2. understand how Johnny Appleseed helped the early pioneers who were moving westward to start new homes and farms.
1. Show the children a picture of Johnny Appleseed from a book. Ask the children if they know anything about Johnny Appleseed. Write the information the children give on a large chart.
2. Read the book
The Story of Johnny Appleseed
, by Alikli. After reading the story ask the children what new information they learned from this story. Add the children's responses to the chart. Be sure to include his real name, John Chapman. Ask the children why he was called Johnny Appleseed.
3. Discuss with the children where Johnny Appleseed was born. Using a large, simple physical map of the United States (ideally a primary physical map with only the state boundaries), locate Leominster, Massachusetts where Johnny Appleseed was born. Next locate where the children live and compare to where Johnny grew up. Finally find the many places Johnny Appleseed traveled. Discuss how he traveled by foot and how little he carried with him.
Explain to the children that at this time in our history people were beginning to leave the towns and cities they had lived in on the East Coast (locate on the map) and were moving farther west to look for new places for homes and farms. There were no towns, villages, homes, or even roads where Johnny Appleseed and the pioneers traveled; it was wilderness. Help the children understand that a pioneer is someone who leads the way into a land not known to them. Tell the children that Columbus was a pioneer.
Discuss the different ways the pioneers traveled as they moved westward, such as walking, covered wagons, and flatboats. Show the children pictures of the covered wagons and flatboats.
4. Have the children select their favorite part of the Johnny Appleseed story and draw a picture of it. Have the children describe their pictures and write this description on their pictures. These pictures could be compiled into a class book or used on the bulletin board.
Activity 2
1. Review the chart about Johnny Appleseed and the pictures drawn. Ask the children what made Johnny Appleseed so special and important. Explain that Johnny Appleseed was a gentle, kind man who loved nature and helping people. He didn't even carry a weapon! Then read the book
Johnny Appleseed
, by Reeve Lindbergh. Discuss the ways that Johnny Appleseed helped the pioneers.
2. Ask the children why apples were such a wonderful gift of food for the pioneers. Explain that the apples were quite easy to grow, to pick, and could be used all year round. Remind the children that these people had no refrigerators. The apple seeds were easy to carry to new places because they were so small. Johnny Appleseed provided these people with seeds and started new apple orchards as he traveled.
3. Ask the children if they know where Johnny Appleseed got his seeds. Where do we get seeds? Have the children work in a small group to examine several varieties of apples cut diagonally and horizontally. Guide the children's exploration by asking questions including:
Activity 3
1. Review the two books read in the previous activities and the Johnny Appleseed information chart. Ask the children how the pioneers used apples. Make a chart listing all the ways the pioneers used apples down the left hand side of the chart. Then ask the children how we use apples. List these ideas on the right hand side of the chart. Discuss similar uses of apples. Be sure to include applesauce, apple cider, and apple pie.
2. If possible take the class on a trip to an apple orchard. Observe how the trees are planted, the size of the trees, etc. Pick apples to bring back to school. Use the apples for cooking projects, such as applesauce, apple muffins, or apple bread. Write the recipes on the chart using pictures to help children read them for shared reading.
3. Have the children make prints using the cross section of apples. Cut apples both vertically and horizontally. Point out the star in the middle of the apple when the apple is cut horizontally. Encourage the children to use their own writing to label the apple.
Children could look at apple seeds with magnifying glasses or simple microscopes. The apple seeds could be sorted and classified by size, color, etc. The results of the sorting could be made into a graph where children could glue the seeds onto the graph.