My students need books like Apple Farmer Annie and Pumpkin Jack so they can build their literacy skills as we learn about the science behind apples and pumpkins in the fall.
My class is composed of children who are diverse in many aspects of life, including their social and economic backgrounds.
Our classroom is a place where they come together to build a community where everyone feels safe and valued, regardless of their differences.
Within this community, my students are engaged in activities that are hands-on and based on their interests and needs. For many of my students, my classroom is their first introduction to a formal school setting. My hope for my students is that they will leave my classroom with a love for learning, and will be excited about the rest of their journey through school!
My Project
One of my focuses as an educator is to complete project and activities in my classroom that are engaging to students, as well as, relevant to them and the world that they see around them. Therefore, in the fall, my class completes units of study over both apples and pumpkins. I'm requesting a variety of books including Ten Red Apples, How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?, Pumpkin Day!, Pumpkin Circle, Pete the Cat: Five LIttle Pumpkins, How to Make an Apple Pie, Apple Farmer Annie, Big Pumpkin, and How Do Apples Grow?
These books will be used as resources for my students as they learn about apples and pumpkins, as well as the difference between fiction and non-fiction texts.
Both of these units integrate science, math, and literacy as we study the composition and life cycles of apples and pumpkins.
When we learn about apples, we will use these books as sources of information while our labeling skills by labeling the parts of an apple, as well as, learning of the apple's life cycle. We will also learn about the different varieties of apples and complete a taste test in class. This is a huge hit with my students, many of them have only had red apples before!
In the month of October, we study pumpkins. Much like we do with apples, we will read these fiction and non-fiction texts to gather information about pumpkins as we label the parts and understand the life cycle of a pumpkin. We also cut open a large "class pumpkin" and discover what is inside. We count the seeds and carve a face on our pumpkin. After reading Pumpkin Jack, we place our pumpkin in a large container and watch what happens as time passes.
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