The Apple Demo - reinforcing the importance of HANDS-ON learning!
Rationale: To reinforce the importance of HANDS ON activities in the ECE environment. Not dittos and flashcards! You are going to walk your audience through the different ways their children can experience an apple. This is a great activity to do with parents at back to school night. As they move from Room #1 with a real apple through to Room # 4 with aflashcard of the word “a-p-p-l-e” they will come to experience first hand how the real teaches everything and flashcards, dittos and worksheets teach nothing!
Real Apples of many colors shapes and sizes
Copies of an Apple drawn on a ditto (include the stem and leaf as you draw it)
Copies of A-P-P-L-E written on a paper like a “flashcard”
A white board or a black board
You are going to pretend you are the teacher and that the parents are your kids!
Welcome to your first day of school!
This is room #1 and today we are talking about apples….
(give each participant a real APPLE)
Over the next few weeks we will cut them, taste them, paint them, plant seeds, etc. etc.
But first we are going to eat them…!!
If your child’s experience, here with me, of the concept of APPLE was this, (hold up the apple and take a bite) what kinds of words might you hear in the classroom?
(As the participants holler out words write them on the board…please know that you might need to eat one yourself to get some words going)
You will get words like: red, juicy, green, sweet, sour, bruised, stem, sticker, etc
Keep generating words until you have accumulated a pretty substantial list. Make sure you get the word STEM up there. Add it yourself if no one else does. You will see why as we progress.
Welcome to your first day of school!
This is room #2 and today we are talking about apples….
(give each participant a FAKE plastic APPLE)
If your child’s experience, here with me, of the concept of APPLE was this, (hold up the fake apple) you’ll notice it’s a little different than room #1….what words won’t you hear?
ERASE the words that you wouldn’t hear… (make sure at least one of the fake apples has a stem so that “stem” stays on your list… you’ll see why in a minute) Juicy? No. Red? Yes. Green? Yes. Bruised? No. Seeds? No. Etc…
Go through the whole list and then move on to…
Welcome to your first day of school!
This is room #3 and today we are talking about apples….
(give each participant a ditto w/ an APPLE drawn on it complete with leaf and stem)
You’ll notice it’s a little different than room #1 and room #2….If your child’s experience of APPLE was this, (hold up the ditto) what words won’t you hear?
Again….ERASE the words that you wouldn’t hear… (again - make sure at least one of the fake apples had a stem so that “stem” stays on your list… you’ll see why in a minute) Red? No. Green? No. Stem? Yes. Bruised? No. Sticker? No. etc. etc…
Go through the whole list and then move on to…
NOTE: by now “stem” is probably the only word up there.
Welcome to your first day of school!
This is room #4 and today we are talking about apples….
(hold up your A-P-P-L-E flashcard)
You’ll notice it’s a little different than room #1, 2 and 3….!!
Let me ask…If your child’s experience of APPLE was this, (hold up the flashcard)
What is your child going to learn about apples?
PAUSE AND LET THE ROOM REALIZE THAT THE ANSWER IS…
They will not be learning anything.
By this time, the only word left up there (if any) is probably “stem”… and now even that will be erased. There is no word you can attach to this flat conceptualization of an apple.
Again….the main point to stress here is that children need experiences to attach words to! (Jane Healy, Endangered Minds) What is my vested interest in learning about an APPLE or how to spell it or recognize it in print if I have never eaten one, smelled one, tasted one, painted with one, planted the seeds, picked one off a tree, cut one, made one into a pie….
Although not created by, this information was shared with you by
Lisa Murphy: The Ooey Gooey Lady®