Exploring Seasonal Apple Trees

• Chart or butcher paper
• Markers
• Colored tissue paper in the following colors:
  • Fall: yellow, red, orange, brown, and green
  • Spring: light green, light pink, and pink
  • Summer: dark green and red
• Four-season stickers or plain labels
  
• Apple Tree! Apple Tree! by Mary Blocksma or another book that describes the changes that an apple tree undergoes throughout the year
• 18 x 12-inch pieces of brown construction paper, one per student
• Pencils
• Scissors
• 18 x 12-inch pieces of light blue construction paper, one per student
  
• Glue
• The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons or another book that describes the changes that an apple tree undergoes throughout the year
  
• Cotton balls, two per student

1. Create a large Four Seasons Graphic Organizer using a sheet of chart or butcher paper. The organizer should be divided into four sections, one for each season. Label each section with a season name.
2. Cut or tear the colored tissue paper into approximately 2 x 2-inch squares. Each student will need several squares of each color to complete the craft.
   
3. Students will need to label each of the four trees they create. Using stickers or plain labels, create the following four labels for each student:
   • Fall (or Autumn)
     
   • Winter
   • Spring
   • Summer

Step 1: Role-play each season by creating a movement.

Fall: Pretend the leaves are falling from the sky with your hands in a downward motion.
Winter: Pretend to build a snowman and have a snowball fight.
Spring: Pretend to be a seed in the ground and begin to blossom into a huge sunflower.
Summer: Pretend to build a sandcastle at the beach.

Step 2: Read aloud Apple Tree! Apple Tree! by Mary Blocksma or any other factually-accurate book that describes the changes that an apple tree undergoes throughout the year.

Step 3: Turn to the page that shows an apple tree in autumn. Ask students to describe what the tree and leaves look like. Record their responses in the autumn section of the Four Seasons Graphic Organizer.

Step 4: Turn to the page that shows the winter apple tree. Again, ask students to describe what the tree and leaves look like in this season. Record their responses in the winter section of the Four Seasons Graphic Organizer.

Step 5: Turn to the page that shows the spring apple tree. Ask students to describe what they see and record their responses about what the tree and leaves look like in the spring section of the Four Seasons Graphic Organizer.

Step 6: Turn to the page that shows the summer apple tree. Write down students' descriptions of the summer tree and leaves in the summer section of the Four Seasons Graphic Organizer.

Step 7: Tell students that they are going to complete an art project about seasonal apple trees. Send them to their seats or craft centers.

Step 8: Give each student a sheet of brown construction paper. Instruct students to fold the brown construction paper in half like a book.

Step 9: Have students lay their non-writing hand and arm on one half of the folded brown construction paper. Their fingers should be completely on the page. Then have them trace their hand and wrist with a pencil. This will make the shape of a tree.

Step 10: Have students repeat step 9 on the other half of the construction paper so they have two tracings on the folded sheet.

Step 11: Have students cut out each traced tree shape, keeping the construction paper folded. This will yield four tree shapes from each sheet of construction paper.

Step 12: Give each student a sheet of light blue construction paper. Have students write their names in a corner.

Step 13: Have students glue the four brown tree shapes in a row along the bottom of the blue construction paper.

Optional: If you have time, you can complete Day 2 now.

Day 2

Step 1: Read The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons or another factually-accurate book that describes the changes that an apple tree undergoes throughout the year.

Step 2: Send students to their seats or craft centers. Return the art projects students started on Day 1.

Step 3: Give students the label that says "fall." Have them glue it to the bottom of the first tree.

Step 4: Give each table or small group of students a handful of yellow, red, orange, brown, and green tissue paper squares. Explain to students that the colored tissue paper squares represent the fall leaves.

Step 5: Demonstrate and help students take one tissue paper square at a time, crumble it up, and glue it to the top of the fall tree shape. Have students continue in the same fashion with the other colored tissue paper squares.

Step 6: Encourage students to place some of the tissue squares to look as if they are falling from the tree to the ground.

Step 7: Give students the label that says "winter." Have them glue it to the bottom of the second tree.

Step 8: Give each student two cotton balls. Have students pull the cotton balls apart and glue the cotton to the second tree as snow.

Step 9: Give students the label that says "spring." Have them glue it to the bottom of the third tree.

Step 10: Give each table or small group a handful of light green, light pink, and hot pink tissue paper squares. Explain that these colors represent leaves and flower petals. Have students crumble the tissue paper squares and glue them to the top of the spring tree, as they did with the fall colors. Remind students that these leaves and petals should stay ON the tree!

Step 11: Give students the label that says "summer." Have them glue it to the bottom of the last tree.

Step 12: Give each table a handful of dark green and red cut tissue paper squares. Explain that these colors represent leaves and the growing apples in summer. Have students crumble the tissue paper squares and glue them to the top of the spring tree, as they did with the fall colors. Remind students that these leaves and petals, like those on the spring tree, should stay ON the tree!

Step 13: Display or send home the final projects.

• English-Language Learners: When writing down responses on the Four Seasons Graphic Organizer, draw pictures next to students' responses. Have ELL students work on the project with an English-only language model.
• Accelerated Students: These students may write one sentence about each of the seasons.

• Science: Learn about other trees/plants/flowers and how they change as the seasons change.
• Social Studies: Show pictures of seasons from places all around the country and around the world, demonstrating that the seasons can look different depending on where you are.
• Math: Tally and graph your students' favorite seasons.
• Language Arts: Make up a class story about a tree and how the tree changes through the seasons.
• Art: Make a larger version of the four trees project using sheets of colored butcher paper. You could have students cut out actual leaf, flower petal, and apple shapes from construction or tissue paper. Label the trees and hang the mural in your classroom or hallway.

Encourage families to take their children on nature walks throughout the year to notice how the environment looks different as the seasons change. Suggest that they keep notes in a journal to look back on or share in class.

Four-Point Rubric

• 4: The student could label and identify all four seasons.
• 3: The student could label and identify three seasons.
• 2: The student could label and identify two seasons.
• 1: The student could label and identify one season.