School Age Storytime : Fall & Apples

 

A storytime for K-2nd grade celebrating the season
emphasizing empathy & compassion (with a nod to the idea of Rosh Hashonah – new year, new beginnings).

 

Kindergarten:

 

Book: Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. Creativity & Imagination.

 

 

 

Book: One Red Apple – Harriet Ziefert (simple beautiful celebration of the cycles of an apple tree)

 

Flannel Song: A Wiggly Worm (Tune: Boom! Boom! Ain’t it Great to be Crazy!)

                Chorus: Yum! Yum! Don’t you know I love apples?

                                Yum! Yum! Don’t you know I love apples?

                                Red and Green and yellow, too…

                                Yum! Yum! Don’t you know I love apples?

 

                Way up high in an apple tree, I saw two eyes look at me.

                I reached for an apple, it started to squirm…oops! I found a wiggly worm!  Chorus

 

                That wiggly worm is a friend of mine.  We eat apples all the time.

                 I let him crawl back to that tree… hey!  That worm is looking at me! Chorus

 

Book: One Green Apple by Eve Bunting --This beautiful (and beautifully illustrated) story emphasizes understanding and compassion as Farah, a new student from an unnamed country, goes with her class on a field trip to an apple orchard (defined) and finds that though she is different and doesn’t know the language, she can be accepted and will find friends here.

 

Participatory Storytelling/Props:  The Little Red House with No Doors & No Windows, a Chimney On Top & a Star in the Middle (Tip: instantly turn flannel pieces into hanging signs for kids to wear using plastic paper protector sleeves with stiff paper inserts & yarn ribbon to hang around each child's neck, act out the wind blowing the trees and the “plop” of an apple falling in the farmer’s backyard. Prop: real apple & knife to slice horizontally.)

 

Action: Apple Pie chant (suit actions to words)

Chorus:  Apple, apple  (slap legs twice, then clap hands twice)  Apple Pie!

 

First you need apples

So you pick them, pick them  chorus

    Put them in the sink

    And you wash them, wash them chorus

Then you take the apples

And you cut them, cut them chorus

   Next you roll the crust

   & you roll it, you roll it chorus

Drape it in the pan

& you pinch it, you pinch it chorus

    Take some cinnamon sugar

    And sprinkle it, sprinkle it chorus

Put it in the oven

& you bake it, you bake it chorus

   Take it out of the oven

   & you smell it, you smell it chorus

Take out your knife

& you slice it, you slice it chorus

   Take some ice cream

   & you scoop it, you scoop it chorus

Then you take the pie

And eat it, eat it!! Chorus

 

 

Singable Book: Ten Red Apples – Pat Hutchins (numeracy: 1-10 numerals, one-to-one correspondence, subtraction, animal identification, animal sounds)

Read parts of The World’s Birthday by Barbara Goldin (Rosh Hashonah story) but a bit long for this group.

1st & 2nd Grade:

 

Book: One Green Apple by Eve Bunting (opened by asking who spoke another language at home, then speaking gibberish and having them imagine going to school and not understanding what their teacher & classmates were saying)

 

Asked: “What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple?” – finding half a worm!

Book: Seed by Seed : The Legend of Legacy of John “Appleseed” Chapman by Esme Raji Codell  (Seed by Seed, Deed by Deed – talked about how they – kids – can make the world a better place : being a more helpful member of the family, helping a fellow student who is being ignored or bullied, cleaning up litter, etc.)

 

Apple Pie Chant (above) 

 

Book: New Year at the Pier : A Rosh Hashonah Story by April Halprin Wayland (talked about different kinds of new years – the Jewish new year tradition of apples & honey and Tashlich tossing bits of bread into water and  saying sorry to start the New Year with a “clean heart.”)

Participatory Storytelling/Props:  The Little Red House with No Doors & No Windows, a Chimney On Top & a Star in the Middle – urged kids to practice this story with each other – then tell it to family members tonight. (wonderful practice for listening skills, sequencing, speaking skills)

Bedm. 10/16