Fall Fun for All!

Happy Saturday Everyone! It's been a long, long, long time since the last time that I blogged.  I have a lot to share with you all, so here it goes...

Apples, pumpkins, and Fall have been on my mind a whole lot! If you're a teacher you will understand where I'm coming from.  I've spent endless hours trying to incorporate my thematic units with the common core standards and of course FUN! First up is apples...

We read many non fiction and fiction books about apples.  In fact we learned what fiction and non fiction means.  One of the books we read talked about the parts of an apple so we practiced labeling the different parts whole group and in an art project. During this time we practiced patterns by making an apple pattern hat.  

We learned about our five senses by practicing labeling the chart above and sorting the pictures below.  I found this sort on a cool blog called Kindergarten Kindergarten.

We used our five sense to explore apples by doing a taste test and making applesauce.  Afterwards, we graphed which kind of apple they liked the best.  The apple comparison worksheet that is picture above was found on the blog Kindergarten Hoppenings.

After our apple investigation activities I had the class brainstorm ideas to fill out the apples are and have anchor chart.   They used this chart to write about  apples (I forgot to take a pic).

Take a look at this easy craft that turned out super cute! I found the idea for these paper plate apples on the blog Paging Supermom.  I decided to have the kids pick their favorite kind of apple and paint it accordingly. 

Check out these apple videos I found on YouTube.

Next, up is pumpkins! The kinders got to take turns helping take out the seeds and pulp of the pumpkin.  They each predicted how many seeds they though were in the pumpkin.  We grouped them by 10's to make counting a little easier :).  Afterwards, an amazing parent volunteer carved the pumpkin for us to enjoy.  

We also learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin.  They drew the life cycle and labeled it in their journal (I forgot to take a pic). 

We used adjectives to describe the inside and outside of the pumpkin.

Here is a cool video about how the Libby pumpkins are grown.

We also learned about fall.  After reading many books we filled in this anchor chart on what happens in the fall. 

The kinders sponge painted these leaves as their culminating fall activity.