Last weekend when we were gallivanting around in Amish country, AG and LB stayed with their “pretend grandparents.” I was so glad to hear that they had gone to an apple orchard on Saturday, because I had been planning to have an apple unit this week! Fortuitous timing!

I never made it to the library, but I was wanting to read Little Apple Goat, which is such a cute story. Better late than never… we’ll pick it up this weekend. :)

Anyway.

Image via Wikipedia

On Monday we went to a grocery store that had their bulk apples on sale. Usually I buy bagged apples because they’re cheaper, but I wanted AG to know how many different kinds of apples there are! We went down the produce section and selected one of each kind of apple. I also picked up a big bag of granny smiths to make an apple pie.

We’ve had a great time sampling our apples – she picks two each day. We look at them first and write down how they are the same and how they are different. Then I slice them and give everyone one slice of each. Then we create a comparison chart between the two (I stick the stickers from the apples at the top of the columns!) – which one is sweeter? Which one is more sour? Which one is crisper? Which one is juicier? Which one is your favorite? We take one bite of each one and then answer the next question. AG has really surprised me with this – she tastes them so carefully, and several times I think her taste buds were more accurate than mine! We’d have different answers and I’d try them both again – sure enough, she was right! :)

This was her first experience with making comparison charts, and it fostered a lot of discussion about vocabulary (what is “crisp?”), that it’s ok that we like different things, etc. I also learned that Granny Smith and Cripps Pink apples are my favorites. Who knew?

We pulled out the poster paint and did some apple stamping (on freezer paper – doesn’t bleed through!), which then worked well to reinforce our Bible verse. I decided to teach her the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) this week, since it was a natural connection. We talked about the way our lives show “fruit” when we know and obey God, just like healthy apple trees give us apples. The day after we had stamped our apples I realized she had done just the right number to write in the fruit of the Spirit! We’ve also been singing the Fruit of the Spirit song from Hide ‘em in your Heart quite a bit this week, which has been a great learning tool.

As I mentioned, we also made an apple pie together with the Granny Smiths we bought… YUM. She loves to cook with me – I must say I wasn’t the most patient mommy the day we made this pie, but it still was good to work on it together. AG doesn’t get a whole lot of sweets, so this was a treat to make it and because I’ve let her had a small piece every day after lunch!

The last couple of days we’ve worked on our first dictation project based on the apple pie – I had AG help me talk through all the steps to making the pie and I wrote it out for her. Without having a formal “grammar lesson” about sentences and proper verb usage, talking through this dictation was good reinforcement for correct phrasing. She was also starting to really enjoy it – “can we write this too? Let’s say…”

Today as we ate our pie together she wanted to know how apple juice is made. Oddly enough, I had already planned on showing her the first part of this “How it’s made” video about apple juice! We watched this three times – she was much more interested than I expected!

Tomorrow’s project: apple sauce. She has made apple sauce with me in the past, but she doesn’t really remember it. We’ll make more to can later in the season, but for right now it’s all about the experience. :)

For more preschool corner ideas, visit Homeschool Creations! [For more apple ideas, check out this post from ABC and 123!]

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