apple unit

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Home : 2003 : August : 24

apple unit
By maryellen

We do our apple unit around Sept 27 (Johnny Appleseed b'day) and also learn about John McIntosh, our Canadian apple grower whom the popular "Mac" is named after. As part of our apple unit, we travel to a nearby grocery store.
The produce manager explains how they store/protect their apples, what each kind tastes like, is best for (raw eating, cooking, pie)and what country they come from. Sometimes that explains the price differences. We taste different apple snacks there - apple chips, dried fruit leather). Then each child chooses one apple and they run it thru a cash register one at a time. (I bring

small brown bags, one each) I record the child's name, kind of apple, and apple cost on the bag, put the apple in, then give it to a parent volunteer who carries 10 per grocery bag back to the school. If the children carry them, you have a lot of bruised apples. Sometimes the store donates the apple cost, sometimes I pay for it and the store gives each child a treat bag with applesauce, fruit leather, apple juice. At school we graph the apples by color, type, and cost, recording on several different graphs for display. We compare their apple on a balance scale (heavier or lighter than the teachers apple) and estimate circumference with yarn. The yarn is displayed under "too short, just right, too long" headers. I do the "star" story and we cut my apple to discover the star, and count the seeds. They predict if their apple will have more or less seeds than mine before we cut to find their star. We use portion cups to make a table top display of # of seeds, then we add together for a BIG number. Then we peel and cut the apples for homemade apple sauce, with parent help. We taste test apple snacks and decide which we like best for another graph, and eat the applesauce. All is recorded in an apple shaped book, including apple poems and songs as well as results of all the graphing.