With the turn of a new season, we begin to notice changes in our environment and participate in new activities outside. One activity that many of the children shared was apple picking. What better way to connect school learning with life experiences than to learn about apples! The children engaged in many play activities centered around apples and farms. Through play and structured activities the children develop their social-emotional and academic skills.
Structured activities focused on rhyming, counting, crayon grasp, color sorting, and predictions. We read several fiction and nonfiction texts about apples. The children learned about the parts of an apple, both inside and out. They learned about the life cycle of apples and how trees change with the seasons. We will continue our discussion of Fall and Fall activities over the next few weeks.
Lots of pretend play and building has occurred in the block center where our miniature farms are located. The children work together to set up scenes and act out stories.
Our fall sensory bin contains beans and several fall objects such as apples and cinnamon sticks. The alphabet letters that we've been learning, A-F, were also hidden amongst the beans. Students were asked to find the letters and match the letter to the appropriate tree. Another wonderful discovery occurred while students were scooping and pouring items into long, clear tubes. The children figured out which items would fit inside the tubes and which got stuck!
Our game for this week was Hi-Ho Cherrio! Students practiced counting, turn-taking and number recognition while playing with friends.
After discussing the anatomy of apples, how they are grown and where they can be found, we discussed different ways apples can be eaten. Students worked together to make applesauce. Each student had the opportunity to core an apple. Next, after the apples were cut into small pieces, everyone contributed to the recipe by adding cinnamon and water. After the apples cooked for a short time, some children volunteered to mash them and then we all took a taste after it cooled. Students identified whether or not they preferred fresh apples or applesauce on a class graph. This was a wonderful activity that incorporated turn-taking skills, measuring, and collaboration.
The students engaged in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) activity in which they were faced with the challenge of building apple trees. The objective was to build a tree that would hold the most apples. Students used a toilet paper roll as the trunk, thin or thick popsicle sticks for the branches and pom-poms for the apples. Students used trial and error to determine how to lay the branches. They made improvements to their designs and then practiced counting as they determined how many apples balanced on their tree.
We had our first gym class. The children did a wonderful job in such a large space. First we played a game in which the children had to sort different creatures into the same colored hula hoop. the children performed different actions while they were sorting, such as running, jumping and crawling. Next, we played with the parachute. We pretended we were going on a camping trip and told the story by moving the parachute in different ways. The students had a blast!
