All About Apples

We decided to test of doing a unit study on apples. I thought it was a simple topic so we really wouldn't take too long to complete it. Well, I was quite wrong apparently. There are many things to learn about apples and many books to borrow as well. It took me a week to gather the materials and create the lap book worksheets. Even then, I was still trying to make improvements and adding new materials. All in all, we took about 3 weeks. I think I will have to work on doing this a little more efficiently and cut it down to 2 weeks. 

I used a lot of the free printables and ideas from Apple Lapbook and Apple Trees and Apple Blossoms Unit Study by Squidoo, Apples Pre-K/ K Pack by This Reading Mama and Apple Unit by Miss Renée's Kindergarten Pad. I thought about creating my own resources but I didn't want to kill myself so soon. After all, this is our first unit study. Even so, there are just too much resources in the Internet so it's hard to decide what to do and what to drop.

Before we did the unit on apples, I didn't know there are so many different varieties of apples. I took Sophie to the supermarket just to check out the different varieties available in Singapore and bought some for her. We kept the labels of those common ones for the record. 

We took some apples for making art prints. The kids were surprised to see the 'star' when I cut the apple into half. Then I used half an apple as an illustration for 'symmetry' and taught Sophie what 'half' means. Then we name the parts of an apple and discussed their functions. 

We also did some Math mazes and problem sums on apples. The questions are very simple addition and subtraction so she could do them very quickly.

We also attempted some still life drawing. I am always guilty of pushing Sophie beyond her ability and in this case, I think I did. I was a little too eager to teach her the way to use her oil pastels. In the end, the drawing looked more like my work than hers. 

Thus, I had to ask her to do another still life, this time I kept my hands off. I tried my best to think our our experience as a learning journey. She learnt how to do it through me and applied her learning onto her own drawing.

For Science, we learnt about what happens when apples are sliced and left in the open and how to prevent them from turning brown. Sophie loves experiments so she was really attentive and eager to get involved in her little experiment.  Gong Gong was around when we were doing this and even he got all excited and eager to watch the apple turn brown. Although he didn't know all the scientific terms, he knew about the effect of lemon juice on apples and other practical ways to prevent browning.

We read The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons and Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington before discussing about the seasons affecting apples trees and their lifecycle. But I really like Apples by Jacqueline Farmer because the information is simple yet comprehensive and the illustrations are very beautiful. Sophie was keen to understand the seasonal changes and the lifecycle of apple trees, especially when there are interesting video clips to watch.

We gathered some scrap materials and created four apple trees, one for each season. I helped her draw her hand and part of her arm for the tree trunk. Sophie always remembers better when she learns through art. 

The topic on apple flowers is a little harder to explain, especially the cross pollination part. Sophie was happy to just read about it without doing any worksheet or activities. Perhaps in time she can understand the concepts better.

Grafting is another difficult idea to teach. Sophie wasn't too keen to learn about some brown, ugly looking twigs and how they are secured to another stem using electrical tape. 

We skipped cooking apples entirely because I am just not an adventurous cook. We were happy just to eat apples slices and knowing that the doctor's far away when we're doing Apples unit study. 

All About Johnny Appleseed and Apples To Oregon

We started by watching the animation on YouTube. We are very fortunate that we can get virtually anything online these days. Here are the lyrics to the catchy song in the animation. After we have got some idea who's Johnny Appleseed, we read up more about him in The Legend of Johnny Appleseed : A Graphic Novel retold by Martin Powell and Johnny  Appleseed Heads West : A Reading A-Z Level O Leveled Reader retold by Vera Ogden Bakker. 

Sophie went on exploring some websites like Crispy Apple Stand for the games and activities on Johnny Appleseed and apples in general. We also learnt some apple songs and poems from My Montessori Journey and Mrs Kilburn's Kiddos. We tried some of the printables by Royal Baloo, Mama's Learning Corner, Making Learning Fun and Homeschool Share. 

We also read Apples To Oregon: Being the (Slightly) True Narration of How a Brave Pioneer Father Brought Apples, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Grapes, and Cherries (and Children) Across the Plains by Deborah Hopkinson and used some of the printables from Apples To Oregon Unit Study by Homeschool Share. 

Alfee hasn't been spared as well. Whatever we found too simple for Sophie or too interesting for him to ignore, he would be given to have a shot at it. For him, we read Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins and Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr Seuss and did some math related work. He also has some neat little printable readers that he can memorise easily.