• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • About
  • Shop
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

teach mama logo

teach mama

helps families connect & build bridges between home & school, by amy mascott

  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

math and writing: ten apples up on top

home / reading / books / math and writing: ten apples up on top
2.1K shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

post contains affiliate links

 

ten apples up on top

 

The following guest post is written by Jackie Higgins, of Ready-Set-Read. Jackie is a great friend and longtime we teach member, now a member of the we teach advisory board.

———————————-

Iโ€™m Jackie, an early literacy blogger, reading specialist, and mom of preschoolers. Iโ€™m also a book-a-holic. According to my husband, I have too many childrenโ€™s books. Is there such a thing?

In our house, I use books to teach basic preschool concepts as well as connect to our experiences. This fall my boys have experienced visiting an apple orchard. Weโ€™ve read books about apples and done much of our learning at home based on apples. I prepared for our thematic unit by finding many wonderful picture books about apples at my local library.

You can view my complete list of apple books in my apple unit.

After I found the books my boys loved, I created activities using math, science, and language objectives. As Amy would say it was a great way to โ€œsneakโ€ learning into our day.

Plus, research shows that using thematic units helps kids to connect to what they are learning in a meaningful way. ย Iโ€™m so thrilled to be here today on Teach Mama to share one of our faves from our apple unit,ย Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss.

Ten Apples up on Top Book Review

Ten Apples up on Top by Dr. Seuss is a rhyming counting book. In the story, a lion, a dog, and a bear compete to see who can balance the most apples on top of their heads. Most kids think this story is so funny. It has a loud, crazy ending. Your kids will join right in with the โ€œkaboom!โ€

This is a great book for helping kids learn to count objects to 10.ย  The rhyming text and use of high frequency words makes it a great choice for beginning readers as well.

 

Book Activity for Ten Apples up on Top

apple unit math activity

 

After reading the book, Ten Apples up on Top, we decided to challenge ourselves to see how many apples we could stack on top of our heads. I created apple bean bags for this activity. I cut red felt in circles, stuffed it with beans, and sewed around the circle. The beanbags were pretty easy to make with basic sewing skills. With a little imagination, any size or color of bean bag can be an โ€œappleโ€ up on top, though.ย  Thereโ€™s no need to create apple bean bags unless you really want to.

We even created a few โ€œchallengesโ€ similar to the book. We tried balancing our apples while hopping, while walking, and while dancing.

After a few tries, the boys recorded the number of apples they were able to balance. We used those in our counting and writing activity.

 

Math and Writing with Ten Apples up on Top

 

apple unit math activity

After our balancing apples challenge, we created a math craft. The boys glued apple clip art on top of a boy face. They carefully counted out the apples to match their score from the game above. Then, they practiced writing numbers.

They are preschool and kindergarten aged so I provided a print out of the sentence. โ€œ______ had ___ apples up on top.โ€ย  I helped my youngest fill in the blanks with his name and number, but my kindergartener was able to practice writing his name and practice number formation.ย  My preschooler really wants a beard, so he added that as well! More advanced children could practice writing a complete math sentence to describe their pictures.

I provided my kids with faces to color for their project, but many kids would be able to draw themselves with apples up on top. If you are interested, all of the clip art is included in my apple unit.

 

Extending the activity

The week after we completed this project at home, my sonโ€™s kindergarten class read Ten apples up on Top and did a similar activity.ย  His class was learning to compare numbers. They chose how many apples to put up on top. Then they compared that with a partner. This would be a fun way to introduce math terms such as greater than, less than, equal/same.

Fall is a great time to explore apple themed books and activities. Books can simply be enjoyed together or parents and teachers can work in learning activities to extend the learning. We loved learning about apples and learning basic concepts through our apple unit. Next month we are off to the pumpkin patch, so I guess I better head back to the library. After all, you can never have too many great childrenโ€™s books!

****

Looking for more book activities?

Stop by and follow these great educational Pinterest boards:

  • Preschool Themesย ย  |ย  bookblogmomma
  • Classic Childrenโ€™s Booksย ย  |ย  bookblogmomma
  • Early Literacyย ย ย  |ย  bookblogmomma
  • Fall Activities for Kidsย ย  |ย  bookblogmomma
  • literacyย ย  |ย  teachmama

 

ready set read buttonCome visit with Jackie at Ready-Set-Read for more ways to engage your children with books. You can also find Jackie busily pinning on Pinterest, tweeting on twitter, and chatting about the best Childrenโ€™s literature on facebook and Google+.

 

Huge and happy thanks to the amazing Jackie Higgins for sharing her expertise with us! Please check out her blog, follow her, friend her, and favorite her–you’ll be glad you did!

