October 21st- October 25th

Supplies for the week:

• 3 apples
• Tempera paint (found at the Dollar tree, Wal Mart, Hobby Lobby)
• Construction paper
• Flour
• salt
• Cinnamon
• vegetable oil
• food coloring
• Small package of regular M&M's
• crayons
• Book "The Apple Pie Tree" by Zoe Hall

    

Fall/Harvest:

Monday:  Read, "The Apple Pie Tree" by Zoe Hall.  Cut open an apple in front of your child and show them how it looks. Pull out the seeds and talk about what happened to the seed in the book.  Talk about the color and size of the seeds. How many are there?  What would happen if you planted them?  eat and enjoy!

Tuesday: (Before you begin... pour a pile of m&m's onto a plate.  Draw three trees onto a large piece of paper.). With your child, next to each tree, write either red, green, or yellow.  Each word should be written with it's color. Also, as you write the word say the color so they can begin to associate the word with the color.
Explain to your child that we need to put the apples on the tree.  If needed, place one m&m on each tree so they understand what color goes on each tree.
When finished count how many "apples" are on each tree. Which has more/less?
Original source: www.notimeforflashcards.com

Wednesday: Painting with apples.  ( Before you begin...place various colors of paint onto paper plates. Cut two or more apples in half.  Puncture skin side of apple with fork as a handle.). Now, let your child go wild!  They can dip their apple into the paint and make prints all over their paper.

Thursday:  "a" is for apple. (Before you begin... Cut out a large, lowercase "a" out of  white construction paper. Cut a stem and a leaf as well.)
Before a child can understand "a" is for apple, it is important that they have experiences with apples first.  That is why we are doing this activity after exploring apples for several days.  
I wrote the word "apple" down on a piece of paper so that my son could see the word.  Then I placed an apple (I actually had run out of apples so I had to use an apple slice.  A whole apple would have been better.) right next to the word so he could make a connection to the word.  This is the word apple.  It starts with the letter "a".  I pointed to the "a" in the word and then to the giant "a".
Next, I had him color and decorate the "a" to look like a apple.  All the while, I talked to him and made comparisons to his "a" apple and the real apple.
Original source: www.notimeforflashcards.com

Friday:  Cinnamon play dough.  Before a child can learn to write and hold a pencil correctly, they need to strengthen the muscles in their hands. So squeezing, rolling, and smashing play dough is a great way to build those muscles.
Recipe
1cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1cup water
2 Tbs. cinnamon
1 1/2 tbs. vegetable oil
Red food coloring

In a large saucepan, combine all of the dry ingredients and mix.  Then, add all of the wet ingredients and stir until combined.  
Cook on medium heat, flipping and stirring constantly.  Cook the play dough until it is set. (There should be no wet, sticky areas.)  
Flip the play dough onto the counter and let it cool slightly.  I find that it's best to knead the dough when it's still fairly warm.  Knead the play dough until it has reached play dough consistency.

Now, you can play!  Roll the dough into balls and snakes.  Smash it, pull it, stretch it!  It's so much fun and it's helping your child get ready for writing.