1-2-3 Come Do Some Apple Math With Me

The last few articles have covered apple art, some apple science (apple facts and the apple life cycle) plus a bit of writing, so I thought it was time to throw in a little apple math.  I've designed some numbered apples from 1 to 100.  You can put them up all at once, or add one each day of school, as you count up to your 100th day celebration.  

Another fun way to reinforce counting, is with Willie the Worm.  His body is a numbered "slider".  Children trace the numbers and then insert Willie into their apple.  Call out a number, students slide the worm to that number. 

This is a quick and easy way to whole group assess, as you can see at a glance who is having difficulty.  I've also included strips for skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's for a non-boring way to practice. 

For just-the-right-size number fun, with an apple theme, click on the Apple Number packet.  The packet includes: Smaller numbered apples (1-120) that students can easily sequence.  Use these as anchor charts or a help poster for your students' math folders. The apple 1-120 individual strips, can be cut to form a number line. 

I've included 16 "What's Missing?" activity sheets, that are especially helpful for those toughy teen numbers. Run them off for students to fill in, or laminate and have children place number tiles on empty spaces.  The apple math symbols, allow students to use the apples to create and solve addition and subtraction equations, as well as show greater and less than.

Apples with numbers as well as number words, help with reading comprehension. Use them for games, pocket charts, or your word wall.  Skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's is also included, plus 4 games, with the ability to create many more.  Click on the link to get the 35-page comprehensive Apple Number packet.

For more addition and subtraction activities, you'll enjoy the apple-themed 10-frame packet.

If you teach little ones just learning to count, or ESL students, they'll enjoy the 1-to-1 correspondence apple game.  I've included full-color cards, as well as black line masters if you want your kiddos to color their own. 

I used red, yellow and green pony beads as manipulatives.  This provides great fine motor practice as well.

Puzzles are also a fun way for students to practice sequencing numbers. 

I've included an apple as well as a pumpkin shaped puzzle in this packet. Run the apples off on red, yellow and lime green construction paper; give students a choice of what color they want for their apple. 

Children can simply put the puzzle together, or have them create an interesting mosaic picture, by gluing the pieces to a sheet of black construction paper.  (Make sure they leave a little space inbetween the pieces.) 

For that finishing touch, add their photo to the leaf.  To make it more of a keepsake, have students trace their hand for the pumpkin leaf.

There are 7 more apple-themed puzzles in another packet. Use the skip counting by 10's puzzles for older students.

Finally, when doing apple math, one can't forget to include shapes as well as graphing.  Both are accomplished in the Shapely Fall Graphs packet. 

I hope you found a few things here that you're excited about sharing with your students.  Do you have an apple activity that you could share with us?  I'd love to hear from you.  diane@teachwithme.com  or feel free to leave a comment below.

It's a rainy day, and although it's tempting to venture into some time-sucking fun on Pinterest, I'm off to higher priorities.  (Perhaps curling up with a good book!) Wishing you an apple-icious afternoon.

1-2-3 Come Exercise Your Brain, and Play Some Apple Games With Me!

Yesterday I shared "Apples on a Roll" to help reinforce numbers and math skills.  Today I have 2 more freebies: an apple maze and an apple word find.   I designed several mazes according to skill level, from super simple for PK kiddo's, to difficult for older students, or something to challenge "early finishers" with. 

I enjoy designing mazes and word finds, within a themed object, like the apple.  These are quick and easy table top activities, or something to plug in, for those students who manage to get everything done in a short amount of time, and are forever asking: "What can I do now?"   Mazes are great practice for spatial awareness, and higher-level thinking with logic, plus a wonderful fine motor skill, as children navigate from beginning to end.

Click on the link to view/download the Apple Mazes.

For more "a-maze-ing" fun, click on the link to view a plethora of online mazes; suitable for a computer-center activity.

My students also enjoyed word finds.  I made them for every unit, as they are a quick and easy way to reinforce letter recognition and spelling.  Kids love them and they are an excellent way to review the vocabulary that you want to build for that particular theme.

For our apple unit, we started by labeling the parts of an apple; these provided our new vocabulary words, which went up on our word wall.  Searching for them in a word find was a fun way to reinforce them.  Click on the link to view/download the Apple Labeling "craftivity".

There are zillions of word finds available online, as well as a nice selection of word find generators. I used to create my own word finds, by typing in all of the words first, and then filling them in with letters before and after.  This was pretty time consuming, so I switched to using a generator to make an "instant" word find. Simply type in a list of words, and then click submit. 

A downfall of most of the automatic programs, is that they create only using CAPITAL letters.  This is not how teachers want students to search for a word, that they have learned to spell appropriately.  This also proves near impossible for little ones who are just learning how to match upper to lowercase letters.     A-Z Teacher's Stuff     is my favorite program. It offers both upper and lowercase options, shapes, fonts and spatial find options.  In my apple word find, I have included Johnny Appleseed.  I have not found a program that allows me to do both upper and lowercase in the same word find, so I use the result as a "teachable moment" by asking students: "What's wrong with johnny appleseed's name?"  Looking for: "It should be capitalized."  Click on the link to view/download the Apple Word Find.

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"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." -Mark Van Doren