Applesauce Muffins!

Wow! I had planned to make apple muffins for the class as a part of our apple unit when I found this recipe in Wednesday's Food Section of The Huntsville Times. I used the recipe to make muffins-particularly since this is "Mm" week. My family "taste-tested" the muffins (because that's just the kind of self-sacrificing people we are J) and wow, they are goooooooooooood! This recipe is amazing so I am sharing it with you all here.
This is the recipe that Martha Scott uses at Scott's Orchard.
1 ½ cups salad oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon each: ground cloves, nutmeg, allspice
3 cups chopped apples
I also added 1 ½ cups of applesauce
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; fold in apples. Bake in greased and floured muffin pan for 8 minutes. Take out of oven and add streusel topping (1 tablespoon flour, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and cinnamon) to each muffin. Bake for 4 additional minutes.
Yummy!
Also, don't forget to check out a real-live apple orchard!
Scott's Orchard
2163 Scott Road
Hazel Green
256 828-4563
suncompsvc.com/scotts/


Steele Orchard
1695 County Road 1141
Cullman
256 734-5249
steeleorchard.com


Crow Mountain Orchard
6236 County Road 39
Fackler
256 437-9254
Crowmtn.com


I'll post photos this weekend!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!

We have so many activities for Dr. Seuss in celebration of his birthday for Read Across America-here are just a few!

Of course, we read Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop, ABC and many, many more but part of our main focus is Green Eggs and Ham.
We read the story, chart rhyming word pairs, talk about trying new foods, etc. Then we talk about how to make green eggs and ham. What do you need? What turns the eggs green? What happens first, second, last? Each child gets a recipe chart and a sentence strip. We read the simple text, talk about each step and start cutting. I wish I had better photos of this process but I don't! Each child cuts out the six pictures showing the sequence of steps. They number each picture and glue them on their sentence strip in the correct order. They now have their own recipe to take home for green eggs and ham!

Green Eggs and Ham Directions

First, the children has to read the recipe out loud, step by step so we can make our own green eggs and ham as a class! I heat up the electric skillet and each child gets to take a turn cracking their own egg into our bowl. They LOVE this part!

Some are nervous...

Some are excited!

Some just like posing with their egg!

Now the children have to walk me through these steps -reading their recipe cards- I beat the eggs with my green whisk 20 times. I add 20 small pieces of cheese, 20 small pieces of ham and 20 drops of green food coloring. (I had 20 students). The children count with me each time. NO one is fidgeting, out of their seat or goofing off, they are glued to this process!

I pour the mix into the skillet and s.l.o.w.l.y stir 20 times while we count together.

Can you say Y.U.M.M.Y?!

Before anyone gets their bowl, we make a prediction as to whether we will like the green eggs and ham or NOT .

They try their eggs and give me a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Most are excited they are eating something soooo exotic!!

Alright!!

After everyone has eaten, we then make a graph to chart how many liked the green eggs and ham and how many did not. I don't have a photo of our graph (darn!) but the majority liked them this year. Next year is another story...

Towards the end of our unit, our wonderful reading coach, Mrs. Yokley, puts together the Dr. Seuss Cafe for us to attend in the Library. Our librarian, Mrs. Barnett, gladly plays the part of the Cat in the Hat!

Here is Mrs. Yokley with students enjoying her hard work! Older students play host and servers. They escort the children to a table where the children choose from a menu of Dr. Seuss books. The servers then read the books to their table. The children are served multi colored goldfish crackers and have a chance to color a Dr. Seuss mask. They love every minute!!

Look at how the library is transformed by Mrs. Yokley, Mrs. Barnett and Mrs. Gautreaux into the Dr. Seuss Cafe!

This Mrs. Booker's class posing in front of the cafe-this photo goes into each child's Kindergarten Scrapbook-so sweet! What a wonderful experience! I have a section of my reading center that is dedicated to Dr. Seuss books and after this unit, the kids absolutely can not get enough of his books...which is the ultimate goal!