September 26, 2011

Dear Parents,

This week our pre-k class will be “Apple Detectives”. Through hands-on explorations, we will discover many interesting facts about apples and other things related to apples. We will read lots of literature pertaining to our apple focus as well as many other stories that will help us explore the seasons of the year and the wonderful changes the new fall season will bring.
One of the activities that we have preformed today was discovering that there are seedy stars inside an apple that is cut in half horizontally. I shared with the students the story of The Little Red House with No Doors and No Windows and a Star Inside. Attached, you will find a copy of the story. Reread the story together and ask your daughter to retell the story in her own words. After we read and discussed the story, we made apple prints by dipping our apples in red, yellow and green paint. The children truly enjoyed the activity.
Tomorrow, we will be reading the story The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall. This is the story of a young girl describing her and her sister’s apple tree from winter to fall and then explains the steps for making an apple pie. This will lead us into creating our very own apple tree for each season.
Wednesday we will read about John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed. We will read the story Johnny Appleseed by Jane Kurz. This version is quite simple and easy for the children to understand. We will be role playing Johnny Appleseed’s planting travels. We will be singing songs, reciting poetry and learning many finger plays.
Thursday and Friday we will be focusing on “Apple Science” and “Apple Math”. We will be weighing our apples, learning the parts of an apple and comparing apples to other fruits. We will be performing many graph activities such as graphing our apples by color and our favorite product that comes from an apple (applesauce, apple pie etc.). We will try to guess how many seeds are inside an apple and if an apple will sink or float. We will be also preparing many tasty apple treats.
Here is a list of some of the literature I will be sharing with the children this week. Remember, READING to and disusing books with your children is the most important homework you can do each night.
The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson
Apples by Jaqueline Farmer
Apples by Gail Gibbons
Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins
Johnny Appleseed by Jane Kurtz
Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
From Seed to Applesauce by Hannah Johnson
The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons