1-2-3 come do Some Apple Activities With Me

Because apples are a big deal here in Michigan, I've spent a lot of time designing quick, easy and fun apple activities that teach a variety of standards. 

I'm featuring 3 of my newest creations on the blog today, along with a special FREEBIE. 

“Real Stuck, Way Up”, by Benette W. Tiffault, is  my Y5s’ favorite apple stories.

      A boy wants to eat an apple “way up” in the tree, so he tosses his baseball to knock it down and it gets stuck; so he tosses his shoe, a baseball glove and a variety of other items ‘til all of them are “real stuck, way up”, including himself when he decides to climb the tree.

It’s a perfect “sequencing” story and super-fun way to practice retelling a tale.

With that in mind, I designed a story “slider” craftivity, along with 4 worksheets to test comprehension, plus 4 interesting writing prompts, that I think your students will really enjoy.

The slider patterns come in BW as well as color, so that you can quickly & easily make a pattern to share. There are also 2 size options: full-page or 2-on-a-page.

For an independent center activity, there’s a set of colorful sequencing cards. Make a double set to use for a Memory Match game.

I’ve also included a set in BW, so that children can color, cut and make their own sequencing game.

You could use these as a whole-group assessment to check comprehension.

Later, have students pick a partner to see who can be the first to sequence the story correctly.

Afterwards, have them add the cover to make an “Itty Bitty” booklet.

To make reading the story especially fun, pass out the picture cards to your students.

When you get to that item in the story, the child holding that card places it on the apple tree poster.

After the story, pass the cards out to different children; challenge the class to put them in the correct order.

You can also use these patterns as an independent math center.

Children roll 1 dice to place picture cards 1-6 on the tree, then roll 2 dice. add them together to place picture cards 7-12 on.

Make a double set and have children play against a partner, to see who can be the first to get all of their items “real stuck”.

Next up is a set of "Life Cycle Of An Apple Number Puzzles", which are a simple way to not only learn the life cycle, but some of that science vocabulary as well.

Students also practice sequencing numbers from 1-10, counting backwards from 10-1, as well as skip count by 2s, 3s, 5s & 10s.

There are 14 different kinds with 65 puzzles in all. Some are vertical, while others are horizontal.

Print, laminate & trim the full color options and use as an independent math or science center.

Use the black & white ones, so that students can color & cut up their own puzzle.

Doing a bit of singing at the end of our day, is something my students really enjoy and look forward to.

One of their favorite songs is B-I-N-G-O.  The song is an easy-peasy & great way to practice letter recognition, spelling and subtraction! Woo Hoo!

With that in mind, I made up a little “B-I-N-G-O” song for each month.  These apple & cider ones are for September.

My Y5s were recognizing lots of letters and understanding “taking 1 away”, before we even got to specifically studying those letters or the concept of subtraction, all because of the simple BINGO songs!

The A-P-P-L-E  one is now there personal favorite. You know you've got a "winner" when your kiddos break out in song while working on their apple-themed morning work!

Today's featured FREEBIE is a super-fun Name Map.  It's a nice icebreaker for the first week of school and a great way to get to know your new students.

The completed activity makes a wonderful back to school bulletin board too! 

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by. 

We've had quite a few record-breaking, hot and humid 90-degree days, so it's time for a dip in the pool.

So in need of that energizing refreshment.  Wishing you a fun-filled day.

 "It's never to late to be what you might have been." - George Eliot

1-2-3 Come Do Some Color Activities With Me

It seems that a lot of teachers are still working on apples during October as one big harvest theme.  I had a request from one of my preschool teacher friends, to make some apple-themed color activities.

While I was pulling that packet together, Yolanda, a kindergarten teacher in Washington, asked if I could do an emergent reader with the three colors of apples.  Thus Apple Colors was born.

Surprisingly, quite a few of my Y5 kiddos thought that apples are simply red, which amazed me, because Michigan is a huge apple growing state.

I designed these color activities so that they would reinforce the fact that apples can be red, yellow & green, while practicing a variety of standards.

The packet includes:

* An emergent reader in color as well as black & white, with options for 6, mini-pages on a one-page template, or 12, mini-pages, so you can make Itty Bitty booklets.

* Posters: Including 9 photo posters featuring pictures of real red, yellow and green apples.
* 4 apple songs with matching posters.
The A-P-P-L-E song includes pocket chart cards.

It’s a super-fun way to practice counting, subtraction, letter recognition, & spelling, as well as listening & following directions.

* An apple color matching game. Students can match color words to pictures, or pictures to pictures.

* 2 graphing activities
* 2 worksheets

* 4, quick, easy & fun apple craftivities.  Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop to have a look see: Apple Colors.

The FREEBIE today is a quick, easy and fun Apple Matching Game.  Click on the link to grab your a copy.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  The nights have been cold, so the trees have really started changing colors. 

I think fall is my favorite time of year because of the absolutely gorgeous trees. 

It's time for a much-needed brain break to take a drive with my husband. Wishing you a relaxing day filled with memorable moments.

"Love doesn't grow on trees like apples in Eden. It's something you have to make.  And you must use your imagination too." - Joyce Cary

1-2-3 Come Sing and Learn With Me

Do you sing “5 Little Apples In an Apple Tree” during fall?  It’s one of my kiddos favorites, and a great way to practice all sorts of math skills! 

They especially enjoy the fingerplays I've added, and like it so much, we continue to sing 5 Little Apples through November, as we add other songs to our autumn repertoire.

I added an extra stanza to the end. I figured if a child ate 5 apples, especially green ones, they'd probably end up with a tummy ache; thus the line: "Did I eat 5 apples without a break? Uh oh! Tummy ache."

Besides singing the song, I wanted to do some follow up activities that would also reinforce a variety of standards, so I designed the 5 Little Apples Activities packet. 

I think you’ll really like the versatility, as it’s appropriate for PK-1st and especially helpful for ESL children.  Simply pick & choose what’s right for your group.

The packet includes :

* An emergent reader, which includes a full-color copy for teachers, as well as a black & white one for your students.

Children read the repetitive sentences, trace & write the number & number word, then draw that many apples on their tree. 

To make this a sweet keepsake, I have my kiddos press their index finger on their choice of a red, yellow or green stamp pad, to make their apples. 

If you like that idea too, you'll want to include the optional last page:

* I've also included a set of Pocket chart cards. As you read the poem-chant with your kiddos, you can take an apple away.

Continue reading by simply changing the 2 cards that have a number on them.

To reinforce subtraction with my kiddos, I have them hold up a "high five" hand. 

As apples fall we "fold" one of our fingers down. 

I say: "5 apples were on the tree.  One fell down; that left..." They say and show me 4.

* There's also a variety of Games:Memory Match, I Spy, Where's Wiggles? ( which practices ordinal numbers as well as spatial directions), plus I Have-Who Has?; Speed, Kaboom & an Apples on a Roll (dice game).

* Some posters, including photographs of real apples.
* Math-related worksheets with the 5 Little Apples theme. 

Pick the level that's appropriate for your kiddos.

* My personal favorite, is an apple slider craftivity, with two options: a simple slider with numbers from 1-5 for PK kiddos, as well as one that skip counts by 5s.

* The number puzzles are also suitable for different ages and levels.

I hope your kiddos enjoy this song-poem as much as mine do. As you can see, it’s a quick, easy and fun way to cover all sorts of standards. 

Click on the link to pop on over to my TpT shop to have a look see at this 57-pager that's chock full of fun, and only $3.50: 5 Little Apples Activities

The featured FREEBIE today, is a quick, easy and fun way to learn more about your students, as they practice their address, which I think is extremely important, and fits right in with our Fire Safety activities this month. 

Click on the link for the "My Home" writing prompt craftivity.  Completed projects make an adorable "Our Classroom Neighborhood" bulletin board too.  

