Way Down Yonder by the Apple Tree

Dear Parents,

We took a walk down Carroll Street to see the apple tree on our block.
We walked in pairs looking at each tree we passed to see if they had
apples. We found the apple tree at the church on the corner of Carroll
and 6th Avenue. A few children had already noticed it and pointed it
out to the class. We sat down for a few minutes while teachers took
turns using a long stick to try to gather a few apples. (We did get
permission from St. Francis- the gardener that is- not the saint.)
Someone from Berkeley Carroll School saw us and let us borrow their
fruit picker basket. It was super helpful! We sang Way Down Yonder By
The Apple Tree. While walking back to school we sang Apples And
Bananas, and the ABC’s.

Back at school we ate apples and bananas for snack. Afterwards, we
took turns making tree branches for our family apple tree. We made
them using brown paper that we squished and twisted into branches.
In the big room we ran, rode tricycles, rocked on our whale, and took
turns using our new soft blocks. People built alone and in small
groups. Someone kept pointing out that the new blocks are many colors.
He said red, yellow, green, and blue. Someone else noticed they look
like bricks.

On Wednesday we had yoga with Amanda. While half the class posed in
yoga, the other half worked on using scissors to cut leaves for our
family apple tree. We looked at pictures of leaves in our books and
the children said the leaf shapes were round, oval, pointy, and
triangular. We decided any shape would suffice. Some children said
they had scissors at home. Many were excited to cut. We practiced
opening and shutting our scissors without paper first, and then got to
work cutting up a storm. Some decided to tear the paper too. We cut
paper, a little tissue paper, and a few children tried to cut felt. It
was hard work. At the end we had a bowl full of green leaves.

We went to play in the yard after many days/weeks inside. People
needed to be reminded where to wait for a swing and where to put big
sticks- in our stick garden.

On Friday we took turns putting our leaves on our apple tree. We used
a chair to stand on and reach the branches. We used yellow tape to
attach our green leaves.

Have a crunchy weekend,
Therese

I Like When My Friend…

Dear Parents,

On Monday we finished off our body tracings by adding gold and silver sparkles.

We read Will I Have A Friend?, My Friend and I, and I Like It When. We asked the children to complete this sentence: I like when my friend… We wrote down all the responses and hung them on the wall. This list becomes our classroom rules. We thought about how we like to be treated and how we can treat others.

We read The Leaf Man, Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf, Have You Seen Trees?, Trees, and A Tree Is Nice. We brainstormed trees we know, wrote them down, and then voted on which tree to create for our family tree. Everyone took turns voting and writing in their choice. Coconut tree and apple tree tied with four votes each so we had a runoff. Beforehand we had a little debate for friends to tell the group why everyone should vote for their choice. Three people said they had never tasted coconut before and that’s why we should pick coconut. Others said they really like eating apples and that’s why they would vote for apples. One friend said they planted an apple tree in their neighbor’s yard and that’s why they would vote for the apple tree. Ask your children which tree won by one vote.

During circle, we pretended to be seeds. After drinking pretend water and getting some sun, we sprouted slowly and grew into trees. The children said our feet were the roots, our bodies the trunk, our arms the branches, and our hands the leaves. We swayed in the wind a bit, and then went to snack time.

On Friday we started working on the trunk of our tree. We used brown paper and brown paint. We talked about all the things we could make with apples: apple juice, apple cider, apple pie, apple muffins, apple noodles, and apple cake. Oh, and someone mentioned apple bobbing. They explained what it was and someone else said they didn’t want to do it because they didn’t want to put their face in the water.

Speaking of family trees, please bring 3x5 or 4x6 family photos to add to our family tree!

Have a crunchy weekend,

Therese