Apples


This post is a throwback to some of the fun activities I did when I was still a classroom teacher before my time in the science lab . :) 

 I LOVE FALL!! Everything about fall! I love the leaves changing colors, apple cider, hay rides, corn mazes,  ALL things pumpkin, Halloween, Thanksgiving, the crisp weather, the cozy sweaters and boots...You get the idea :)  

Even though fall has not officially begun aaannnnd it is still 90's outside, I could not wait to kick off the season with some fun, apple themed activities! 

Here are some wonderful read-alouds that I like to incorporate throughout the week.
*Click the cover to find the book on Amazon and learn more about it*




I also found "The Story of the Apple Star" here and read it to my kids. It is so cute! My kids could not believe their eyes when we cut open one of our apples and found that there was really a star inside!


Then we read this little rhyme I found here whole group and circled the rhyming words. In small group, each kid got their own version of the poem and highlighted our HFWs we are working on this week: is, a. Then, they got to use our halved apples to make their own apple stamp. 


For science we made predictions about how each slice of apple would be effected by the air, water, vinegar, and oil and made observations of any changes throughout the week.



We discussed the different parts of an apple as we dissected our own apple.


Then using our 5 senses, we explored 3 different types of apples: Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith. We discussed how they felt, looked, and smelled and added our answers to an anchor chart.


Next, we listened to see if we could hear any differences in the CrUnCh when we bit into the apples to do our taste test. :)


Finally, we voted on which apple we liked best. Obviously we are still working on name writing, but it is still early in the year. We are getting there! 


In math we have been working on patterns so of course, we had to use our special star apples to make apple print patterned headbands!



We also weighed each apple using bear counters and a balance scale and compared the weight of each apple. 



During "Science Friday" we made applesauce in the crockpot.


This is one of my FAVORITE things to do each year because the kids LOVE it and my classroom smells AMAZING! Oh yeah, and it's educational...

Next week we will be having even more apple fun (Johnny Appleseed day is September 26th!) and my kids will be working on these cute little apple themed workstations! 

Fill in the missing letter

Write the room


Match Johnny to the apple that has his beginning sound



Spell the CVC word on the apples


And apple themed rhyming puzzles



You can find these activities along with several more by clicking the picture below.

 Apple themed literacy centers


Do you have any special apple themed activities that you like to do with your class? I would love to hear about them in the comments below!


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Science Lab Set Up


Welcome to my classroom! Each week over 400 4 and 5 year olds spend time with me learning and exploring in my little home away from home and I would love to share it with you too! These pictures will give you a little glimpse as to how my STEAM lab looks at the beginning of the year. 


1st stop is my whole group area. On the rug we do our lessons and read aloud. I LOVE my big green chair that I found at Ikea for only $30! (here). 


The carpet is also where students work on the iPad. The pillows (to the right of the big book easel) are from 5 Below and the little lap desks are from Michael's.


Although I know this is not the best picture, this little table is my makerspace. You can find the maker space sign for FREE from Cute in Second here





I got the Makerspace Principles poster and the circles from Teach with Ashley here. The words come as circles and I taped them to gears to match my classroom.






This shelf houses a lot of our Makerspace materials.  Students can come get boxes of materials that they need and take them over here to the Makerspace area. The labels came from Fishyrobb on TPT (here).


 I change one side of my huge back window out each moth to go along with our theme. This month we are learning all about our 5 senses!





If you are also teaching about the 5 senses, you can grab this free 5 senses puzzle here!


The other side stays the same all year. You've gotta love this quote from my girl Ms. Frizzle!




Here is my interactive word wall. The letters are the Makerspace Alphabet by Teach with Ashley (here). 





This bulletin board is right about my whole group area and is one of my favorite parts of my room. It looks pretty plain right now but throughout the year, it gets filled with tons of pictures of students hard at work building, creating, and problem solving!


The only other bulletin board in my room is high above the "cubie" area so it stays the same all year long!


This little corner is my blocks area. I think I found the rug at the 99 cent only store (for more than 99 cents) and the BUILD sign I just made on our school's handy dandy die cut machine. The Basic Engineering Skill Posters are from Brooke Brown on TPT and can be found here.



There are shelves all along the bottom half of the back wall and I just bought black foam board and Velcroed  it to the shelfs to hide the mess all of the resources I am not currently using. 



This last little area is my engineering station. I will switch out the materials that they can use to build throughout the year but you can find links to get all of these fun engineering tools below. 






 

I hope you enjoyed the sneak peak around my classroom! I would love to hear any questions or suggestions that you might have. Have a wonderful school year! 
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