Ten Apples Up On Top

Read the book to the entire class

Present the class with a few story problems to discuss.

Problem Examples: 1) Johnny has four apples. He goes to the store and buys two more apples. How many apples does Johnny have? 2) Sarah wants to make an apple pie. She needs five apples. She has four apples at home. How many apples should she buy at the store?

*the children should not use paper and pencil while working these problems

Write several problems on the board of varying difficulty. Ask the children for answers to the problems. Write the various answers given on the board. Then ask the child who gave each answer to explain his/her answer. The class should decide as a whole which answer is the correct one.

Problem Examples: 1)2+1= 2)2+2= 3)3+2= 4)5+5= 5)3+4=

*the children should not use paper and pencil while working these problems, but the teacher should write on the board how they solved the problem as they explain it

Introduce "Fill the Board" dice game

Each child receives a game board that has one large square divided into several smaller squares (for kindergarten, this should be between 10 and 20 squares). The more sqaures, the more difficult the game is. The children should pair up with someone who has a game board with the same number of squares. Each child in the pair takes turns rolling a dice and placing the same number of markers on his/hewr board as the number shown on the dice (to keep with thew apple theme, use apple markers- small plastic apples or paper apple cutouts). The first child to fill his/her board wins.

Other Activites

Art: Cut several apples in half. Set out the apple halves, paint, and pieces of brown paper bags on a table. To minimize the mess, place one piece of paper, two or three colors of paint and two or three apple halves on a tray. Make four trays and set them around the table. Set extra pieces of paper in the middle of the table. The children can dip the apples in the paint and make apple prints!

Bake an Apple Pie:

CRUST (recipe makes one double crust):
2 1/2 cups white flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold butter, broken into small pieces
5 tbsp. cold vegetable shortening
8 tbsp. ice water

Measure the flour, sugar and salt togetherl. Stir to combine. Add the chilled butter pieces and shortening to the bowl. Cut them in with a pastry cutter or knife. Don't over mix them. Add the ice water. Mix until the dough holds together (add a bit more water, if necessary). Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead it together, then divide in half. Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in saran wrap and chill for at least half an hour. Roll out one of the disks on a lightly floured surface until you have a circle that's about 12 inches in diameter. Put the circle in a 9" pie plate, trimming any extra dough from the edges with a sharp knife (parents only). Return it to the refrigerator until you are ready to make the pie. Add filling (see below). Roll out the second ball of dough and cover top. Use a fork or your fingers to pinch the edges together. cut a couple slits in the top.

FILLING
1/3 to 2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
8 medium sized apples (a medium apple = about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons margarine

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Peel, core and slice the apples. Try to keep the size of the slices even. Mix sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl. Stir in apples. Pour into pastry-lined pie plate. Dot with margarine. Cover with top crust and seal the edges. Cut slits in the top.
OPTIONAL: Cover edge with 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent too much browning. Remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.

Make a Book: Have each child draw a picture of his/herself with apples on his/her head. Each child should choose how many apples they want in their picture. Then, have each child write _____ has ___ apples up on top! on their page. Bind all of the pages together to make a class book. Place this book in the library corner for children to read.

Where to find this book:

Other book related math lesson plans: