In our first grade classroom, September means that it’s time for all things APPLES! Students love reading apple books, completing apple activities, and celebrating all of our new learning with Apple Day Stations! In this post, you’ll find tons of ideas for planning your own classroom Apple unit and some fun apple activities for your kindergarten, first grade, or second grade students!
You can find all of the activities here! Apple Station Day in the Classroom
Want more Station Theme Days for your classroom? Check out: Classroom Station Days All Year Long!
Apple Learning
I love incorporating themed books during our read aloud time. And there are SO MANY amazing apple read alouds!
We spend the first day of our unit creating a KWL chart. I have the students brainstorm in groups or with a partner: What do we already KNOW about apples? What do we WONDER or WANT to learn about apples? I either record their responses or they write themselves on post-its to stick on the chart!
We fill in the chart together and I keep it posted in our classroom throughout the unit. As we read and learn more about apples, we fill in the L (or LEARN) part of the chart!
You can grab some apple freebies here!
A few of the books we love to read are:
- Apples For Everyone by Jill Esbaum
- The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
- Apples by Gail Gibbons
- How do Apples Grow by Betsy Maestro
We also read The Bad Apple and use the opportunity to discuss the difference between fiction and nonfiction. We like to compare and contrast with some of the nonfiction apple books we’ve already read!
Seasons of the Apple Tree
Students love learning about the seasons of an apple tree! We read The Seasons of Arnolds Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
Students then create a Seasons of the Apple Tree minibook!
Apple Taste Test Graphing Activity
To incorporate math into our unit, we do an apple taste test graphing activity! I give each student a red, green, and yellow apple slice. They try each one and choose a favorite. Then we make a class graph with our results!
Johnny Appleseed
We also like to read books about Johnny Appleseed! We learn about character traits and use some new vocabulary to describe Johnny Appleseed’s inside and outside character traits.
Johnny Appleseed’s birthday is on September 26th. We always try to schedule our Apple Day for on or around this day!
Apple Day in 1st Grade
At the end of our apple unit, to celebrate all of our new learning, we have Apple Day! On Apple Day we make crockpot applesauce in the classroom, the students work in teams to complete apple station activities, we do a craft and an apple writing activity!
Making Applesauce
The first thing we do on the morning of Apple Day is make crockpot applesauce! I lug my crockpot and all of my ingredients with me and the kids help to make it.
The recipe I use is super simple:
- 10 Apples (I like to use golden delicious, honey crisp, or Gala- but any red apple will work!)
- 1 cup of water
- ⅓ Cup of Sugar (optional!)
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juiced
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp of nutmeg
Cook on HIGH for about 4 hours
I prep the apples ahead of time by peeling and chopping into small pieces.
PRO-TIP: grab this apple spiralizer from Amazon to make this process SO much easier!
Students help me to add all of the ingredients to the crockpot. Then we do a shared writing activity together on chart paper.
The best part about the crockpot applesauce is that it makes our room smell SO delicious all day long! Once it’s ready, we taste test!
Apple Day Stations
The rest of our Apple Day is spent working in Apple Day Stations! Students work in teams to complete 6 different apple center activities.
Apple Day Stations Sticker Chart
Each student receives an Apple Challenge sticker chart. As they visit each station, students add a sticker to their chart. I let the students complete the activities in any order they choose. The sticker chart helps them to keep track of which activities they still need to complete.
Apple Day Station 1: Apple 5 Senses
Students get to taste test an apple slice! Then they write about the apple using each of their 5 senses!
Apple Day Station 2: Apple ABC Order
My first graders work together with their teammates to put all of the apple vocabulary words in ABC order!
Apple Day Station 3: Apple Diagram
Students label the parts of an apple using this Apple Diagram page!
Apple Day Station 4: Apple Word Search
My first graders absolutely LOVE word searches! They grab a highlighter and work together to find all of the apple words!
Apple Day Station 5: Apple Roll and Cover
I love incorporating math practice into our Apple station activities! Students play this game with a partner in their group. They take turns rolling 2 dice, adding the numbers, and covering an apple on their Apple Tree game mat!
Apple Day Station 6: Apple Life Cycle
In this last apple center activity, students cut and glue each of the stages of the Apple Life Cycle. This is something we’ve learned about throughout our unit, so students are able to complete it independently!
Apple Day Craft
We complete our day by making an Apple Craft!
I hope you enjoyed reading about Apple Day in First Grade!
If you want to use any of these activities In your classroom, you can grab my Apple Station Day Resource here!
Want more Station Theme Days for your classroom? Check out: Classroom Station Days All Year Long!
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