It’s still apple season where I live and we’ve been making all the things… caramel apples, apple butter, and SLOW COOKER APPLESAUCE. These recipes are not terribly hard to make, but they sure are good. And the kids love them! I think it’s important for children to know where their food comes from and how it’s grown. This little book about the life cycle of an apple is one way to help them understand that…
…and a field trip to a local apple orchard is another. Meeting an apple farmer and learning about what life on a farm looks like is a great opportunity to build gratitude for food. If you don’t live near an orchard, there are kid-friendly videos on YouTube that can help accomplish the same goal.
HOW DO APPLES GROW?
Many grade levels study plants, and specifically life cycles. I always want informational books my students can actually read, so I often just make our own texts. It’s one of the best ways for me to connect reading skills with our science lessons. And I love that not only can children highlight, color, and write directly inside their own book, but at the end, they have something tangible to take home and reread.
This book about the life cycle of an apple, HOW DO APPLES GROW?, introduces children to key vocabulary at a reading level that’s teachable for beginning readers:
- grow
- seed
- soil
- sprout
- roots
- seedling
- leaf
- blossom
- stem
In this book, each stage of the life cycle of an apple is supported by a simple illustration so kids can make connections as they’re learning new information. Instructionally, we’re just beginning to teach simple text features like labels and arrows. By adding them to each page of the book, the students have repeated opportunities to understand their purpose.
Sometimes I don’t send these little books home right away. We keep collections of them in the room to reread, but they’re also great for writing workshop. They’re like little mentor texts we can refer back to when we’re getting ready to write our own informational texts!
FROM FLOWER TO FRUIT
The blossom stage in the life cycle of an apple is always interesting to kids. “You mean the apple grows from the flower?” They can’t believe it. I grew up in Florida and even I was pretty old when I finally realized oranges came shortly after the orange blossoms bloomed.
You don’t know what you don’t know, right?
So we’re trying out a new text feature on this page… a close up or a “zoom-in” as some of our kids call it. It zeros in on a larger image of the blossom to help kids learn and remember the meaning of this new term.
If you’ve got apple lessons on the horizon and need a little science text to help fill in the gaps, you can find the one featured in this blog post here:👉 APPLE LIFE CYCLE BOOK. It’s best for K-1 kids, but would also work for second grade children who need a little extra support.
MORE APPLE RESOURCES
We love this little APPLE JOKE BOOK, and because jokes are a great way to practice fluency, you can feel good about all the silliness. Need a teaser?
Q: Why did the little apple take a nap?
A: It ran out of juice. 😂
LET’S GET COOKING!
Slow cooker applesauce is really easy! (Try it warm.) And this little cookbook is a natural way to link procedural reading to one of fall’s favorite fruits. You can GRAB THE RECIPE in this blog post.
Until next time, happy teaching!
