We finished up our apple unit on Friday with a bang!
It all started with making slow cooker applesauce! Each child was asked to bring in apples for our festivities the last couple of weeks, so we used the rest of the apples up making a yummy treat. I found the recipe from First Grade Parade, click
here if you want to try it out! (It is DELICIOUS!)
I forgot to take pictures during the preparation, but we used my apple peeler/slicer and the kiddos were all very amazed! We tasted the skin of the apples afterwards and they decided which one they liked best.
(Just a side note if you want to make it....I prepped 6 of the 8 apples at home before school. 2 apples are perfect for their short attention spans)
While our applesauce cooked, we talked about the Life Cycle of apples, and then completed Wild About Teaching's freebie:
We did four different apple centers....call me crazy doing all of these by myself! Let's just say I'm glad we all survived.
1. After tasting the applesauce, they completed a recipe/direction page on how we made it. They also colored a happy face or sad face depending on if they liked the applesauce or not.
2. Apple Stamping. I cut apples in half and they got to use them as stamps to paint with on their paper
3. Q-tip 10-frame painting from Sharing Kindergarten:
4. Apple Pattern Craft: (we just colored them with markers instead of using more paint)
The apple stamping was definitely the most crazy. I had 2 box lids that they were supposed to put their paper inside before painting, to help control the mess. I explained the rules/directions for each center and then they got started.
I'm looking around at all the tables and notice at the painting table that EVERYONE'S hands were bright red....and NONE of them had their paper inside the lid, so paint was everywhere! (Mind you, it had been a total of 30 seconds since they'd all started.) I tried to remain calm....gave them wipes to clean their hands and table with, and reminded them of the rules.
After we switched centers....I'm glancing around, and AGAIN there was paint EVERYWHERE! (People....I know I explained the rules to them. I guess they were just SO excited to paint that they forgot every word that came out of my mouth and just went to town.) So I, again, gave them wipes and had them clean up.
The next time we switched, I learned my lesson. I stayed at that table to make sure that they knew what to do....and they were great!
Lesson learned. When we paint....I will remember that they are so excited, they don't remember a word I'm saying. Ha ha. It's all about the experience, right!?
After all the
insane fun centers were done, we read a few apple books to finish our celebration.
Here are a few other fun ideas for you if you're still learning about apples. Just click on the pictures to go to the links.
