TGIF!!

This week went by so fast! Today was a great day - we went to the library for the first time this year, had a great spelling test and made ice cream in a bag! I am totally bummed that I forgot to take pictures. It was not messy at all and sooo easy! I am making it with my own kids tomorrow :)

I found a new youtube video that I am loving for building our classroom community. It is so sweet to see my little firsties giving each other back scratches and high fives.It's from Mr. Harry Kindergarten of course!

 

Next week we are starting our apple theme, so I'll be working on some games for that. We usually try different varieties of apples and graph our preferences etc. I buy apple pie and we eat it after reading The Apple Pie Tree, then we drink apple cider after reading Apple Cider Making Days. I've even brought in caramel apples (wouldn't those be cool to make at school?!)

Then, I read Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. In this story, a bunny family goes apple picking, choosing different varieties for different purposes and then end up making applesauce when they get home. After reading this book we make applesauce in the classroom and it is  fantastic! Seriously, it is so good that I make another batch for my family and it lasts all of 30 seconds. My kinders from last year are still talking about the time we made applesauce!

Now, there is a recipe included in the back of the book, but being paranoid, I had to Google a few other recipes to make sure I had the "right" one lol! The final product was a compilation of a few different recipes, so I don't have an actual link for it.

The first step is to get the apples - for my unit I ask each of my kiddos to bring in about 5-10 apples. Some bring more, some less, but they all bring in different varieties! This is great because good applesauce is made from a mix of different types of apples. Some of the good cooking varieties are: Pippin, McIntosh, Cortland, Fuji, Gala, Gravenstein, Red Delicious, Winesap, Golden Delicious, Mutsu, Honeycrisp and Pink Lady.  My kinders last year brought in McIntosh, Gala, and both Red and Golden Delicious apples.

Here's the recipe I used:

1. Peel, core and cut into small chunks about 20 apples. (I do mine by hand, so some I peel in front of my kids and the rest while they are at PE & Music lol)

2. Place in crockpot on high with 3/4 cup of water

3. At the 3 hour mark stir in 1 cup sugar and cinnamon to taste (I just let one of my kiddos shake the jar until he was satisfied - probably about 2-3 tsps)

4. At the 4 hour mark use a hand mixer to blend to desired consistency - I leave mine quite chunky.

I serve mine hot out of the crock pot in plastic cups. They always ask for seconds! This weekend I will work on making recipe cards and some recording sheets for the applesauce, so check back soon!