Apple Time
Because there are many activities, projects, books, and apples for this time of year, we will have two weeks of apple fun in the Orange Classroom. The children enjoy singing our special apple song very much, causing it to be in our regular song rotation throughout the year. You may surprise your child by singing along with the words.
(Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)
Apple, apple on the tree,
I know you are good for me.
You are fun to munch and crunch,
For a snack or in my lunch.
Apple, apple on the tree,
I know you are good for me.
Another chant that is popular is on our easel. One by one the apples get ‘plucked’ from the bunch.
Here is a sampling of some of the apple themed activities used this week.
Our classroom tree is finally full of apples.
On Thursday, I read the Dr. Suess story, 10 Apples Up On Top. On Friday a felt version of the book was available. I was surprised at how many of the children asked me if the person is me!
On Friday I read a book called Apple Trouble, in which a hedgehog gets all kinds of things stuck to his back so he can’t fit into his new cozy nest for the winter. Many different animal friends come by with suggestions, but with each one, more things get stuck on him. Finally he comes to a goat, who likes to eat everything and proceeds to eat lunch while removing all the items. While the children were eating snack, I slipped out of the room and had an apple, blue piece of paper, and a leaf (all in the book) stuck onto my back. It took a little while for the chldren to notice and we had a lot of laughter while a farm goat came and ate everything off of me.
Another favorite book is Apple Surprise. While reading the book, I keep the caterpillar to the back so no one can see it. On the last page, when the boy finds a caterpillar in his apple, the children marvel at the caterpillar that comes out of the apple puppet.
We had two new-to-the-children items in the Big Room this week: cars and a house. Our Big Room is not a bumper car track, but I must admit that sometimes it sounded like one. Three children are allowed in the house at one time and there are four cars. The children learn to line up in the designated spots to wait for their turns. It is an exercise in patience.
Our Circle Time friend this week was this fuzzy mouse. I’m sure you know that you must sing ‘squeak, squeak’ to the mouse when singing our Hello song.