The children love the story of the Round Red House.
You tell the children about a little girl who had goes to visit her grandma in the country. Well, the little girl gets bored. Grandma tell her she has a “chore” for her. She is to find a round, red house that has no doors, no windows and has a star inside
The little girl thinks and thinks, but can not come up with an answer. Grandma tells her when she has a problem she goes next door to Farmer Brown. The girl goes, telling him what she has to find. Farmer Brown thinks and thinks, but has no answer. He does know who can help, however.
He says, “See that hill over there? Go sit under that apple tree and wait for the wind. When I can’t figure something out I always go and ask the wind and he always knows the answer.”
So the little girl goes, sits under the tree, falling asleep. Here comes the wind. She asks her question. The wind laughs, making the branches of the apple sway. One apple falls into the girl’s lap. She looks at it. It is round, red, has not windows, no doors. Could it be? Is there a star inside? Thanking the wind the girl runs off to Grandma’s. When she gets there she tell Grandma what she’s discovered. Grandma takes a knife and cuts the apple in half. Sure enough, there is a star.
I keep an apple and knife in my apron pocket while I’m telling the story. At the appropriate time I take out the apple and cut it. Make sure you cut the apple around the “equator” not from stem to bottom. The children are amazed. I make sure I have enough apples to give each half.
I have made a large apple on a paper with slits cut through it. On another I’ve made pictures of the story. I give a copy of each to the children so they can tell the story at home. I let them color the apple and pictures. I have precut the slits in the apple and cut the pictures into a long strip. When they’ve colored I help them thread the pictures into their apple. We practice retelling the story. That is their homework for the night.
It’s great fun and my Kindergarten class loves it.
I use this idea as a guidance lesson. Read the book Sesame Street We Are the Same, We Are Different. To illustrate how people appear to be different on the outside but we are the same inside, I use 3 apples, one green, one yellow and one red. We discuss how they are the same, and then how they are different. After the discussion, I peel each of the apples and we discuss how they are the same on the inside. Then everyone samples the apples!