Apple Countdown

Everyone has been looking forward to the field trip to Farmer Applebee's apple orchard. The days have been turning cooler and the apples have turned red and are ready to the children to pick and eat. On the bulletin board there is a sheet of apple facts, a picture of an apple blossom, but more importantly twenty bright red apples with everyone's name on them. "Twenty apples with our names," says James. Soon all the apple name tags are off the bulletin board tree and pinned to their clothing. The bus is ready and all kinds of little rascals are ready to scramble aboard for the apple countdown. Elaine is sitting with James in the front having an animated conversation. Oh, oh ... maybe she likes him! Across the aisle Lee is wiggle, wiggling that tooth. The childrens' faces shine with excitement and call out things they might see at the farm after Mr. Yee tells them to "name seventeen things" they might see. Soon they arrive at the farm and are greeted warmly by Farmer Applebee. They quickly board the Fruit Loop train to circle around the farm and continue their countdown. "Fourteen cows. Moo! Moo!" says Sue. "That's twelve cows plus two." Naturally there are two Holsteins hiding behind a hedge. Wiggle, wiggle! "Crunch Crunch Crunch Crunch . . . " Do you think Lee is going to lose that tooth before the apple countdown is over? No doubt about it, field trips are FUN trips and every parent who has accompanied a group of youngsters to an apple orchard can attest to that. I liked the way this book was set up in several different ways. The light rhyming scheme moved the book along nicely and counting down (backwards) from twenty to one gives children the basic skills needed for subtraction. In the end pages there are numerous "Apple Facts" to explore. For example, "An apple blossom has five petals." The art work is very vibrant and colorful and meshes nicely with the text. Any classroom teachers, especially those in apple country, who are planning a field trip will love having a copy of this one to read and discuss with their students. Why do apples float? If you don't know, you just might want to read this book!