At my school we have monthly themes. As a kindergarten team we sit together and decide what themes we want to do for the month. We don't all teach the exact same things, but we teach the same themes. We meet weekly and share our ideas, but lets face it all teachers are different and sometimes we want to put our own touch on things.
Here are our monthly themes:
September is one of my favorite months!! Okay so is...October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May, and June! Oh yeah don't forget August!
I can honestly say there isn't a month that I don't enjoy because I do
SO many fun things in kindergarten!
Although it will be easier to blog about the activities as I do them (which I will do)
I want to share some of my favorite activities with you now!
Apple Craft
Of course we make an apple craft! Who doesn't love crafts!?!?!?!
I will add a picture soon but here are the directions.
What you will need:
Cheapy (not a real word) (super cheap) small white paper plates
Red, yellow, green, and brown construction paper
glue sticks, green pipe cleaners, and a hole punch
Have students pick an apple color.
Then have them tear up nickel to quarter size pieces of paper of the color they choose.
(You will be surprised how difficult this can be for some students.
I try to do lots of paper tearing activities to strengthen fine motor.)
They will glue those all over the front of a paper plate.
The less of the plate that shows the better.
Once plate is covered staple on a small, rectangular piece of brown paper for the stem.
Punch a hole in the apple.
Cut pipe cleaner into smaller pieces (worm size)
Stick piper cleaner out of the hole and tape to the back.
Voila'! You have a super cute apple craft that focused on fine motor (tearing paper).
Apple Tasting
Who doesn't love apple tasting!?!?
I have parents bring in 5 red apples, 5 green (granny smith) apples, and 5 yellow apples.
I cut the apples with an apple cutter.
I pass the apple slices out one color at a time.
We taste and then brainstorm describing words to describe that specific color of apple.
Once we have done that I pass out the next apple color to taste and then we brainstorm.
I continue this until we have completed this for each apple.
We then graph our favorite apple.
Here is a product I created that includes all of the following:
Beginning Sound Match Game
Printables for graphing your Favorite Apple
Decodable Reader
Life Cycle Worksheet
Printables for graphing your Favorite Apple
Decodable Reader
Life Cycle Worksheet
This unit includes a few different activities that I do in my classroom.
Here is a Bulletin Board set you can use after Apple Tasting!
This set includes a banner, a craftivity, and a writing pages!
We usually have our one field trip of the year in September.
Guess where we go...
The Apple Orchard!
Love this fired trip!
While at the orchard we get apples!
Guess what we make?!?!?
If you guessed applesauce you are RIGHT!
Applesauce
We use 1 apple per student. We core it, and peel it.
We use one of those AWESOME apple peeler/corer dohickeys!
We use one of those AWESOME apple peeler/corer dohickeys!
After 8 year of teaching kindergarten and making applesauce I have finally invested in my own!
Totally worth the money!
Here is a link if you want to order your own!
Here is the link for the applesauce recipe that I use.
I use a crockpot, slice & peel them in the morning, and let them cook all day!
YUMMY!
Now for my newest idea!
An Apple STEM activity
Stem activities are the newest rage in education!
Here is a quote that I got from a blog about Stem activities.
Too often, STEM education begins with a disjoined introduction to engineering and technology concepts starting in middle school. And while any exposure to STEM is good, research study after research study on STEM education has shown that kids who experience STEM early through hands-on learning are the ones who will be best equipped to develop a strong understanding of STEM concepts as they get older.
To read more from this blog click here!
Click on the book to get your own copy.
To read more from this blog click here!
I was trying to figure out an apple STEM activity that I could incorporate into my kindergarten class.
This lesson is differentiated for grades K-5.
I plan on using this lesson to introduce my apple unit.
I will first start by reading the book 10 Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss.
The entire STEM activity is based on this story.
I researched this lesson by trying it out with my own boys.
Here are some pictures!
They loved it!
They are in fifth grade and a freshman and look at those smiles!
This lesson includes all of the instructions and worksheets
that you need to complete this activity. The worksheets are differentiated for grades K-5.
I have also created another apple themed bulletin board set.
If you are purchasing my Apple Products you can order the bundle!
It includes all of the above items for one low price!
I hope you found a few useful ideas!
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