Celebrate September with Apples: Fun Learning for Johnny Appleseed Day & International Eat an Apple Day

September is the perfect month to celebrate one of the most iconic fruits—the apple! With Johnny Appleseed Day on September 26 and International Eat an Apple Day on the third Saturday in September, there are so many opportunities to bring this sweet and versatile theme into your classroom.

From learning about apple science to exploring the legend of Johnny Appleseed, apples can be the core (pun intended!) of your September lessons. I have three apple-themed resources that are designed for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and early 1st-grade learners, making it easy to mix literacy, math, science, and fun.

Featured Apple Resources

1. Apple Fact Booklet

Students get a taste for scientific exploration while learning all about apples. This black-and-white informational booklet is perfect for pre-K and kindergarten, and it includes:

Easy-to-read apple facts

Note-taking worksheets

Research form

Craft activity to extend learning

Back to School Apple Centers

These engaging math and literacy activities are perfect for the start of the school year and pair beautifully with the Apple Fact Booklet. Activities include:

Write the Room & Count the Room

Sorting sentence order

Trace and write letters/numbers

Bingo dabber letter fun

Number sequencing

Roll and build numbers with cubes

Apple hat craft, candy wrapper activity, and apple certificate

Johnny Appleseed Fact Booklet & Activities

Introduce students to the legend of Johnny Appleseed and his role in spreading apple trees across the U.S. This resource includes:

Informational booklet (black and white)

Note-taking worksheet & research form

Fun activities and a craft

Perfect for guided reading, centers, or independent work

5 Fun Apple-Themed Books for Young Children

"Ten Apples Up On Top!" by Dr. Seuss (Theo. LeSieg) – A playful counting story with fun rhymes and silly apple-balancing animals.

"The Apple Pie Tree" by Zoe Hall – A look at the life cycle of an apple tree, from blossoms to apple pie.

"Apples for Everyone" by Jill Esbaum – A nonfiction picture book full of vivid apple photography.

"Apple Farmer Annie" by Monica Wellington – Follows a farmer through her apple harvest and sales at the market.

"How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World" by Marjorie Priceman – A creative adventure collecting ingredients for apple pie from around the globe.

5 Apple-Themed Classroom Activities

-Apple Taste Test & Graphing – Sample red, green, and yellow apples; chart student favorites on a class graph.

-Apple Stamping Art – Cut apples in half, dip in paint, and stamp onto paper to create patterns or fall scenes.

-Apple Life Cycle Craft – Use cut-and-paste sequencing cards to show the stages from seed to fruit.

-Build an Apple Orchard Math Game – Students “plant” paper apple trees with a specific number of apples for counting practice.

-Johnny Appleseed Hat & Story Time – Read about Johnny Appleseed and let students create a simple paper pot hat to wear while retelling his story.

By pairing fun read-alouds with hands-on activities and targeted skill-building resources, you can make Johnny Appleseed Day and International Eat an Apple Day both educational and exciting. My Apple Fact Booklet, Back to School Apple Centers, and Johnny Appleseed Fact Booklet offer ready-to-go activities that can easily be mixed into your September lesson plans.

Your students will walk away with new math, literacy, and science skills—and a greater appreciation for the humble apple.

All products may be found in my store: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/thebeezyteacher

August, Again?

Well It's back to school time and as an educator it can be a bittersweet feeling.    While it's an exciting time for our kids and in many ways for teachers, it can get overwhelming!  As most teachers know the feeling of  waiting to get your keys to get into your classroom, the journey begins of  working furiously to organize, decorate, throw out, and file - all at the same time.  Then if you have any energy left comes the meat of the whole process of preparing for school!  THE PLANNING!  So I’m here to offer some back to school resources to simplify your life!

                               

                         

Color by Code is designed with both Pre-K and Kindergarten in mind, providing you with additional activities to support the early childhood teacher for back to school week! Some of the skills included in this product: Coloring by code with upper and lower case letters, numbers, shapes, sight words and just plain and simple coloring!

This non-fiction book on apples is a great resource to use when discussing and studying about foods with your pre-k/kindergarten class.  Included in this product is a black and white informational book about apples, a worksheet for note-taking and the research form to be filled out by the child. 
This reader can be used for independent reading as well as for guided reading groups. All you have to do is print them back to back. 

They are designed with both Pre-K and Kindergarten in mind, providing you with additional apple activities to support the Apple Fact Booklet.
Some of the activities included in this product:

Write the Room

Sorting Sentence Order

Trace and write letters and numbers

Bingo Dabber Letters

What letter/number comes after

Count the Room

Roll and Build numbers

 (using cubes)

Apple hat

Candy wrapper

Apple certificate

Chrysanthemum, written by Kevin Henkes is a favorite back to school story or to be used in the month of October for anti-bullying awareness month. This is a story about a little mouse who believes her long name is perfect for her until she starts school. She begins to doubt herself when mean spirited classmates make fun of her name for being long and named after a flower.
Activities included: anti-bullying t-shirt, affirmation bracelet, labeling, graphing your name, bullying traits, name activities and much, much more!

This non-fiction book on Labor Day is a great resource to use when discussing and studying about special days with your pre-k/kindergarten class. 

Before moving on to learning other math concepts, a crucial math skill is to recognize and understand number relationships. Developing a deep understanding of numbers is the basis in which all other math skills can be applied. While you’re running guided reading groups, young student’s attention span is short and will need to be creating and doing hands on activities. So why not cut, color, and glue large numbers? At the same time they are reinforcing number words, ten frames, tally marks and domino relationships. I use these pages as independent practice during the time that I need to run guided reading and math groups. It also makes a great math center as well as seatwork for early finishers or homework. This packet is designed to engage our youngest learners in hands on math art work that requires others skills such as fine motor skills. It will work for pre-k and K as well as other early primary grades where students need remediation. 

These challenging task cards are designed to review language concepts such as top, middle, bottom, left, right, over, under, in front, and behind. The teaching and reinforcing of these concepts not only strengthen language skills but will also gain a stronger understanding of math concepts. The activities are also geared to improve students listening skills by listening to clues and following multi-step directions. These concepts are listed in the Common Core Language Standards for both Kindergarten and First grade. The activities can be used as a morning warm up, seat work during language time, warm-up to math activities, or at the end of the day. Linking cubes will be required to use for the activities or the students may color and cut the cubes that are included. Response sheets, journal prompts, and answer key included. 

This is a bundle of the Sight Word Levels 1-4 that I have created along with the letters and sounds. This sight word bundled pack also includes: words lists to send home to parents, inventory sheet, additional practice skills sheets, certificate, candy award, sight word crowns, paper t-shirt awards, and flash cards to send home with those final few words that need to be learned! It also includes the list for parents to check off words learned . There are sectional parts that are EDITABLE as well. You can  type in your own words to create your own additions. This pack includes high frequency words taught in K-1 along with other Dolch words and words taken from the Fountas and Pinnell (BAS) Benchmark Assessment System. Editable pages are also included. You can use these for homework, whole group instruction, center work, individual practice, or however works best for you!