Johnny Appleseed

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Barbara J. Feldman

Born John Chapman (1774 - 1847), Johnny Appleseed was a pioneering American nurseryman best known for planting orchards of apple trees in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Today's websites include a mix of craft sites for kindergarten and early elementary grades, and a couple of biography sites for older students researching school reports.

Apple Appetite: Johnny Appleseed

3 stars

I chose this particular Johnny Appleseed bio page because it goes beyond the usual tall tale, and includes some interesting links. My favorite click is to a photo reproduction of a "Harper's New Monthly Magazine" article written just twenty-six years after Chapman's death. You'll find it in the More Details section. "The first reliable trace of our modest hero finds him in the Territory of Ohio, in 1801, with a horse-load of apple seeds."

About Homeschooling: Johnny Appleseed Printables

5 stars

Beverly Hernandez, the About.com guide to Homeschooling, has created ten printable Johnny Appleseed activity sheets, including a word search puzzle, a crossword puzzle, an alphabet activity, a tic-tac-toe game, a coloring page and more. Below the list of ten printables, you'll find links to related topics, such as an Apple Thematic Unit, Apple Crafts, and Apple Recipes. Other themes and holidays can be found under the Holidays and Seasons link in the left-hand menu.

DLTK: Apples and Johnny Appleseed Crafts and Coloring

5 stars

DLTK is my pick-of-the-day for Johnny Appleseed crafts and apple activities. Here are just a few of the creative ideas you'll find at DLTK: a Johnny Appleseed song (with sheet music and lyrics in both English and Spanish), apple coloring pages, apple-themed printable note pages, an apple poem for parents, a paper mache apple pencil holder, and a list of apple sayings. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."

Vermont Weathervane: Johnny Appleseed

4 stars

"Besides appleseed, Johnny planted seeds of many medicinal herbs in the woods through which he traveled. Doctors were few and far between in the wilderness, and Johnny wished to make up for this lack as far as he could." This one-page Johnny Appleseed biography from "Vermont Weathervane" magazine will be useful for researching school reports, and of interest to high school students and grownups.

Vicki Blackwell: Johnny Appleseed's Birthday

4 stars

Been thinking about making an orgami Johnny Appleseed? Vicki Blackwell has folding instructions and a downloadable template that make it look quite easy. But she doesn't stop there. She follows with dozens of Johnny Appleseed site recommendations, and dozens of places to find apple-themed classroom projects. If you take the time to plow through them all, you'll be rewarded with a printable Jonny Appleseed quiz, the history of apples, and the story of "The Little Red House With No Doors, No Windows and a Star Inside."