Apples, Apples, Apples!

This month we focus a lot of science and things that tie into anything having to do with FALL!!!  Last week we finished up our apple unit and we had tons of fun!  We began by cutting up apples and talking about our observations.  We had fun looking at the seeds and the "star" in the center of the apple.

We used these apples and added some popsicle sticks to them and went straight into apple printing.  Unfortunately I did not get a photo of this because painting is something we all get really into and we needed all hands on deck!  It was busy!  While apple printing was going on at the art table, I was in charge of the great APPLE VOTE!  Three students at a time came to taste green, red, and red and yellow apples.  Then they took a voting ballot and colored the apple they liked the best.  They folded up their ballot and waiting to see what apple was the winner.

 At circle time we unfolded the votes one at a time and my students took turns tallying the votes.  

 At the end, we counted them up and the GALA apple won!

Around the room we had apples everywhere!  My awesome student teacher set up the writing table.  Everyone enjoyed making apple books and reading Ten Apples Up On Top!

We had a math game for one to one correspondence and pom pom for apples!  These were loved and even thrown around the room!

 At the writing spot we found these great letter hunt pages on TpT!  We set it up with bingo markers.  When done if all the A's are found, the green markers form the letter "A."  I actually did not even know this was going to happen!  It was a cool surprise even for me!  You can find this great product by clicking here:  Teaching Products

In the end it looks like this...  I did this one of course for you to see!

We also did a very cool sensory bin that was just for two people to use at a time.  I wish it could have been in the sensory table, but the beans were pricey!  I got them in the international isle at our grocery.   These beans were everywhere but they are getting some serious play time!  Next week there will be spiders and rocks and some fake flowers and webs!

Our apple pie play dough was also a hot station.  Our play dough trays had traditional cooked play dough with cinnamon, all spice, and cloves blended in.  It smelled good enough to eat and I know some did get gobbled!  Each day we had a little less on our tray when we began our day!  Unfortunately I took the photo without the play dough in the container but I am sure you get the idea!

We had an apple farm in our dramatic play and we finished off the week measuring our bodies with apples.  It was a great unit!  We covered many of our Ohio Early Learning and Development Standards and we had fun doing it!

My kids loved wearing the apple aprons and bandanas!  They were $.99 at Hobby Lobby!  Just a simple bandana and they were off to being apple farmers!

Apple measurement with our student teacher was very exciting  We set up in our extended learning area and they could not wait to head out and do the counting with her!

Our last math game was inspired by Ten Apples Up On Top.  My pictures of the kids were not cropped like I would have liked but all of my kids loved putting the "apples"(beads) up on top of their photo in the frames!

I think this could be one of my longest posts on my blog yet!  Hope that you get inspired to do apples too!  We had a great time!  Now off to plan for our skeleton unit!  I will add that post soon!

Chocolate Play Dough

MAKING CHOCOLATE 

PLAY DOUGH!

I cannot believe I have been a teacher for now 17 years and this is the first year I tried the chocolate play dough recipe.  It is sometimes crumbly, but always so much fun because the chocolate smell that comes from this recipe is wonderful!  Kids will actually think they are making real chocolate things from this dough.  Of course many will try bites, but who wouldn't!  I put out an oven for the play dough to be "cooked!"  Add real muffin tins and rollers and other small kitchen spatulas and let them loose to create and cook!  Try it!  It is awesome!

Chocolate Play Dough

2 1/2 Cups Flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup salt

1 T cream of tartar

3 T oil

2 cups water

Mix dry ingredients in a pot.  Add water and oil and stir together over low heat until it forms a dough.  Remove play dough from the pot.  Knead it after it cools by hand until it feels ready to play with!  Store in an air tight container or zip lock freezer bag.