Last week, kindergarten students at Westwind Elementary dove into apple related activities. The teachers decided to focus on apples because it tied in with the upcoming autumn season, but also because it gave them the opportunity to maintain a single theme throughout several subjects.
They read books about apples, labeled the parts of an apple for writing practice, explored the properties for science, learned about Johnny Appleseed for social studies, and in math they graphed their favorite types of apples based on the taste.
Students learned about the life cycle of an apple, compared the different types of apples by their taste and graphed their favorites. As a class they made predictions about which apple weighed. They also discussed the difference of how factories make apple sauce vs how they made it and compared the different textures of the apples throughout the process of making applesauce.
βIt was a neat experience because each kinder class made apple sauce and every class seemed to love it this year,β said Samantha Peacock, kindergarten teacher at Westwind. βI heard multiple students talk about how yummy it smelled down the kindergarten hallway and in our classroom. Some students even said this was the best apple sauce they have ever had!β