After brainstorming a plethora of ideas as a class about what to do with our apples, we decided to start with a batch of apple sauce. Next week, we might dive into apple juice, apple tart, apple pie, or apple crisp but we'll take one day at a time! Using an apple corer/slicer, the children prepped the apples for the crock pot and can't wait until tomorrow for step #2....straining out the sauce to separate the peels! Oh, and of course for the taste test! 
Earlier today in math, students made a prediction of how many seeds they thought were inside their apple. We discovered today that an apple tree and a butterfly are very similar - they both go through changes during a life cycle. Although an egg and a seed are vastly different, the children are beginning to make connections among these two things. INQUIRE with your child what the first stage is in the life cycle of an apple tree.
After making predictions about how many seeds were inside, we constructed an apple out of paper before opening up to check how many seeds there actually were. This is one out of many opportunities children are having to practice using classroom tools. Although cutting can be a challenging skill for a five year old, the children will get many chances for practice in school and hopefully at home too to help perfect this fine motor skill. INQUIRE with your child how many seeds were in their apple!
