Apple Theme/Unit

Welcome to Teaching is a Work of Heart's Apple Unit. Grab a basket and start picking some ideas for your theme on apples. An apple unit is a great way to start the school year. Below you will find my favorite ideas, poems, printables, & other great apple sites.

Last Updated September 14, 2007

Let's learn about apples! These websites will give you great background for your unit.

Apple Facts
Print these facts on sentence strips and share them with your class. After you have gone over the sentence strips with you class, place them in a pocket chart and store them in a center. Have your student pick a sentence to write and illustrate.

These facts are taken from the Vermont Apple Website. Visit this site for great resources.

In an average year, U.S. farmers grow about 250 million bushels of apples.
About 60 percent of the U.S. apple crop is consumed fresh.
Red Delicious is the apple variety with the greatest production in the U.S.
The top U.S. apple varieties are: Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji and McIntosh.
The average American consumes about 19 pounds of fresh apples each year. 
The average American eats just over 4 pounds of canned apples and about 1.7 gallons of apple juice annually.
Around the world, apple growers grow over 1 billion bushels of apples.
Largest apple producers (in decreasing order): China, United States, Italy, France, Poland and Germany.

Apple Math Ideas
Some math ideas with an apple theme

Sort laminated apples of different sizes/colors. Have students place different sizes in different baskets. You could make this a center.

Have students put different size apples in order.

Use different color construction paper apples to make apple patterns.

Provide tiny apples and a booklet with One apple, two apples, etc. on the booklet. Have the students paste the correct number of apples on each page.

Make sets of apples with matching numbers or letters for your students to match.

Graph favorite drinks made from apples. (Apple cider or apple juice)

Cut apples in halves, thirds, fourths. Use these to teach fractions.

Great Books With an Apple Theme
Click on a book to learn more or to purchase at Amazon.com

Apple Printables From Teaching is a Work of Heart
Enjoy!

Apple Language Arts Ideas
Some ideas with an apple theme

Write Apple Vocabulary Words on Apple Die-cuts. Display these on your word wall. Your students can look at the words when needed.

Read various apple books to your class. Have students pick a book to report on.

After reading 4 -6 books with an apple theme, graph your students favorites.

Use the letters in the word apple to make words. Give each student a letter tile with the letters a, p, p, l, e, s. Instruct them to make the following words at their seat.

as, pal, lap, sap, ape, pea, sea, spa, slap, pals, apes, peas, apple, apples

Have your students write these words in their journals. Give them a highlighter and ask them to highlight all the words that rhyme snap. (sap, lap, slap). Have them use the word apple in a sentence. Check their work.

Johnny Appleseed

Read this story to your class.

BEFORE YOU READ
Have students name their favorite kinds of foods with apples. Place these on a large apple cut-out.

Johnny is often remembered for his generosity to people and his respect for nature. Ask your students to share different ways they have shown generosity to others or respect to nature.

DURING READING
Important events in Johnny's life took place in many different states. As you come across state names in the book, list them on chart paper and record the events. Dispaly a map of the US and have students visualizes the travels of Johnny Appleseed.

Your chart may look like this:

Ideas From Other Teachers
A big thanks to those that use this site and send in ideas to share with others. If you have an apple idea, link, activity sheet, or resource, send it to teachingheart@teachingheart.net . Great teachers share!

I usually have the kids bring in an apple and then we graph the different types of apples such as agranny Smith, REd delicious and t he yellow apples. I usually allow them to eat their apples at
canteen/recess time that day.

Then we read about Johnny Appleseed and discuss the story. Then we talk about the type genre the story is etc....

I usually end up completing an art project where the kids follow directions by drawing the hand on a sheet of paper and coloring it brown. This becomes the trunk of the tree and the fingers are branches. Then I use green tempera paint and sponges cut in the shape of leaves to sponge paint the leaves on the tree. Then I use the end of a carrot and red tempera paint to put the apples on the tree.

Then sometime during that week I have a video that I got free off the internet that talks about how apples grow and then are harvested and made into different things and how the apples finally make it to us in the store. The kids really enjoy the video since most of the kids just seem to think the apples magically appear there in the store.

The next time I use apples is usually when I teach fractions and this time I cut them into various size pieces and have them tell me who would have the larger slices.

A friend of mine uses apples to teach the layers of the earth. It goes something like this---The core of the apple represents the core of the earth --surrounding the core is the mantle which is the
meaty part. Then the peel becomes the outer layer orcrust. Then she usually adds a layer of caramel to the apple and that becomes the soil.
Janna Tipton

Hello, Apples are wonderful! I try to do something with apples each
day during September. I do an apple project with my second
graders. They have to create something from an apple. They have a
month for the project, parents may only help by doing what my
student tells them to do on the project (they love this part). For
this project I have students tell me about the process they went
through to make their project. This is usually the second project
of the year for us. Here are pictures of some of the projects we
do:
http://www.geocities.com/ms_vines_second_grade/Pictures.htm

In class I have each of my students bring in a different kind of
apple, we cut them up and share them, everyone gets a taste. We make
a graph out of the number of seeds we find in each kind of apple. We
graph our favorite apple. I have them make an apple person using
the different size apples you can cut out by using the Ellison Dies
and red and green paper (like the heart people). We write adventure
stories about our apple person. One day we do apple flavored
snacks. I try to make it fun for my class.
Janet Vines
Mt. Carmel Elementary
www.geocities.com/ms_vines_second_grade

Apple Poems, Songs, and Fingerplays
These are great to have students illustrate. You could also have them highlight all the verbs... There is so much you can do with these.

Free on the Web to Print!
Here are some other sites that offer free printables to match this theme.

Other Great Apple Units.
If you did not find what you were looking for here, try some of these awesome apple units by other teachers.

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