ sheet of construction paper.

Make a season & birthday chart. Make a large chart showing the four seasons, with the season's months listed beneath it (leaving lots of room to write). Talk about the special things that happen in each month, beginning with the holidays that children are already familiar with, and things like the beginning and end of school. Next we predict which season will have the most birthdays in it, based on the kids in our class. The predictions are recorded on our chart, and then we list the birthdays for each month. Count birthdays by making tally marks, then write a number total for the month. Finally, we add up all the tally marks and write the totals next to our original predictions.

Make paper plate apples. Each child gets a white paper plate and fingerpaints it red. When it's dry, we add green paper leaves and a brown stem, and glue real apple seeds to the center.

Make apple handprints. To make the handprint, paint the child's palm red and press onto paper. Make a green thumbprint for the stem and leaf.

Using a balance scale, estimate how many teddy bear counters will equal one apple. Repeat for a red apple, a green apple, and a yellow apple. Encourage children to find apples that weigh the same. Which is the heaviest apple? Do all green apples weigh the same?

 

Farmer Brown

Farmer Brown had five red apples hanging in his tree.
Farmer Brown had five red apples hanging in his tree.
He picked one apple hungrily.
Then Farmer Brown had four red apples hanging on his tree.
(Do on flannel board.)

The Orchard

The orchard has so many trees
More than I’ve ever seen.
They are full of shiny apples
Red, yellow, and green.

Have You Ever Seen An Apple
("Have You Ever Seen a Lassie?")

Have you ever seen an apple,
an apple, an apple.
Have you ever seen an apple,
that grows on a tree?
A red one, a yellow one,
a green one, a golden one.
Have you ever seen an apple,
that grows on a tree?