Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The Apple Pie Tree.


The Apple Pie Tree
By Zoe Hall
Illustrated by Shari Halpern

Book Summary:
Two young sisters watch in fascination as their apple tree changes through the seasons. The tree changes from bare in winter to bursting with pink blossoms in spring, as robins build a nest in the tree's branches. When autumn comes, the small green apples have grown big enough for picking and for making pie.

Lesson: My Tree Across the Seasons.
Grade Level: Kindergarten
Lesson Duration: 35 minutes
Standards addressed: Science & Visual Arts:
Standard K-4: The student will demonstrate an understanding of seasonal weather changes.
Indicators:K-4.2: Compare the weather patterns that occur from season to season.
K-4.3: Summarize ways that the seasons affect plants and animals.
Standard: K-1: The student will demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry, including the processes, skills, and mathematical thinking necessary to conduct a simple scientific investigation.
Indicator: K-1.1: Identify observed objects or events by using the senses.
Standard I: Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and ProcessesStudents will:
A. Begin to identify differences among media, techniques, and processes used in the visual arts.
B. Use a variety of media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
C. Use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner.
Standard VI: Making Connections between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines Students will:
A. Begin to identify connections between the visual arts and content areas across the
curriculum.
Lesson Objectives:
-The student will illustrate how each unique season and its weather pattern affects a tree in many different ways.
-The student will demonstrate how weather and seasons affect plants.
-The student will create a collage to illustrate a tree in 4 seasons.
Materials
-Construction paper-an assortment of colors.
- Pre-made construction paper "tree handouts".
- Class set of scissors.
-class set of Elmer's glue.
-Milk caps-1 for each student/1 for each pair of students.
-Various shades of green tissue paper cut into 1"x1" squares.
-An assortment of color tissue paper
-A collection of small red buttons
-Various tubes of washable tempera paint.
-Class set of paintbrushes.
-Paper towels.
-Paper plates.
-Plastic cups.
-cotton balls.
-Glitter-various colors.
-Scrap fabric.
-Sandpaper.
-Tiny red pompoms.
-Small beads-various colors.
-Sequins-various colors
-Felt-various colors.
-Yarn-various colors.
-Newspaper.
-Ribbon-various kinds, various colors.
-Q-tips.
-Sponges.
-(any other craft supplies that could be used for collage).
-Hall, Zoe. The Apple Pie Tree. Sterling Heights: Blue Sky Press, 1996. Print.
Introduction:
1. With the class seated on the carpet, the teacher will introduce the story, The Apple Pie Tree. The teacher will ask the student to predict what the story is going to be about based on the title and the cover illustration. The teacher will ask the student if anyone has ever seen or heard of an "Apple Pie Tree".
2. The teacher will read,
The Apple Pie Tree, aloud to the class.
3. The teacher will ask the student if he/she would like to change his/her prediction about the story as they get further into the text. The teacher will ask the students to describe the tree throughout the story, at each point when the tree is illustrated in a new season.
4. After the story has been read, the teacher will ask the student to describe the way the tree looked in each season. The teacher will write the student's oberservations on flip chart, divided in to 4 season columns.
Procedure:
1. The teacher will ask the class to return to their tables/desks.
2. The teacher will provide each student with a pale blue sheet of construction paper, divided into 4 squares with 4 brown, bare tree trunks cut out of construction paper (one in each of the 4 sections) . Each tree will be labled as one of the seasons: Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring.
Start with Summer because it correlates to the order of the seasons in, The Apple Pie Tree.                                                          
3. The teacher will review, The Apple Pie Tree, with the class, looking at the pages where the tree is described and  illustrated in each of the 4 seasons.
4. The teacher will explain to the student that he/she will be making a collage of his/her own tree.
5. The teacher will explain to the students that the illustrator of,
The Apple Pie Tree, Shari Halpern used collage to make the pictures in the story. The teacher will define collage as attaching/gluing various objects and materials to paper to create a image/piece of art. The teacher will demonstrate how the student will use the any of the materials that are provided to create 4 small collages of his/her tree in each of the 4 seasons.
6. The teacher will show the class the materials they can use and will place the supplies on the front table.
7. the teacher will demonstrate some techniques the student can use for the leaves on his/her collage.. The teacher will explain that to the class that they can use whatever materials they want for the tree and that they do not have to use the same technique as the teacher. The teacher will ask for any questions and then dismiss the class to work on the tree collages. At each table group of students (5 table groups in total) the teacher will put a copy of the the book,
The Apple Pie Tree, as a reference to help them with the collage. 
8. To form the tree tops,the teacher will demonstrate twisting a piece of the tissue paper around the un-sharpened end of a pencil, dip it into glue, and then stick it onto the tree. (Milk tops work well for holding the glue and are shallow enough for dipping.) The teacher will demonstrate how she makes sure that the tissue is close enough together that a full tree top is made. After finishing the summer tree, the students will add the apples to the tree, falling from the tree, and underneath the tree, as the teacher uses small red buttons as apples. The teacher explains that she will not do much to the winter tree but maybe add some cotton fluff and white sparkly glitter to the branches for snow. The teacher will explain that the spring tree will have some pink tissue mixed in with the green for the apple blossoms. 
9. The teacher will tell the student that it is his/her turn to make his.her own collage.
10. After all the students are done, the teacher will move the collages to somewhere to dry and then hang them up in the room.


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