Apples, Apples, and More Apples! We continued our exploration of apples this week. We read several nonfiction books about apples to gather more apple facts, created an apple life cycle, and did a science experiment with an apple. We also taste tested different kinds of apples and then graphed our favorite ones. On Thursday, we turned some apples into applesauce. We each got a chance to peel the apple we brought. Then we ate it for snack. Our applesauce cooked all day. It sure made the whole school smell good all day and boy was it delicious! We ended the week by graphing our favorite apple product. We ended the week with learning about Johnny Appleseed (He was a real person who planted many, many apple seeds across the USA).
Monday:
We started our morning out with prayer and pledge out at the flag pole. Mondays is our day to raise the flag outside. Then we moved right into our reading lesson.
In reading, we listened to two stories. They both had the same title, Apples. We figured out that they had different authors, so they were different stories. They both contained information about apples. Next, we reviewed the letter M and its sound. We watch a short video clip. Then we worked on identifying words that began with the /m/. We also completed a worksheet. We had to color all of the items that started with the /m/. We went through it together putting an X across the items that didn’t start with the /m/. Then we took some time to color it. Finally, we were introduced to a new letter sound and letter, Aa. We watched to two different videos. During our A song, we noticed that A actually has two letter sound, a short sound and a long sound. Ms. Torborg told us when we are practicing/reviewing our sounds, we will use the short sound. We also noticed in our song that the words didn’t start with the a sound instead the a sound was in the middle of the word. We worked together to create a list of words that began with the /short a/ and a list that began with the /long a/.
After recess, we headed to the computer room. Today we started our fall NWEA (standardized) testing. We took the Reading test. It measured things like Foundational Skills, Language & Writing, Literature & Informational, and Vocabulary Use and Functions.
Apples, Apples, and More Apples! We continued our study of apples by learning about how apples grow. We started our exploration by reading two different books about apples, Apple Trees and From Blossom to Fruit. As we listened to these stories we noticed that they didn’t tell a story, instead they gave us information. We found out that an information book is called a nonfiction book. We learned that apples grow on trees and a group of trees is called an orchard. Apples start out as flower and when you turn an apple over you can see part of the flower parts. We also explored the life cycle of an apple from a little seed planted in the ground to the seeds you find in an apple. Then we created an apple life cycle using pictures. After cutting out the pictures, we had to put them in order and glue them down. If we had time, we could color the pictures.
In religion, we continued our discussion of God’s creation of the Earth, day and night. Together we read through a prayer thanking God.
Tuesday:
Today we were introduced to our activity bags. Our activity bags are our homework for the week. They usually contain a game and worksheet that correspond to something we are working on it class. We need to bring our bags back to school by the following Monday, so we can take a new activity home on Tuesday.
In reading, were were introduced to fiction (make-believe) stories and nonfiction (information) stories. After Ms. Torborg read us the story, Picking Apples, we had to determine what kind of story it was. Since it was full of information or facts, we determined it was a nonfiction story. Then Ms. Torborg read us the story, Let’s Go Apple Picking. Again, we had to determine what kind of story it was. We determined that it was a fictional story because animals can’t really talk to each other. Plus some of the scenes were silly and really couldn’t happen. Next we reviewed the /a/. We watched a short video clip and added both short and long a words to our chart. Then we completed an a sorting worksheet.
After recess, we headed to the computer room to finish our NWEA (standardized) testing. Today we took the Mathematics test. It measures things like Numbers & Operations, Algebra, Geometry & Measurement, and Data Analysis.
After completing calendar and our number talked, we moved on to our math lesson. Today we went looking for numbers. First we had to talk about the difference between letters and numbers. Then we looked through our classroom. We found numbers on the calendar, clock, hundreds chart, and on the wall. We also looked for numbers in the hallway, resource room, and lunchroom.
In Religion, talked about how God created everything around us from the land and water to the animals. Then we practiced acting like different animals. Ms. Torborg would call out an animal and we had to move just like that animal. On our worksheet, we had to draw 4 different animals in the forest picture using the thumbprints on the page as the body.
Wednesday:
Today we combined our math lesson with snack. We started out learning about graphs. After talking about them, we created one together. We had to decided if we liked apple pie or carmal apples better. Then we had to put an X in the correct column on the graph on the SMARTboard. It was super exciting to write on the SMARTboard for the first time. After we analyzed the data, we tried making a new one, but first we had to have a little snack. Ms. Torborg brought in 4 different kinds (a Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Gala.) We had a chance to try each one. After the first two kinds (Red Delicious and Granny Smith), we created a graph of our favorite kind. Then we tried golden delicious and created another graph. Finally, we tried Gala and created our class graph. Gala won as the overall favorite kind of apple. After each graph, we analyzed the data. We ended our math lesson with snack. We got to eat apples slices for snack. We could choose which kind of apple we wanted to eat.
