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

Yesterday's articles featured all sorts of apple craftivities.  Today's apples incorporate a bit of science and math.  Whenever I started a themed unit, I always began by reading some interesting books. 

To cover all sorts of genre, I included fiction as well as non fiction stories, and sprinkled in some poems and songs too.  To get a list of my apple books, click on the link.  Another thing I did, was to do some research of my own.

One of my favorite things about the Internet, is the incredible amount of material on the web.  People have spent hours sharing their knowledge and ideas, and I'm grateful. 

I absolutely LOVE doing research and finding out interesting information about the things my students will be studying.  I'm always amazed at the amount of "cool stuff" that I also learn along the way. 

While doing research for my apple unit, I compiled a list of 125 interesting facts about apples, and thought I'd share it with you. 

Highlight the facts you want to share with your students.  After you read the information, test students' comprehension, by having them write 3 facts down on the recording sheet that's provided. 

They could also add facts to some of the art projects discussed yesterday, like writing information on a paper chain for the 3D apple "dangler" activity.  Click on the link to grab your copy of the 125 Interesting Apple Facts.

A quick, easy and fun way to get some science into your lessons, is to cover the life cycle of an apple. 

For hands-on learning, I've designed 4 different "craftivities" to show the life cycle of an apple. 

Completed projects make awesome bulletin boards, or decorations for your hallway. (Suspend them from the ceiling, as a border along a wall.)

The first packet features an apple, apple pie, and apple tree option. 

You can choose which you feel is most age-appropriate, or give older students a choice.  Click on the link for the Life Cycle of an Apple packet. 

This packet will be FREE for an entire year (!) after which time, it will be up-dated and rolled into my 33-page Life Cycle of an Apple Activities packet in my TpT shop.

The fourth option, is an apple "dangler" because once completed, it looks terrific dangling from the ceiling. 

I made it 3 dimensional by doubling up on the tree and apple cut outs (folding and gluing them together) and making the apple blossom out of a coffee filter that I edged with pink marker.  

Click on the link for the Life Cycle of an Apple Dangler craft.

Finally, for some apple math activities, I designed the apple investigations packet.  It will help your students learn about measurement.

Children measure height, weight, width and circumference of their apple. They trace and write vocabulary-building words, predict, answer questions, plus collect and analyze data.

As you can see, a lot of standards are covered in this simple booklet.  Click on the link above, to grab your FREEBIE.  

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  For another fun writing prompt "craftivity" scroll down to the next blog article to take a look at the Johnny Appleseed packet.

I'm writing this early Saturday morning so that it will automatically go live on Sunday.  I really try to limit my computer time on the weekends.  Having family coming over for a day of swimming, certainly helps me "behave".  I'm off to get ready for some memory-making fun. 

"You can count the seeds in an apple, but you can't count the apples in a seed." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Study Johnny Appleseed With Me!

I've had several requests for some activities about Johnny Appleseed, so I designed this 10-page packet, which will help your students develop their writing skills. 

The Packet Includes:

• A fact sheet about Johnny Appleseed that the teacher reads.

• 2 Johnny Appleseed's Pot Hat "craftivities" to test comprehension.  Run off the template on card stock.  Students cover it with aluminum foil. They write in their answers on the "pot handle" strips, trim and staple to make a "flip for facts" booklet about Johnny Appleseed. 

• If you'd like to make this extra special, take a head shot of each child and enlarge it to 8x10.  Students glue their cooking pot to the top of their head.  If you don't want to use a photo, have students draw a self-portrait. Instead of Johnny Appleseed on the hat, they write their name + Appleseed.

•  To further test comprehension, I've included a "Tell me 3 facts about Johnny Appleseed" writing prompt.
• A "Write 5 adjectives describing Johnny Appleseed"graphic organizer will also show what students have learned.
• A Johnny Appleseed graphing extension reinforces other standards and allows children to share their opinions, as well as get to know each other better.

Click on the link to view/download the Johnny Appleseed packet.  If you're looking for other Johnny Appleseed activities, I spent several hours searching for some interesting things for my readers.  

To help learn some basic facts, and include singing into your day, there's a Johnny Appleseed song on YouTube that's under 2 minutes. A while back, Disney came out with a Johnny Appleseed movie.  It's only 17 minutes long and can be viewed on YouTube. This would make a nice culminating activity to your Johnny Appleseed studies.

I use coloring pages to make worksheets with letters, numbers, shapes etc.  I also turn them into math sheets and connect the dots via skip counting. When my students are done with the task at hand, they can color the picture.  I'm always on the lookout for coloring pages that fit my theme.  A Johnny Appleseed coloring page can be found at this link.  Martin also has a Johnny Appleseed coloring page, as well as education world.

 Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  If you'd like to take a peek at all of the awesome educational items that I spend a portion of my day pinning, click on the heart button to your right.

"I keep six honest serving men; they taught me all I know; their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who." -Rudyard Kipling