Apple Adventures!
10/5/2019
Autumn is the season of harvests, holidays and of course Apples! We began this theme with an engaging story about an apple tree that wished for a star. One night, a little apple tree gazed at the night sky and wished to be a star. A fairy appeared and said that its wish will be granted if the tree worked hard to grow apples. Each sunny day, the tree lifted its branches to absorb sunlight and each rainy day, it soaked up the water. Soon the tree had grown big, strong and full of red ripe apples yet its wish for a star wasn’t granted. The fairy then asked the tree to peek inside one of the apples to find a star! The little tree realized it too is beautiful and special. Afterward, we cut an apple horizontally and the children were amazed to see that there was indeed a star in the center of the apple! For this activity, I set up blue and green projector lights as the children pretended to be apple trees gazing into the night sky. Learning the alphabet is the foundation for reading and writing. We practiced writing big and small A in our handwriting booklets. We also talked about the long A sound in the word 'acorn' and the short A sound in the word 'apple'. The students matched puzzles and played a variety of literacy games to practice letter A recognition. Students explored art as they used apples and acrylic paint to stamp the letter A. One of the best ways to develop number sense is through handling manipulatives and counting them. Students used red, yellow and green pebbles 'apples' to count and sort numbers. They also played a roll and cover math game to strengthen fine motor skills and number recognition. Each child rolled a dice and covered the numbers on the apple tree. The students used their sense of taste while taste testing different apples. We tried red, yellow and green apples. My goal for this activity was to help children understand that different apples have different taste and textures. They also compared the taste of the apples and decided which flavor they liked best. Many students enjoyed the green (Granny Smith) apples whiles others chose the red and yellow apples. We graphed the results of our taste test as a class! The students used their senses to explore the different parts of an apple. We sat in a circle, passed the apple around and described how it looks, smells and feels. Afterward, we divided each part of the apple and labeled them as a class. The children examined the skin, flesh, stem, seeds and core of the apple using a magnifying glass. The children had an exciting opportunity to explore gravity, motion and elevation while racing with apples. We began the lesson by dropping heavy objects and light objects in the classroom. The children noticed that despite the weight of the objects, they all fell to the ground. We set up two tubes outside against the bench and raced apples. While we played, I asked the students about the different tube sizes/angles and what their thoughts were on which one would be the fastest and the slowest. Similar to scientist in the real world, the students followed the steps to the scientific method to come up with their conclusions. Step 1. Make an Observation (The apples fell when they were dropped) Step 2. Ask a Question (Why did the apples fall and not float away?) Step 3. Form a Hypothesis (The apples fell because of their weight) Step 4. Test the prediction (Drop heavy items such as apples and light items such as feathers down the tube) Step 5. Use the results to form new predictions (Gravity pushes both heavy and light objects down) Chemist, Physicist, Engineers and Geologist all use the scientific method to find logical conclusions. Our EK Orcas are little scientist in training! The apple racing activity was an excellent hands on and play experiment! The children participated in many wonderful activities during specials. Mrs. Molly set up an awesome obstacle course in the gym. The children experimented with watercolors in art class and made music with shakers in music class. Lastly, the students learned the days of the week in Ms. Emani's spanish class!
Comments are closed.
|
Anna RamseyArchives
April 2021
Categories |