One of the joys of living in Florida is the opportunity to have fresh fruits and veggies almost all year long! The end of February through the beginning of March is lemon season! 🙂 Several people that I know have lemons in their yards. It seemed natural to put all of those lemons to use in my classroom! 🙂 With the help of a few people on my team, I was able to generate a few ideas on how I could use them in my classroom. A little while ago, I posted the mini-unit as a freebie on both my blog and my facebeook page. We really had a great time working through it! 🙂
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| Want to try this out with your own learners? Click HERE. |
I did the lesson in one afternoon. First up, we read the story Lulu’s Lemonade. It’s a great little story about children who make lemonade using things that they find in their house. It really lends itself to some really great math and science connections! 🙂 We talked briefly about the five senses and then went through a language activity to help them be able to share more information about lemons with one another. I also went to a website that I’d checked out earlier that gave more specific scientific information about lemons. We learned some pretty big words! 🙂 Then, we got to the fun part! 🙂 I cut several lemons up and allowed students to try the lemons if they wanted to. Before we made lemonade together–in the classroom–FROM SCRATCH! 🙂
Here are a few pictures of us trying the lemons! Our faces tell the tale! 🙂 Those were some SOUR lemons! 🙂
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| Before tasting |
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| First taste |
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| Now you can tell that it’s really sinking in… |
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| Second taste for the brave ones… |
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| It’s wearing off for most of us by this point… |
When we were done, I showed the kids how to find a lemonade recipe online. We gathered up the remaining lemons and made lemonade according to the recipe. Afterwards we did a class T chart to show whether or not we liked it. Then we wrote about our experiences. All in all, it was a successful afternoon of learning together! 🙂
Here are a few samples of the writing we did. The students were to use the scaffolded ideas that we discussed during the brainstorming session. I was surprised at how much they were able to remember. Having the language tools on the board helped them to write in a specific order.
I love their "sour" faces. Too cute!!!
Christy
Mrs. Christy’s Leaping Loopers
Me too, Christy!!! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
I have to find this book. Last year, after seeing a picture in our Social Studies book, my class came up with the idea to do a lemonade stand for the entire school. It was a week long project including reading, writing, math, technology, and so much fun. We made flyers, measured lemonade, wrote thank you notes, and worked hard to serve the entire school. My kids raised over $220 for the Humane Society. Your post reminded me of a great learning experience. I am a new follower.
Classroom Companion
Oh my goodness! What a fabulous idea! 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by to say hello! 🙂 I will have to run over and see what you and your kiddos are up to as well! 🙂
Tamara