My kindergartens always have an "Apple Day" in the fall.  This year they did it a little bit before Johnny Appleseed day, so since the actual Johnny Appleseed day hasn't past I thought I'd share some apple rhymes.

I Climbed Up the Apple Tree:  This one I learned from Lamar Robertson
I climbed up the apple tree
All the apples fell on me
Bake a pudding, bake a pie
Did you ever tell a lie?

The rhythm of each line is ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta so it's nice to bring back in first grade when I teach that first rhythmic comparative.

I first say the chant all the way through and then they echo each phrase.  I like to do this multiple times, changing the "voice" I use each with each repetition.  That is, the first time through echoing I might use a high voice (sometimes we call this our "Mickey Mouse" voice).  The nice time through I might use a low voice (this is called  our "monster voice"- but I've had to change it a couple times when some students seemed scared by the idea of monsters).  I also will use whispering, shouting, robot and arioso voices (arioso is a term that John Feierabend will use when you make up a melody to something).  We will also say the phrases with our voices ascending and descending in pitch.  By 4-5 through they have this memorized.  With kindergarten, at the next lesson we will add instruments and keep a steady beat with the rhyme.  With first grade, we will pass an apple around and whoever has it on the last word of the song will try to stump the class by telling us something about themselves (i.e. their favorite color is black, they were born in Nebraska, etc.) and the class will try to decide if it's a truth or if it's a lie.

The next two Apple songs come from the Amidon's new book, "I'm Growing Up."  This is a gem and a must for your early childhood library!!

I am so glad I bought this resource, if you're familiar with the Amidon's other materials you know that all of their resources are top quality!





Apple Sauce Rock:  This is sung just like the "Peanut Butter and Jelly" song and the teacher makes up movements to the song that match the tasks in the song.

Refrain:
Apple, applesauce and cider
Apple, applesauce and cider

First you take the apples and you pick 'em, you pick 'em, you pick 'em, pick 'em, pick 'em
Then you wash them, you wash them, you wash 'em, wash 'em, wash 'em

Refrain

Then you take the apples and you peel them, you peel them, you peel 'em, peel 'em, peel 'em
Then you core them, you core them, you core 'em, core 'em, core 'em

Refrain

Then you take the apples and you chop them, you chop them, you chop 'em, chop 'em, chop 'em
Then you cook them, you cook them, you cook 'em, cook 'em, cook 'em

Refrain

Then you take the apples and you mush 'em, you mush 'em, you mush' & mush' & mush 'em
Then you spice them, you spice them you spice 'em, spice 'em, spice 'em

Refrain

Then you take the sauce and you eat it, you eat it, you eat it, eat it, eat it
And you share it, you share it, you share it, share it share it

Refrain

A Lovely Bunch of Apples: Finger play
A Lovely bunch of apples (pretend to hold a basket of apples)
Picked from the tree (pretend to pick apples from the tree)
Rosy red for you (point out to others)
Shine green for me (point to self)
Some of them are big (pretend to hold a big apple, I say this with a low voice)
Some of them are small (pretend to hold a small apple, I say this with a high voice)
Some of them are oval (hold hands with palms touching and finger tips touching, making an oval shape)
And some are like a ball (pretend to hold a ball)
Some are very sour (pretend to take a bite of an apple and make a "sour" face)
Some of them are sweet (pretend to take a bite of another apple and rub tummy as if saying "yum!")
A lovely bunch of apples, for you and me to eat.  (using fists, stack fists one over the other on the beat, as if stacking apples)

Apple Tree
 I wrote a post about this song, you can access it by clicking here.

Happy Johnny Appleseed Day! :)