During snack, we noticed that after Ms. Torborg cut an apple up, it started to turn brown. We decided to see if we could find something to help slow down the process. After making a few predictions, we put apples slices in a bowl full of water, full of milk, full of lemon juice, and full of soda. Throughout the day, we took turns checking to see what was happening. Our apple slices turned really brown in the soda, had brown spots in water, and really white and mushy in the milk. Our apple slice in the lemon juice had no brown spots on it. We determined putting lemon juice on our apples would help keep them from turning brown.
In reading, continued working on recalling apple facts. After trying to recall as many as possible on our own, we listened to our apple song. We also listened to the stories, Apples, Apples, Apples and Apple Harvest after each story we had to determine which kind of story it was (fiction or nonfiction). We also reviewed our letter sounds and letters and listened to our letter A song. Then we added a few words to our list before completing our letter a worksheet. Next, we worked on combining the /a/ with the /m/. We noticed they created a word, am. This is our new sight word. After each person talking a turn using our new word in a sentence, we read through our new emergent reader, I am Colorful. As we read the story, we used the picture clues to help us figure out the color words.
In math, we explored the numbers 0. We started by singing our number song and practicing air writing our numbers. Then we completed the number 0 page in our Numbers Galore book. We had to trace the number, write the number, color that number of boxes, and write the number word. We had to make sure we made the number correctly specifically we had to start the numbers at the top.
We had to color the apple on our paper according to the color words. If we didn’t know the words, we had to try to match the words to the color words on the wall.
In religion, we talked about our family pets. For some of us, we shared the pet we would like to have. On our worksheet, we had to draw a picture of how we show love to our pets. We also colored the word God in our prayer.
Thursday:
Mmm . . . Something smells good! We started out our day with a cooking project. Last week, we each brought an apple to school. We measured, weighed, and wrote about our apples. Today it was time to cut them up. We each got a turn to peel, core, and slice our apple with an apple peeler. Then we ate our apple for snack. With the extra apples we brought in we made applesauce. Ms. Torborg peeled, sliced, and cut up them up into pieces. Then she put them in the crockpot. Before we turned it on to cook, we added some water, brown sugar, and cinnamon. The apples cooked all day. Our room smelled wonderful.
During reading, we reviewed the different kinds of books, “real”, nonfiction or “make-believe”, fiction. Then we listened to a couple of apple stories. After each one, we had to decide what kind of story it was. We also reviewed our letter sounds and letters. Today we focused on the letter Aa. After watching the letter A song video, we created a list of words that started with the short a sound and a list of words that started with a long a sound. We really had to listen to the beginning of sound of the word to make sure it started with the correct sound. Then we practiced writing the letter A, both capital and lowercase before moving on to our worksheet.
In Math, we played a new game, Gotcha. We had to try to catch Ms. Torborg making a mistake. She tried to trick us as she counted, identified the number of objects in a group, and counted a group of objects. We were able to catch her every time! We also explored the numbers 1. We started by singing our number song and practicing air writing our numbers. Then we completed the number 1 page in our Numbers Galore book.
In religion, we talked about Saint Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary is the Mother of Jesus. She said “Yes” when God asked her to have a baby and name him Jesus. We honor Mary for everything she did and ask for intercession. Her special feast day is September 8th. After coloring her picture in our saint book, we watched a video about her.
At the end of the day, we finally got to try our applesauce. We each got a small taste. It wasn't like the applesauce you get from the store. It was chunkier and we had to be careful because it was still warm. Some of us really enjoyed it and got second and third helpings!
Friday:
We started our morning off by reviewing our letters and letter sounds. Then we watched a couple of short letter Aa videos. We worked together as a class to identify words that began with either the long or short letter a sound. Then we completed a worksheet. On it we had to color all of the pictures that started with the long a or short a sound. Right in the middle of work time, we had a tornado drill. Since we practiced yesterday, we knew just what to do. When we were done with our worksheet, we completed some letter matching activities. In our small group, we had to match all of the capital letters with their lowercase letter.
After snack, we had recess, music, and Spanish. Then we did “quick” calendar before we headed off to lunch.
After lunch, we reviewed the different kinds of books, “real” or non-fiction or “make-believe” or fiction. Then we listened to three different stories about Johnny Appleseed. We determined the first story was a “real” or non-fiction story. We learned about things Johnny Appleseed really did and how he got his name. We determined the other books had parts that were real and parts that were make-believe. Since parts or make-believe, there were fiction stories. As we read each book, we tried to figure out if it was real or make-believe. We compared it to the book we know was real. We found out that Johnny Appleseed was a real man named Johnny Chapman. He lived a long time ago and went around to different states planting apple seeds. Then we watched a movie about Johnny Appleseed.
We ended our day with a Marathon rally. We started with our activity. In our color groups, we had to move all of the treats from one side of the grass to a hula hoop on the other side of the grass. The key was we everyone had to be connected/touching in some way and we could not have more than one in our hand at a time. After our activity, we prayed for all of our marathon intentions. We also found out we have raised over $21,000, so far. We earned our next prize, a pajama day. Next Tuesday, Sept. 21st, we get to wear our pajamas all day.