Oh, Johnny Appleseed how you have consumed my Social Living time!!! We have been up to our eyeballs with apples. However, I do love teaching the unit on Johnny Appleseed. The kids always enjoy the activities, no matter how many times they have heard about Johnny Appleseed.
On Tuesday a local bank visited our school and did a short program on Johnny Appleseed. They read a book to the kids and brought them goodie bags. We also have a competition between all the second grade classes. The students draw a picture of Johnny Appleseed and an overall winner is chosen. They win a prize and get to have their picture hung up at the local banks fall festival they hold every year. The picture does go on to compete with other schools in our parish. The student that wins the parish competition gets $50 cash prize {not to shabby}!
Leading up to Tuesday, we have be busy, busy learning about Johnny. Two of my parents even came and did a fabulous science lesson on why apples float and turn brown. They also brought tons of yummy apple products. We had applesauce, apple cider, apple butter, apple jelly, apple donuts {to die for – they were homemade and delicious}, apple jacks, and apple pie. Let’s just say we were apple out head to toe.
They also made a cute craft with my class. They made apple magnets made out of beads, pipe cleaner, and felt. They turned out so cute! I love when parents are able to come in and do activities with kids. I think the kids get a lot out of it and they always have fun. This year I have great parent volunteers and I am so thankful, but it does not always work out like this.
We also did a little writing. I had my students to write a paragraph about Johnny Appleseed. Then we put this little craftivity together. We hung them up.
We also put a another day aside in math to do a little apple tasting with graphing activity. This is always a fun activity to do. I brought in three different apples. We held a taste testing. Then we voted on our favorite.
This is what our class voted on: Yellow colored apples were the best by a long shot.
I would love to hear what fun activities you did to teach Johnny Appleseed. Be sure to leave me a comment letting me know of any great ideas you might have. As always thanks for stopping by and taking a peek.
I have a little mini lesson on Johnny Appleseed. I'm happy to share it with you if you email me at a teaspoonofthird@aol.com. It's just a little lesson with a writing prompt, apple pie recipe, and some fun facts about apples. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Johnny-Appleseed-774559
A Teaspoon of Teaching
I would love it!! Thanks!
Jamie
Wow! You guys really do go all out with Mr. John Chapman! I love how both your school and community comes together to promote this…and a $50 grand prize for the drawing contest isn't too bad either! Thanks for sharing your great ideas and for stopping over to my blog to check out my Toothy activity! I just posted a new post on how I use brag tags in my classroom…you'll have to check it out! 🙂
Mrs. Olson’s Lucky Little Learners
Yum, yum, yum! Your community is awesome! Tomorrow is our culminating day and we'll be tasting all kinds of apple things too. This is my favorite time of year! Teaching with Giggles
Sounds like a fun unit!! I loved teaching Johnny Appleseed when I taught younger grades!
A Tall Drink of Water
I have quite a few ideas I got at http://monthbymonth.scholastic.com/teach.html in their Johnny Appleseed unit, but now I have even more. Thank you.