Annie's Apple Sauce

Have we told you how much we enjoy Treasure's Unit 4: Food?!  Yup, we are all over this one!  And by "all over it," we mean the EATING.  It just so happens that this unit falls right around the time of our Thanksgiving Feast.  You'd think we'd stop at the feast, right? Wrong! 

A number of our students are ELD and come with a variety of customs and foods.  What better way to teach vocabulary and become intimate with a new culture than through its foods. 

The unit begins with this cute story about the journey of an apple from the apple orchard.  At the back of the book you will find three simple recipes for yummy apple treats.  One recipe is for apple sauce.  The recipe lists only 3 ingredients and is totally do-able in the classroom using an electric skillet.  Check it out!

I began by reading the recipe and letting the class know that if we had enough interest, I'd consider making the apple sauce.  I suggested that they start bringing in apples from home.  It would have been easier for me to go to the grocery store and simply buy a pound of apples, but I wanted them to be responsible and start talking up the project with their classmates.  I felt that this way they would have more ownership of the experience.  I don't always take the time to do this, but this week I had the time to spare. 
After about a week and a half, we had enough apples to cook! 

I simply followed the recipe and added one stick of cinnamon.  It makes the classroom smell SO yummy!  I like to use brown sugar and I always throw in some extra!  Why not?!

As the apples cook, and to "become one with the apple" we do a little apple yoga.  I found this cute 'Seed to Market' Yoga Sequence from Omazing Kids.  It's the perfect addition to the whole cooking experience!

Our apple sauce turned out delicious, as always!  It's really a forgiving recipe.  Just imagine the vocabulary that was being thrown around during this experience.  And then to write about it!  We loved it!

Stay tuned for our grade level Food Project in the coming weeks. 
When it comes to food, more is more!