If life hands you apples, make.... applesauce!
Over the past couple of weeks, we've been investigating the colonial period through our guided reading groups. With my Safety Net 1 group (yes, I have two safety net groups), the texts' readability levels are far beyond instructional level so mainly it looks like a shared reading session. The book we're reading, the most basic text I could locate, is "Colonial Life", courtesy of my Reading A-Z subscription (BTW, one of the best purchases I've ever made).Yesterday we were reading about breakfast in colonial times. The text has a nice graphic of a table set for breakfast - which included a bowl of apples.Me hopefully leading the students to a comparison: "Do we ever eat fruit at breakfast time?"Student: "No. Never."This exchange happened as the students were consuming their mid-morning snack - items "leftover" from the breakfast bags which included applesauce. The look of incredulity was priceless when I pointed out that applesauce came from, well.... apples! And, according to the food services managers, that is a fruit.As one student observed, "Oh that's why there's a picture of an apple on the lid!" -- the peel back foil covering.Still not believing me, the kids were full of questions as to how apples turn in to applesauce. And, had I had supplies with me, I would have done just that with them.Somehow, I've got to work more experiential learning into this classroom!