October Unit: Fall, Harvest and Safar (Part 1)

I have divided this month’s unit into 3 parts. As this month’s topic was quite broad, I divided our books into 2 main topics:

1. Season of Fall
2. Harvest – we talked about Fall harvest but focused on life cycle of Apples and Pumpkins – and I mostly got books on those.

Following is a list of books that we read this month:

Science, Math and Art: Season of Fall

1. It’s Fall by Linda Glaser
2. Little Eliot Fall Friends by Mike Curato
3. Hello Fall by Lucy Fleming
4. Counting on Fall by Lizann Flatt
5. Mouse First Fall by Lauren Thompson
6. Are you Ready for Fall? By Sheila Anderson
7. Leaves in Fall by Bullfrog Books
8. Harvest in Fall by Bullfrog Books
9. Apples in Fall by Bullfrog Books
10. Animals in Fall by Bullfrog Books

Science, Math and Art: Life cycle of Apples and Pumpkins

1. The apple orchard riddle by Margaret McNamara
2. Toto’s Apple by Mathieu Lovoie
3. Amelia Bedelia’s First Apple Pie by Herman Parish
4. Out and About at the Apple Orchard
5. From Seed to Apple Tree following the life cycle by Suzanne Slade
6. Exploring Fall by Terri DeGezelle
7. Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie
8. Bones and the Apple Pie Mystery
9. The Very Best Pumpkin by Mark Kimball Moulton
10. Apple Picking Day! By Candice Ransom (Step 1: ready to read) (Her pumpkin book refers to Halloween)
11. Ten Apples Up on Top! By Dr. Suess
12. No ordinary Apple: A story about eating mindfully by Sara Marlowe – I thought this was a bit advanced for my daughter, I will definitely re-borrow this book next year inshAllah as I really liked it.
13. From Apple Trees to Apple Cider, Please! by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky
14. Apples Life Cycles by Julie Murray
15. Turning Apples into Applesauce by Wendy A. Reynolds

I try to keep a balance between living books and informative books, however at this age, if informative books are not colourful, they can become overwhelming for the child very quickly. At this stage, I prefer living books more, which share information through living creatures and a story. For example, a story of a girl visiting an apple factory and discovering how applesauce or apple juice is made is a lot more interesting for a five year old than a simple informative book stating out the facts. I still believe that exposure to informative books is imperative.

In the next post, I will share links to free printables and crafts that we did for this unit.