Apple Tree, Apple Tree…

Bull and I are continuing to work on learning to count to ten. Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been using an apple tree theme to create a counting book for him.

I pre-cut all the pieces during one of my Sunday afternoon planning sessions- enough for ten trees and a corresponding number of apples. I wrote the numbers on each apple, as I want him to recognize and associate the number symbol with its name/value.

One the first day we did this:

We use a little rhyme “Apple tree, Apple tree do you have some fruit for me?”
“Yes, I have _____fruit(s) for you and good fruit too.”

One each succeeding day we made a new tree and figured out how many fruit we would need to put on it to have one more than the day before.

This was another good fine motor exercise. Our “apples” were the size of a penny and he had to pick them up and stick them on the spot of glue on the tree with the number right side up.

Interestingly, I learned that while he cannot always tell me the name of a number or count aloud to ten he can consistently pick out the number that comes next when he’s given a group of numbers to choose from. Nice to know that counting is happening in his brain even if the words won’t come out right!

When we finished I stapled the pages together to make a counting book, so that we can continue to practice the oral side of the exercise.

Ten apples pictured as two sets of five. I haven’t explained that concept but seeing it frequently will help the concept to make sense when I do explain it.

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