In this post we’re going to talk about the many ways I use the Apple Tree folk song in my classroom. It’s one of my lower elementary kids’ favorite songs! They ask for it over and over, even on days where I let them choose a game or a song to review. We’re going to discuss how I use it to teach quarter and eighth notes, teach Do, and get the kids moving!
The slides you see in this post are from my Apple Tree resource. You don’t need the resource in order to use the ideas I have for you in this post, but it has all of the slides you could need to teach the song and concepts if you want to save time and energy. If you’re interested in purchasing, click here.
Teaching the Apple Tree Folk Song
First, you need to teach the song. I do this by showing them the lyrics and having them keep a steady beat while I sing. We change up the beat by either using rhythm sticks or using different body percussion movements. Young students love to use beat buddies (my old beanie babies! Just be prepared for tags to fall off. Yes, your heart will hurt a little the first time it happens.) In kindergarten, students can walk in a circle to the beat of the music.
After they’ve heard the song a bit, we play the game! To play, have students stand in a circle. One person will be the tree and will stand outside the circle facing in and put their arms up. Students will walk in the circle under the Tree’s arms. At the end of the song, the Tree will bring his arms down, and whoever he catches will stand facing him and make the other half of the tree. When they catch someone, that person will become a new tree. The game goes on adding more and more trees until there’s one person remaining.
Some other ideas for Apple Tree could be:
- Play the steady beat on instruments
- Figure out how to play the first line on xylophones
- Create an ostinato to play while singing
- Turn this into an ABA pattern by adding in the “Apples, Peaches, Pears, and Plums” poem in between the song
Teaching Quarter and Eighth Notes
After they know the song and have played the game, I use Apple Tree to teach quarter and eighth notes. I’ll show them the iconic notation for the song. We’ll review beat vs. rhythm and then pat or stomp out the sounds of the words. I’ll have them explain why there are two apples on some of the words but only one tree on other words. Once they can tell me that it’s because there are two sounds versus only one sound, then I’ll show them the slide introducing quarter and eighth notes.
We practice quarter and eighth notes in several ways. We might start by patting or clapping the rhythm again, but this time noting how eighth notes feel versus quarter notes. We’ll do chair rhythms, where I put four chairs in front of the class and call on students to fill those chairs to create the rhythm pattern I say. We’ll play the song with rhythm sticks, focusing on how we play quick for eighth notes and longer for quarter notes.
Once we’ve practiced quarter and eighth notes, I’ll come back to the second and third lines of the song Apple Tree. We see that the words “I won’t” are eighth notes, but each word is one syllable. The fact that some words are only one syllable but get crammed together with another one-syllable word can be hard for young students to grasp, so we practice with that a lot. I’ll use their names as an example- “John” and “Ted” are only one syllable each and would be quarter notes on their own, but if I say them fast together while keeping a steady beat, they can make eighth notes.
Quarter and eighth notes are one of my favorite concepts to teach! For more ideas on how to teach quarter and eighth notes, click here. To see how I assess quarter and eighth notes, click here.
Teaching Do
When it’s time to talk about solfege, our Apple Tree song is perfect for teaching Do. The final note of the song is do, so it’s pretty obvious. To point this note out, I’ll give students beanbags and have them pass from hand to hand on the beat. On the last note, they’ll drop the bag on the ground. We can then talk about whether that note sounds like the others ones, and how it’s different. We’ll look at the solfege for the rest of the song, which uses mi-sol-la. This last note sounds much lower than that.
After we point out how much lower it sounds, we’ll play the song using Boomwhackers. Yes, the kids who get red only get one note, but I find that they usually don’t mind because they get the biggest Boomwhacker. You can alternate, too, so they get to play more than that last note. Showing them the solfege for Boomwhackers also shows them how much lower this new note looks.
Now that they’ve seen and heard the low note, we talk about what it’s called. I call this our “home base note.” It’s the note that the rest of the song is based around. This is also around the time where I show them the “Do-Re-Mi” video from The Sound of Music.
After we’ve learned Do, we’ll play Poison Pattern to practice. For this game, you’ll write a 4-beat solfege pattern on the board. That’s the poison pattern. Students will echo every pattern you sing, but if you sing that poison pattern and they echo you, they’re out! You can include challenges by adding more poison patterns, erasing the board so they have to remember it, or speeding up. You could even have students come up and be the leader. This could make it a great sub game if you teach it in advance!
Apple Tree is a great song to use in lower elementary music classes. I hope you got some fun, engaging ideas of how to use the folk song in your classroom!
Head over to Instagram and DM me (@caffeinated.j) with any questions you still have about using the Apple Tree folk song in your class, or let me know your favorite way to use it!
