Apple Day (and a few other things)

Today everyone was excited about apple day and sharing. This was the first time we had everyone bring something for sharing, so that was a lot of listening they had to do while waiting for their turn, and I was really, really impressed with how well they did. Great job, Kindergarten!

When we focus on a letter for an entire week, we saturate the days with as many activities as possible that start with that letter. For example, we ssssang the ssssssilly pirate ssssssong and we sssssnuck out to the playground for a little extra recess and we ssssssslithered across the room. Yesterday we thought of 29 words that started with Ss!

And now, on to Apple Day!

We have very few pictures of our apple day adventures because we were too busy to take pictures. Hopefully your child showed your their apple page so you know what they did. After we graphed our apples (by color and by stem/no stem), we had some scientific explorations to learn more about them. We measured how tall our apples were and how much they weighed. We predicted if they would sink or float and then tested it. We cut them and tried to get the seeds out of the core, using fingers and/or teeth.

We made beautiful pictures showing the seasons of an apple tree. (Sorry, again no picture. We were too busy with glue and glitter and paint... you can see one tomorrow)

Then came the best part: we made applesauce. Our room smelled so good. Finally, after the last recess, it was ready:
First we observed how it looked and felt, then we smelled it and tasted it. 6 children and 1 teacher really liked it. The other 5 children were less impressed (though a few of those may have really just disliked because their neighbor did). For most children, it was the first time they had eaten warm, chunky applesauce.

Recipe for applesauce: slice a bunch of apples. Invite someone over to peel and cut them. Put them in a crockpot with a dash of nutmeg and some cinnamon. Cook for a few hours, lifting the lid occasionally to mash and smell. Add a little sugar (optional. I added about a tablespoon). Eat!

Your little scientists also made a diagram of an apple, labeling its parts.
Then we did some non-fiction apple writing. Look at that great kid writing! This child is starting to write down the sounds they hear and remembered to use spaces. (I bought a apple. Regular apple.)
We did a little extra patterning practice. Children who finished had the choice of coloring (fine motor skills :) or labeling (math challenge! :)