 

 

fyi: affiliate links are used in this post

You May Also Like...

  • Navigating Education in a Time of Uncertainty: A Virtual Summit for Educators
    Navigating Education in a Time of Uncertainty: A Virtual Summit for Educators
  • how to prepare your child for kindergarten -- summertime prep
    how to prepare your child for kindergarten -- summertime prep
  • Virtual Summit for Educators: Navigating the Online Classroom & Beyond
    Virtual Summit for Educators: Navigating the Online Classroom & Beyond

About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

Previous Post:signs for early literacy learningstreet signs for early literacy and math skill building
Next Post:lego baseball: creative math game for kids, by kidslego baseball | sneaky, creative math fun

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Katherine Collmer

    October 1, 2013 at 11:18 am

    I am always on the lookout for activities that connect handwriting with learning. This is an excellent one. Thanks for sharing it!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sidebar

amy mascott profile blog

join the coolest club around:

  • About
  • Contact
  • disclaimer
  • terms of use
  • privacy policy
  • Site-Map

Instagram


our books

setting the stage for rock-star readers
raise a reader

Find Us On Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Helpful Links

  • About
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us On Instagram

View
Open
UMD Womenโ€™s Basketball ROCKS!! โค๏ธ๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ€

We absolutely love watching you play, @terpswbb !

We love watching you perform, @marylandcheer !

And @mightysoundofmd we love your music and your hilarious signs! ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ณ

See you in Greenville! 

#terpsbasketball #terpswbb #umd #familyfun #marylandcheer #umdfamily
View
Open
Tomorrow is St. Patrickโ€™s Day!

Are you ready? 

https://shop.teachmama.com/

#saintpatricksfun #stpaddysforkids #familyfun #classroomactivities #teachmamashop
View
Open
This is how we use the St. Patrickโ€™s Day Brain Teaser Scavenger Hunt! ๐Ÿ€

Super easyโ€”and makes kids work a little for their golden chocolates! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Grab them here: https://shop.teachmama.com/product/st-patricks-day-scavenger-hunt-4-pack/

<< Tag a pal who needs to know about this and would LOVE to use it with kids or students! >>

#stpatricksdayfun #saintpaddysday #stpaddysforkids #stpatsfun #linkinbio
View
Open
and then there were six
๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿฆ๐ŸฆŠ๐Ÿฆ„๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฐ

thank you @thewoobles for giving my mind, heart, and hands something fun to do during a really challenging few months. 

#crochet #thewoobles #brainbreak #teachersanitysaver #shescrafty
View
Open
With great sadness, I'm writing to share that my brother-in-law, Jeff Mascott passed away from pancreatic cancer earlier this week--at home, surrounded by family and friends. 

The family is very grateful for the community's immeasurable help, encouragement, and prayers over the past several months since Jeff's diagnosis. 

Jeff's obituary will run this weekend in the Post: 
https://www.collinsfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Jeff-Mascott?obId=27420280&fbclid=IwAR2YTRooCyaLTikfjLeqF4gM-GaB1amZI2OmVl1VtKLUOjWj3Wo4URD8lC8#/obituaryInfo
View
Open
Flowers and a basket of @traderjoes faves are salve for a tired and weepy soul. ๐ŸŒท

Thankful for great, longtime friends ๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›

#itshardtobeahuman #thankfulheart #wlhs4evah #teacherbffs
View
Open
Almost 30 years of friendship!! I love these smart, beautiful, strong and creative women who walked with me through my early days of teaching. 

๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š

Thank you, Wilde Lake High School, for bringing us together way back when. 

๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›

Missed you, jigofjoy ๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š

#weareteachers #andoneprincipal #wildelake #wlhs4evah #teacherbffs #wildelakehs #teachersofinstagram #celebratewewill
View
Open
Today marks the 4th time in 3 weeks that I have had to hang new Kindness Reminders Tear-off Sheets! 

Makes my heart ๐Ÿฅฐ!! 

Some kids come by every day and give one to a new person. Others take a bunch for the week. One 2nd grade girl comes by evey morning to tell me who she gave hers to the day before. 

Every little bit helps, friend. And every interaction matters!

#kindnessrocks #adoormadeforme #teachersofinstagram #makeadifference
View
Open
Best crew for one of the best @terpswbb games weโ€™ve seen all season! 

And of course super job by @marylandcheer and @mightysoundofmd too! 

#terpswbb #terpsbasketball #familyfun #marylandcheer

Copyright © 2023 · teach mama media, llc · All Rights Reserved

  • 16
2.1K shares