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 Alphabet Activities With Me

If you've been following the various blog articles for "apple week" you know that I've covered apple art, apple science, and apple math.  (Simply scroll down to grab all of those FREEBIES in the articles that follow.) It seemed only fitting to design some Apple Alphabet Activities... Wow! Try to say that alliterative tongue twister three times.  Any hoo, you've come to the right place if you're looking for some apple-themed activities that help students practice their alphabet skills.  

You've probably seen all the wonderful clothespin matching games all over Pinterest.  They were my inspiration for this upper and lowercase letter apple game. 

Whenever I design something, I make samples, so that I not only have a photo of what a completed project looks like, but as a way to jot down specific steps, so you can easily follow my directions.  Making something, also irons out any kinks I may run across that I can share, so things run smoothly for you. 

The big one here is to clip your clothespins onto the apple BEFORE you  write the letters on the tips.  I learned that the hard way.  Because my Y5's are just learning letters, they are easily confused when the thing they are matching doesn't look exactly like the mate. 

By clipping the clothespins first, you are able to write the letters in the proper direction.  As you can see by the photo, sometimes the letter needs to be written vertically on the clothespin, other times horizontally  You also won't have any letters appearing upside down when a child clips them. 

Here's another TIP: When I got the uppercase set done, I thought it would be a good idea to write the lowercase letters on the back, so that there were several ways to play the alphabet apple game (uppercase to lowercase, as well as lowercase to lowercase etc.)  So that children aren't confused, write the uppercase letters using a different color permanent marker, than the lowercase letters. 

This will be easy for students to sort, and see which side they should be using for whatever game you want them to practice.  Click on the link to view/download the wonderful fine motor skill game: apple alphabet clothespins.

While I was making the numbered apples from 1-100, in yesterday's article, it was easy to use that same template to make apple alphabet cards.  (I really like when things match!) There's a set that shows the upper and lowercase letters on each apple, as well as a set with just the uppercase letters, and another for the lowercase letters. 

Use them as a border, flashcards, and for a variety of games.  I've included a tip list of ideas.  Click on the link to view/download the apple alphabet cards.

I've had quite a few requests for simple alphabet worksheets.  Some teachers need them for an option for early finishers, or their sub folder, while lots of visitors need them for "homework!"  It amazes me that some schools make homework mandatory for such a young age.   The caramel apple coloring worksheet has been very popular as a fun home-school connection. 

To reinforce the 3 colors of apples, students color the uppercase letter A's red, the lowercase a's yellow and the rest of the apples green.   Click on the link to view/download a copy of the caramel apple coloring activity.

The "I spy" an apple letter on the apple tree, is a quick and easy way to whole group assess upper or lowercase letters in a fun way.  Teacher starts the game by calling out a letter. Children search for that "apple" on their paper, and then trace it.  When they are done they raise their hand. 

You can see at a glance who is having difficulty.  Play continues 'til all of the letters have been traced.  Students can play this game again at home, by coloring the "spied" letters.  They can play it a 3rd time, by X-ing out the letters. Click on the link to view/download the Apple Tree I Spy game.

Finally, for a variety of other apple-themed activities and games, including ones involving the alphabet, click on the link for a 33-page Apple Activities packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you found something useful here, to help get your kiddos excited about learning.  Just a reminder, if you're looking for an activity that I don't have, feel free to e-mail me at diane@teachwithme.com  Some of the things I design are special requests, and I'm glad to help out.

I'm off to meet a friend for lunch.  Will be nice to catch up and share our excitement over teaching.  I hope you have a lovely day too.

"What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child." - George Bernard Shaw

1-2-3 Do Some Apple-icious Activities With Me!

As I stated in the article after this, I wanted to finish up with all of the apple requests I've had this month, and move on to some other fall theme, so I put lots of apple FREEBIES in the blog today, that I hope you and your students will enjoy.  Click on the "We Love Studying About Apples!" to grab your free poster.

Part of our morning, was spent doing "table top" activities, where students worked independently on various standards and skills. 

With this in mind, I created the Caramel Apple Letter Find.  Students find the capital letter A's and color them red; they color the lowercase a's yellow, and any Cc (for caramel) letter green.  Click on the link to view/download it.

I'd also reinforce letter and number recognition, by playing "I Spy" games.  Teacher starts out by calling out a letter/number. 

Students find it, and either trace or color the apple, and then raise their hand.  Teacher then calls on a quiet student to choose the next letter/numbered apple to find. Click on the link to view/print "I Spy a Letter!" apple game. 

Besides "I Spy" my students enjoyed playing dice games.  This helps with counting and number recognition, and simple addition for older students.

Click on the link to view/print the Apples On A Roll dice game.

To help increase my students' vocabulary, I always had themed words to add to our word wall. 

I encouraged my first graders to refer to the wall when they'd write. Understanding, and using adjectives, is also very important to build good writing skills. 

I designed Apple Adjectives to help with that. There's a black and white version for students to fill in, as well as a completed one in color, to use as an example or anchor chart.  I found that graphic organizers were extremely helpful for prewriting, so I designed an apple one, so students could write in descriptive words.  Click on the link to view/download the Apple Adjective packet. 

Finally, a Venn diagram is extremely useful, in helping students grasp the concept of comparison and contrast.  Once there's understanding and a framework, students will write better. 

Because we study pumpkins shortly after our apple unit, I thought it would be especially helpful to compare a pumpkin to an apple, using a Venn diagram.  Click on the link to view/download the Apple-Pumpkin Venn Diagram. 

If you're looking for some short, but informative YouTube videos on Apples, I spent the better part of a morning watching quite a few.  Here are my favorites: The Life Cycle Of An Apple is put to music in this 2-minute catchy video.

The familiar, 5 Little Apples story-song, is "pumped up" with a rap beat your kiddo's will enjoy, (1:47 minutes.) as well as the "I Love Apples" fact-rap. (2:04 minutes.)

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"The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows." -Sydney J. Harris