What happens when three bears decide to put apples on top of their heads?  Will they be able to keep them there?  This is a fun 1-10 counting book for children.

Materials

•  Head shape and apple shape
• Apple pattern cards
• Enough apples for each child to have a piece of two-three different varieties to sample. Ask parents to send an apple to school for their child.

Vocabulary

• Stack (to put one on top of another)

Before Reading the Story

            Bring an apple to the rug.  Ask the children if they know what it is.  Ask the children who likes to eat apples?  Ask if they can think of any food items made from apples (applesauce, apple pie, apple granola bars).  Show the children the cover of the book.  Read the cover and then have the children count to 10 holding up fingers to correspond.  Count to ten then back down to one again. 

Mathematics/Number & Operations; develops increasing ability to count in sequence to 10 and beyond.

Reading the Story

            On various pages, stop and have the children help count the number of apples up on top.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

  After Reading the Story

            Draw a simple tree on a large piece of easel paper.  Have the children take turns rolling a dice and then drawing that many apples/circles onto the tree.  Go around the circle several times until the children loose interest. 

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; progress in abilities to use writing, drawing, and art tools, including pencils, markers, chalk, paint brushes, and various types of technology.

Discovery

            As the children go to science, give each an apple that they can cut apart with a plastic knife.  Encourage them to look at the seeds through a magnifying glass.  Talk about and help record the children’s observations using all their senses on how they describe the parts of the apple. (Tell me about the apple’s skin; tell me about what is inside the apple).   

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations. AND Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Music and Movement

            Sing 10 Red Apples, to tune of ten little Indians

1 red, 2 red, 3 red apples

4 red, 5 red, 6 red apples

7 red, 8 red, 9 red apples

10 red apples on top.

 Mathematics/Number & Operations; develops increasing ability to count in sequence to 10 and beyond.

Play Apple Round.  Have the children sit in a circle and turn on some music.  While the music is playing the children pass an apple around the circle.  When the music stops whoever is holding the apple must tell how many fingers the teacher is holding up, 0-10. Then put on the music and begin again.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness if numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.

Give each child a bean bag to place on their head. Ask them to try touching their toes, walking backwards, turning in a circle, standing on on foot, etc. without letting the bean bag fall from their head.

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; shows increasing levels of proficiency, control, and balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, and galloping.

Blocks

            Encourage the children to make stacks of ten blocks. 

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects. AND Physical Health & development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, string beads, and using scissors.

Art

            Put large apple shapes on the easel and let the children paint them however they choose. 

Creative Arts/Art; develops growing abilities to plan, work independently, and demonstrate care and persistence in a variety of art projects.

Library and Writing;

            Give children a head shape and ask them to draw facial features on it.  Then give each child enough apples so each apple contains a letter of the child’s name (Kerry would have 5 apples, one with a K, one with an E, two with R and one with Y).  Encourage the children to write the letters of their name in each apple shape. Ask the children to put them on top of the head in the correct order and glue.  Talk about whose name has more apples and fewer apples.  Whose name has more letters and fewer letters?  Can the children name the letters? 

Literacy/Early Writing; progresses from using scribbles, shapes, or pictures to represent ideas, to using letter-like symbols, to copying or writing familiar words such as their own name. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such as meore, less, greater than, fewer, equal to.

Sand and Water

            Put several apples in the water table.  Notice how they float.  What other objects in the classroom can the children find that will float? 

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions; and form generalizations.

Dramatic Play

            As the children play in the center today, ask them if there is an apple in the pretend foods?  What other fruits can they find in the pretend foods?  What color apple is there?  What other foods can they find that are the same color as the apple?  Apples are crunchy to eat, what other foods can they find that would be crunchy to eat? 

Approaches to Learning/Logic & Reasoning; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem. AND Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as size or shape.Logic and Reasoning; classifies, compares, and contrasts objects, events, and experiences.

Math and Manipulatives

            Color the apple pattern strips to show simple patterns using red, yellow, and green.  The children can then match the pattern cards with small pieces of construction paper or unifix cubes. 

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; enhances abilities to recognize, duplicate, and extend simple patterns using a variety of materials.

Outdoor Play

            Bring bean bags outside with you.  Play a follow the leader type game.  Show the children how to balance the bean bags on their head, their arm, and their foot and move about.  Can they climb the stairs with a beanbag on their head?  Can they ride a bicycle with a beanbag on their head? 

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; shows increasing levels of proficiency, control, and balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, and galloping.

Transitions

            Make a head from the head shape pattern and 10 apples.  Cover these with contact paper and put a loop of tape on the back.  Put the head on the wall or flannel board.  Put some apples up on top (1-10).  Say the following rhyme; Apples, Apples up on top.  Count them _____before they drop!  The child who was called them counts the apples and is dismissed to the next activity. 

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

Resources

Dear Parent,

            Today we read a story about apples.  As you prepare your meal tonight, ask your child if he can name the different foods that you are using. Talk to your child about foods. (I am cutting this onion to add to the ground beef to make a meatloaf.  Smell this; this is garlic powder which I am adding also.  Do you want green beans or peas to go with our meatloaf and potatoes tonight?)