Apples Galore {Part Two!}

More on apples? .......well, yes! Yesterday I shared all about our Apple Week... and there is just one more piece to that puzzle... and it would be my favorite activity of our week. Well, maybe a tied favorite with making the applesauce.

We make a book called "The Apple Tree" using this poem:

Way up high in a big tall tree

_____ red apples looked down at me.

I shook that tree as hard as I could

Down came the apples

Mmmm were they good!

{On the blank line each child will choose a number of apples they would like to have in their book}

It looks a little something like this:

Now there are so many versions of this poem! Some have slightly different words and many have "2 apples" since you can use your fists to create two apples shapes to do movements with the poem. In fact when we recite it as a class I tell them we have to pick two because that is how many apples our hands can make!

Now on to their books... where they choose a different number than two.....

Step one: Sponge-paint-o-rama!! Yes, all 29 students sponge painted 5 pages each...so yes there were 145 painted apple trees in my room.

If that seems insane to you then they can just paint the cover and color in the other pages. Or color them all and keep the paint in the cupboard!

Step Two: More paint! Time to add apples!

The above picture may be confusing because it is showing you four different books. Because if a child chooses to have 5 apples then EVERY page of their book has 5 apples.... and if a child chooses to have 3 apples then every page has 3 apples.... Get it?

And if you are thinking....more painting? And how to keep that all organized.... you see, you can not collate this puppy ahead of time because of the painting. But that's okay! The kiddos write their name on the cover and I quickly write their classroom number on the back of all the other ones.

But a non paint option is a red ink pad and they can do fingerprints that way... or just drawing some apples!  I think it looks good when they color the tree and use the ink pad for the apples, but when you paint the tree and add ink pad apples....well, they just aren't that bright and red!

Okay, so now the books are ready to assemble and read. After reading them all week they are tucked away in our book boxes!

This week we will continue to practice this poem in our language arts centers. I have large laminated cards that say the same poem. The students will get to use play dough to make "apples." This time we are using the store bought stuff, but check out {This Post} about having a play dough kit ready to go!

They will write the number word or number on the card with a dry erase marker.

And then read it using our apple pointer! {Note: In the picture above you can see I substituted play dough for red counters}


All of this available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Just click on the image below or right {here.}

Now it on to pumpkins, spiders and all that October fun!