Apple Icon lesson ideas

Apple Icon

Songs and Poems:

Apples, Apples
(sung to tune of
"Baa, Baa, Black Sheep")

Apples juicy, apples round;
On the tree or on the ground.

Apples yellow, apples red,
Apple pie and juice and bread!

Apples crunchy, apples sweet;
Apples are so good to eat!

Ten Little Apples
(sung to the tune of
"Ten Little Indians")

One little, two little, three little apples,
Four little, five little, six little apples,
Seven little, eight little, nine little apples,
Ten little apples for you and me!

Class Book:

"We Have Lots of Apples Up on Top!"
based upon the book Ten Apples Up On Top

Pages are made from 18"x6" pieces of white construction paper. On the bottom of each page, write "____________ has ______ apples up on top." Child fills in his name and the number of apples he wants on top of his head (ex: Bryan has 5 apples up on top.) To illustrate, have the student draw a picture of his face, and use a stamp or stickers to add the correct number of apples up on top.

More Apple Ideas:
Predict how many seeds are in an apple. Cut open and count.
Taste test different varieties of apples. Graph your favorites.
Weigh apples.
Compare apple sizes. Arrange apples from smallest to largest.
Sequence: How an Apple grows. How to eat an apple.
Make and eat applesauce

Demonstration
During this stage, the expert models the skilful behavior being taught. There is some evidence that learning can be assisted if
this modeling is accompanied by a commentary by the expert, thinking aloud about the activities being undertaken. One relatively simple procedure is that of the teacher modeling how he/she tackles the skills he/she is teaching, that is, reading or writing in
such a way that the learners have access to the thought processes which accompany these activities. Tonjes (1988) discusses metacognitive modeling as a way of teachers demonstrating to children the reading and comprehension monitoring strategies
which they use and argues that teachers using this approach should concentrate upon modeling mental processes - what they
think as they read or write - rather than simply procedures - what they do. Only in this way, she suggests, can children learn
strategies which they can apply across a range of situations rather than which are limited to the context in which they were encountered.

Joint activity
The expert and the learner share the activity. This may begin by the expert retaining responsibility for the difficult parts while the
learner takes on the easy parts, while in some teaching strategies prior agreement is reached that participants will take turns at carrying out sections of the activity. The expert is always on hand to take full control if necessary. One of the best examples of this
joint activity is that known as 'paired reading' (Morgan, 1986) in which the teacher (or parent) and the learner read aloud in unison
until the learner signals that he/she is ready to go it alone. The teacher withdraws from the reading but is ready to rejoin if the learner shows signs of difficulty such as prolonged pausing or reading errors.

Supported activity
The learner undertakes the activity alone, but under the watchful eye of the expert who is always ready to step in if necessary. In our own work on the reading and writing of non-fiction we have found that this is the stage in the process which is most often neglected and teachers tend to move too rapidly from heavily supporting the children's work to asking them to work without support. Consequently, this is the stage at which most of our practical teaching strategies are aimed. We shall briefly describe two of these later in this paper.

Individual activity
The learner assumes sole responsibility for the activity. Some learners will, of course, move much more rapidly to this stage than others and the teacher needs to be sensitive to this. It is, arguably, equally as damaging to hold back learners by insisting they go through the same program of support and practice as everyone else as it is to rush learners through such a programme when they need a more extensive program of support.

Additional information and teaching ideas

Permission granted by Prentke-Romich 1-31-03

Special Education Services Plano Independent School District

Special Education Services
Plano Independent School District