APPLE ADJECTIVES: For language arts enrichment this morning, I thought it would be good to talk about apples - and what some of their characteristics are (taste, appearance, and so on). This led into a discussion about the use of adjectives, or descriptive words. I gave the kids each a worksheet with a blank apple tree on it and asked them to fill in six adjectives about apples. CJ finished in short order. Annabelle would up with six words, but not necessarily six adjectives ... But that's OK. She is 4, after all. : )
APPLE FACTS AND FIGURES: I also had an apple themed math worksheet for the kids (if you have X amount of apples and Y are eaten, how many are left). Single digit numbers, it was no trouble for the kids. It might be time to take on some double digit math.
APPLES ONLINE: We turned to the Internet to learn lots more about apples. Perhaps the best apple resource on the Internet is the Washington Apple Commission's Web site. There, we learned LOTS of amazing things about apples, such as ...
Horticulturists have IDed over 7,500 different types of apples
More than half of all apples grown in the United States for fresh eating come from orchards in Washington state, and more than 90 percent of apples exported from the US come from WA
One apple has five grams of fiber (20 percent of the daily fiber recommendation)
Washington apples are sold in all 50 states and more than 60 countries
Americans eat approximately 19 pounds of fresh apples annually, compared to about 46 pounds consumed annually by residents of European countries.
Over 100 million boxes of apples are produced in Washington each year - and those apples are all picked by hand!
We also reviewed the Washington Apple Commission's info about how apples travel from tree to supermarkets. And on their "What's New" page, we found an industry video that shows the entire apple-to-market process, from winter pruning through spring frost watch, summer blossom and fruit tending to fall harvesting. Not surprisingly, it was akin to a 20-plus minute infomercial for the Washington apple industry, but that said, it was very well done - visually engaging and very informative.
SILLY SONG: Eager to inject a little music into today's learning, I tried to think of apple-related songs. One that came to mind was "Apples & Bananas." I found a version on good ol' YouTube and the kids loved it. They were singing it all day.
HERE'S JOHNNY: We couldn't do an apple unit without talking about Johnny Appleseed, nee John Chapman. It gave us a chance to talk about tall tales, the difference between reality and fiction, and where and how those lines blur sometimes. (BTW, John Chapman was, shall we say, an apple lovin' eccentric). Anywho, I recall being shown a Disney cartoon about Johnny Appleseed, so I hunted it down on YouTube and played it for the kids. They were totally engaged in that telling of the story. Next, I hopped to Netflix's online selections and found another version of the story, this one by Shelly Duvall's Tall Tales. Quite a cast (Rob Reiner, Martin Short, Daryl Hannah, Molly Ringwald). However, the storyline was slow and the characters were, well, weird (not the type young kids would be drawn to). We quit it halfway through. It's truly, truly terrible, IMHO.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE: After the kids went to bed tonight, I found an audio file of American Storyteller Radio Journal Web site with a story about the life of Johnny Appleseed. I'll play it for them tomorrow.OUT & ABOUT: Since it was Monday, that meant Christian was home and it was family field trip day. We decided to incorporate PE into the outing. We loaded up the strollers and headed for Gas Works Park/Kite Hill - a destination we'd been meaning to hit for, oh, two years now. We checked out the big ol' equipment.
Next, we went for a jog west, down under the Aurora Bridge then we trudged up Troll Ave. to visit the troll, of course.
Then it was back to the park for a romp on kite hill, which offered quite a view.
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