Apple Season

Apple season is one of my favourite seasons. There are so many learning activities that we can do with our learners with the theme of apples in mind.

1. Go to an apple farm to pick apples. This could involve trip planning by the learners, reading a farm map, and practising numeracy skills by weighing apples and calculating the prices.

2. Apple taste test. Bring in a few apples of several different varieties, and conduct a taste test with all the learners. Each learner can sample a slice or two of different varieties of apples paying attention to apple qualities such as the sweetness, tartness, and crispness. The class could then vote on their favourite by doing a survey and completing a tally chart. Learners could make graphs that display the class' preference for the "best" apple.

3. Make apple sauce with the class. Learners can peel, core, and chop the apples. Learners can take turns stirring the apples until the apples break down into the sauce. This could be another taste test and surveying opportunity by making different apple sauce recipes. You could add a pinch of cinnamon or a spoonful of sugar. My vote would certainly go to plain, unseasoned, and unsweetened apple sauce made from MacIntosh apples.

4. And of course, apple season would not be complete without drinking apple cider. See Beautiful Things - Apple Cider and Pumpkin Pie for an activity on describing apple cider with the five senses.

Beautiful Things - Apple Cider and Pumpkin Pie

Apple season! My favourite time of year!

Seasonal foods may be new to some of the learners in your classes. 

Build in cultural experiences by bringing in culinary favourites for this time of year.

Be sure to ask about allergies, and be aware of dietary restrictions around lard as it is often in pie crusts.

Build from what the learners know, and expand vocabulary.

Use the five senses to describe pumpkin pie and apple cider.

Literacy Considerations
1. Change activities often. Do this kind of activity 20 minutes before break time to break up the day.
2. Begin with speaking. Have students orally describe and discuss words with a partner or a small group.
3. View learning as a social activity. Have learners enjoy the food and drink with a partner or small group.

Winter Salad

Winter time can be a difficult time to find good quality and cheap fresh fruits and vegetables. In my class a few weeks ago, we had some visitors from a local "eat healthy" group demonstrate how to make a delicious salad with us. They brought all the ingredients, and we provided the bowls, forks, and appetites :)

For most guest speakers that come into my classes, I  encourage them to use simplified language and make the presentation very visual and experiential. Following this recipe was a great opportunity to build on these learning styles. We adapted the recipe based on what ingredients we had. This concept was a bit freeing for my learners and they began brainstorming ideas to make the recipe their own.

Our guest speakers brought this recipe. I do not know the source.

Some ingredients:

Great cooking vocabulary!

 Chop

 Slice

Toss

We sat and enjoyed this delicious and nutritious salad together. It was a social event and we talked about the textures, the tastes, and recipe adaptations.

Our final item: compost! In our city we are lucky to have a great municipal composting program. This all got pitched into the "green" bin.

Outcomes: Following instructions, describing personally relevant experiences, working with others, measurement, asking questions

Follow-up: Our community offers a "Good Food Box". This contains many fresh fruits and vegetables at a very low cost. It support local farmers and businesses. Practise reading the program flyer for details about dates, costs, items, and pick-up or delivery locations. Once the food box comes in, talk about the food and share other recipes.

In addition, you could precede or follow up this recipe with studying nutritional facts, reading food labels, and doing a class presentation on a nutrient or mineral.

Guess the image

A special thanks to my creative colleague, B.B.,  for sharing this idea with us. She found it at http://www.greatgroupgames.com/zoom-in-game-thanksgiving.htm! She set up several of these sequential photos based on thematic words. Great for including horticulturally related items such as foods. All the food item vocabulary can be pre-taught with realia in class, and followed up by making some delicious recipes or sampling some apple cider.