This post is an exploration into apple science, apple math, and apple writing!  Grab your bag of apples and apple colored manipulatives!  It’s time to get inspired! Having  items ready  to make apple science and explorations hands-on during the next two weeks, will grab the attention of students, and make life easier for you in the prep department!

Here’s a few fun suggestions with (affiliate) links to where they came from.  You certainly don’t need all of it, but you may be wondering where something came from.

• bag of apples for the class 1 per table group or 1 per student
• red, green, and yellow rainbow tiles for graphing
• red, green, and yellow, teddy bear counters
• apple mini-erasers
• red, green, and yellow linking cubes
• balance scale
• red, green, and yellow crayons
• 2 pieces of 12X18 red construction paper per student
• brown and green construction paper scraps for stem and leaf

Apple Science

Getting the apple science keepsake book ready for instruction is easy and quick!  I make the red construction paper part of the book for each student.  As we work through the activities each week, students add to their book until it is full!  This takes about two weeks if you are doing one activity per day (roughly 30 minutes)  I usually do these in a week and a half to two weeks because I will double up and put some of the activities into the writing center to be done independently once students are familiar with format and expectations.

 

Tip: Keep all of the apple books in a designated tub while you are teaching the unit.  At the end of the studies, students add the stem and leaf.  This way, they don’t get torn up during the two weeks of learning.

 

Just like the other science units, these activities can be placed in a science journal if you don’t want to make the keepsake apple book.  The purpose is to explore seasonal themes using the scientific method. 

Here are the activities covered in apple science:

• Five Senses
•  Sink or Float?
•  Parts of the Apple- Making Observations
• Apple Tasting Graph
• Seasons of the Apple Tree
• Life Cycle of an Apple
• Descriptive Words
• Apple Facts
• Heavier or Lighter
• My Conclusions

Apple Science in Action

Five Senses

Students write about each sense as it relates to an apple.  They lift the flap for each sense to record their ideas.

Provide each student with the opportunity to be hands-on with an apple.

Heavier or Lighter

Students take a set of objects and weigh it against an apple.  First, students predict whether each item will be heavier or lighter, then they put the item on the scale and determine the result.  Students glue the items on the sort.

Apple Observations

This is a favorite of students.  Give out an apple cut in half separating the top and bottom.  Give students a magnifying glass.  Students study each part of the apple and determine what its function is.  Example: The skin is smooth and protects the flesh of the apple from bruising and insects. 

Apple Tasting

Students try a bit of each color of apple.  Results are graphed and shared.

“Close your eyes so you can really think about what you are tasting…”

 

 

Sink or Float? 

Students predict and then experiment.

Seasons of the Apple Tree

 

Apple Facts

Apple Books

It’s always exciting to pull out seasonal books for a new unit of study!  If you are looking to add to your library of apple books, here are some of my suggestions.  If you click on the picture, you will find these books on amazon. (affiliate link)  When it is time to begin apple science each day, I start with a read aloud.  Any time we can fit it in, we are adding to our schema about apples!

Apple Videos

The same goes for videos!  As a lesson starter or culminator, these videos have some great info!

Get the Apple Science Book

If you are ready to jump in to apple science, you can get the book by clicking any of the pictures in this post, or by clicking here.

Looking for Math centers that will correlate with apples?  You can get these activities for your grade level, K, 1st, or 2nd!

(Links below picture)

August September Kindergarten Centers

August September First Grade Centers

August September Second Grade Centers

Here’s a picture that was shared with me last year.  Rather than making the book, this terrific teacher focused on the experiments for a bulletin board!

I’d love to know how your apple explorations go!  Be sure to connect with me on Facebook!