The kindergarten and first grade students from Columbus Avenue and Leo F. Giblyn Elementary School had hands-on, seasonally focused STEM lessons using apples.
Columbus Avenue kindergarten teacher, Kimberly Gartmayer led her students in a lesson which began with reading about apples. Following, the students used apples chunks or slices and toothpicks to make boats. After constructing their boats, the class submerged them in water to see which types of apple boats floated and which sank.
For students in Therese Casoria's first grade class at Giblyn Elementary School, a science and math unit was implemented which included activities such as dissecting an apple and labeling the parts; sequencing the life cycle of an apple, as well as tasting various types of apples to collect data. The data collected by each student was then used to create a graph of the apples each student liked most.