Well that's it for today.  I'm anxious to start designing other fire safety stuff, plus pumpkin and scarecrow activities!

Be sure and pop back tomorrow to see what I got accomplished. For now, it's time for a computer break to decorate my house for fall, before Halloween has come and gone! Wishing you a weekend filled with super-fun autumn activities.

"Let your life lightly dance on the edges of time, like dew on the tip of a leaf." - Rabindranath Tagore

1-2-3 Come Do Some Apple "Craftivities" With Me

Studying apples was one of my very favorite units.  Apples can be used across the board for every subject.  I especially enjoy designing hands-on apple lessons that help students practice their fine motor + listening and following direction skills.  Because my room was on the far end of the school, one of the corridors provided a hallway to myself!  I LOVED decorating it to the hilt, with my students' "mess-terpieces"; we always received tons of compliments too.

To introduce, and encourage rhyming, I like to make up poems and songs to familiar tunes.  I used the tune of 3 Blind Mice for the Apples Apples Apples dangler.  It reinforces the concept of small-medium and large, as well as the fact that apples can be red, yellow or green.  Older students can also label the parts of an apple.

To make this even more special, have students glue their photo to the leaf, and press their pinkie finger on a brown stamp pad, to make the 5 seeds in the center of their apple.  Making a brown construction paper loop for a stem, adds pizzazz, and makes it easy to hang these from the ceiling. Click on the link to veiw/download the Apples Song Dangler.

Small squares of red, yellow and green tissue paper, collaged on a card stock apple, also provides great fine motor skill practice.  The results are truly amazing. For a high gloss finish, gently paint the top of the apple, with watered-down Elmer's white glue, or Modge Podge.  For that extra bit of pizzazz, add a scrap of calico fabric and a button. Click on the link to view/download the Tissue Paper Apple Activity.

If you've cut apples using an Ellison die-cut machine, save the outside "frame."  For an "instant" apple, put the "frame" on top of the tissue paper collage.  If you want these to have a "stained glass" look, collage the tissue squares on a sheet of wax paper, trim and hang in the window.

Another quick & easy craftivity your students can do, to reinforce the concept of 3D, as well as the fact that apples come in 3 colors, is to have them make an apple pencil topper. 

I call these apple twirlers, because you can rub the pencil between the palms of your hands and make the apple twirl. 

To make one, run off the apple template on red, green and yellow construction paper.  Students trim their apples, fold them in half and then glue each half together til they have a 3 dimensional apple, whose "faces" are red, green and yellow.   This is a teachable "fraction" moment, to cover the terms "whole" and "half."  While the glue is still wet, students slide their apple onto the top of their pencil.   Click on the link to view/download the Pencil Apple Twirler.  

A spin off of this activity, is a tri-colored apple paper chain.  Instead of putting their apple on top of a pencil, students add a seed center to each face, punch a hole at the base, make a yarn loop and attach yellow, red and green paper chain links.  Review an ABC-ABC pattern with your students, as well as odd and even numbers. 

They can make their chains as long as they have time for. Older students can write an apple fact on each one of the strip before they link them up.  Click on the bolded link above to view/download this craftivity.

Finally, to add a bit of pizzazz to your apple cut-outs, and help students strengthen their finger muscles, use a hand held crinkler, to give papers the look of corregated cardboard.

You can buy these rollers at any hobby store.  They retail for around $18, but watch for weekly 40%-50% off coupons and get one then. 

Students simply insert their paper into the roller and crank away.  My Y5's LOVED doing this, and nick named the machine "Mr. Cruncher Muncher." Click on the link for the pattern.

Thanks for visiting today; feel free to PIN away!  If you'd like to check out all of the awesome-educational items that I spend way too much time pinning, click on the heart to your right.   I try and blog every day.  Hope you can pop by tomorrow for the newest FREEBIE!

"When you change the way you see things, the things you see change." -Unknown