Apple Day is such a fun day in the younger grades. Students love to learn about Johnny Appleseed and all the different things about apples. Sometimes it can seem overwhelming, but when you use centers to organize Apple Day, it makes it much easier! Read another post about Apple Day here.
Use a flipbook
I organize my Apple Day centers with this flip book. This flip book includes 5 different activities. Those activities are:
- Apple Taste Test: Each student tries a green, yellow, and red apple. They then choose whether the apple was sweet or sour and decide which one was their favorite.
- Apple Measurement: Students weigh an apple with balance scales. Use different manipulatives like teddy bears, blocks, etc. to see how many it takes to equal the same as an apple (it takes a lot!).
- Sink or Float Predictions: Students predict whether an apple sinks or floats and then try it.
- Apple Science Experiment: Sink an apple wedge in four different kinds of liquid- milk, water, koolaid, and soda. See what happens to each apple.
- Class Graphing: Do a class graph about the favorite apple and the favorite apple food.
- Painting: Students paint one side of an apple wedge and stamp their booklet. Once dry, they create a picture from the apple.
Recruit Help
If you can, get a parent volunteer or two. I’ve done these centers without and it does work out fine! However, if you can get another adult in your room to take over a center, then I suggest it. One year I had two volunteers. One managed the weighing center and one did the sink or float. It was amazing!
Group Accordingly
When I had parent volunteers, I grouped my students in fives. However, when I did this without parent volunteers, I grouped my kids in partners. They could work together and help one another.
Ask for donations
I know not everyone can ask for donations. However, if you can then make sure you do. Here are some things I asked for: red apples, green apples, yellow apples, soda, Kool-Aid packet, and different apple foods. I would bring in milk and then whatever else we needed that wasn’t volunteered for through donations. To send out the donation list, I used signupgenius. Remember to ask for enough apples for the taste test (you’ll cut these so kids won’t eat a whole one), the science experiment, the weighing station, the painting, and sink or float. It sounds like a lot, but once you know how many wedges you’ll get from an apple, it really is not as many as you think (I use an apple cutter).
The power of the flipbook
I created the apple flipbook so my kids could do the centers and not have a whole bunch of papers in their hands, but still be able to record answers. The flipbook was a huge help! Everything was kept nicely together and then they could take it home to show their caretakers. Plus, they liked the flipbook way more than normal “ordinary” papers.
Try a free apple math game!
If you want another apple-themed activity for your Apple Day, you can use this math game! Students play independently. They roll the die twice. Each number they roll is a number for their number bond. Then, they add the two numbers together and solve. They also write the equation. Sign up below to receive this free game!
