Thursday, March 4, 2010

How To Make An Apple Pie (And See Your State)

We picked up Marjorie Priceman's How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World from the library this week (thanks to Ticia at Adventures in Mommydom for recommending it).


The story follows a little girl around the world, as she gathers the ingredients to make an apple pie, after finding her local market closed. The children enjoyed tracing the girl's travels on the map, included in the book, but they didn't think we'd need to travel quite so far to find the same ingredients. After all, the little girl in the story went to France to get an egg laying chicken, and we had to wait while one crossed the road, in front of our van, last Sunday on our way to church.

I printed out a Montana Product Map, from Montana for Kids, and we quickly located most of the other ingredients we would need. Our sugar would come from the sugar beets in eastern Montana, where there is also a good supply of wheat - eastern Montana is part of the bread basket of the country. Dairy farms are located all across the state, one very near to us, and as I already mentioned, finding eggs nearby would not be a problem.

Salt, and Cinnamon would be difficult to find in Montana. But, we might be able to do without those.

As for apples...


My youngest son has been carrying an apple seed, left over from his lunch, in his pocket, for a couple of days. It seemed like a good time to plant it.

And, just so there would be no confusion - my oldest daughter sketched out, and colored, a Made In Montana label for it.


There is a recipe for apple pie at the back of the book, too. But, I think it might be a while before we have enough apples to make one.

For more fun with geography, visit the Geography and History link up at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn.

Or, for more story stretching arts and crafts projects, click over to this week's stART (story+ART) link up, at A Mommy's Adventures.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

8 comments:

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

We read this book in the fall for apple theme, but I found it a bit over my daughter's head. Getting cinnamon in Montana might be a bit problematic - maybe in the botanic garden ;) Great idea to plant a Montana apple.

Ticia said...

Great solution for getting apples in Montana. I'm glad you liked the book.

I just found one at the library yesterday about making an apple pie and seeing this country. I'll have to see where everyone goes in that one.

Unknown said...

Your daughter's label cracked me up! Such creative kiddos- just like their Mamma!

Also, I will MOST DEFINITELY be browsing for this book in the fall- no better time to get our apples here in East Tennessee than then!

melaniet42 said...

Great idea - the book looks neat, but probably a little old for my toddler. I love the way you tied it in to local things!!

sbswtp said...

What a fun project :) I love the label.

Jenny said...

Cute idea, we'll have to find this book at the library.

Debbie said...

I will have to look for this book! What a great idea. I love your daughter's label, she did a great job!

Lisa said...

This is one of our favorite books! My oldest daughter did a lapbook on it a couple years ago and youngest did one last year. A reader on my blog requested that I post pictures of our lapbooks, so this one will be on there, eventually! I ended up buying the book from a used bookstore really cheap since we liked it so much.

I'll make a list on my blog of some children's classics we've enjoyed. Maybe someone else will too!

I love you tree planting! And yes, you'll be waiting quite a while for apples for that pie!