A-peeling Apples

Mrs. Filer's Class

Books read:

• Rain Makes Applesauce by Julian Scheer (a Caldecot runner-up in 1965)
  This book is a silly, nonsense book that the kids love to re-read. It has a refrain that they love to chant: "And rain makes applesauce. Oh, you're just talking silly talk!" Hidden in the corner of each nonsense drawing is a small segment of the true story of applesauce.

• Apple Pigs by Ruth Orbach (1976)
  This book has a filmstrip and tape that we have in our library. At the end of the story are directions for making apple pigs. We made one for our class mascot.

• The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
  This books is about Arnold and the role his apple tree plays in the changing of the seasons.
• The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
  This book is about the cycle of the apple tree and how making apple pie is best of all.
• Apple Picking Time by M.B.B. Slawson
  This tale is about a family and community who all help to harvest the apples. The author based the story on her experiences growing up in Washington state.

Activities:

1. Read the story of "The Little Red House with No Door, No Window, and a Star Inside."
   We made a story path for this story as a prop for retelling. The children drew the little boy at his home in the upper left hand portion of a 12x18 piece of construction paper. Then we made a path that circled around the page. We sequenced in a list the characters that the boy visited on his search. We drew these characters with details on the path and added labels (mom, boy, little girl, farmer, barn, granny, flower garden, yarn ball, hill, wind, apple tree, apple). When the story paths were complete, we used them to retell the story. Then each child took his or her path home to share with the family.
2. We made apple prints for this poem:
   Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
   How I wonder what you are!
   Up above the world so high,
   Like a diamond in the sky,
   Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
   How I wonder what you are!

   Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
   Now I know just what you are.
   Your home is cozy, round and red,
   And you're inside tucked in your bed.

   We printed the apple in a "frame" between the two verses of the poem. Then we made a lift-the-flap to cover the apple print and the second verse. On the top of the flap we drew stars with glitter glue.

3. Apple Art
   We filled in an "eaten" apple shape (with green leaf, black stem, top and bottom red apple, inside white core) with torn paper in the appropriate colors. This was a great project for fine-motor control: tearing the paper for filling inside the given shape. When the shapes were filled in with glued-down, torn pieces, we "shadow" cut around them, mounted them on blue construction paper, and hung them in the room.
4. Apple Side-by-Sider
   This is a game with a 6 x 7 array of apple shapes. The game object is to place 4 markers in a row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally while blocking your opponent from getting 4 in a row first!
5. Apple Prints
   Using apples cut horizontally and vertically (so the star shows in the print), we dipped the apples in paint and created apple prints. Then we used markers to add details and turned the apple prints into creatures or people and wrote a sentence about the picture.
6. Quote for my classroom newsletter:
   "Children are a lot like apples.
   Both are beautiful.
   Both need a nurturing environment in which
   to grow strong and healthy."

Caramel Apple
Applets (apple candy)
Applesauce
Whole Apples
Apple Juice

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