Apple Orchard...Here we come!!!

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The theme of the lesson that I will be sharing with the students this upcoming week is "All about Apples". I've included a map with the different locations of apple orchards. This theme is designed for third graders.By using this map, I plan on showing the students which locations are most suitable for growing apples and discussing why. Looking at the map we notice that all the apple orchards in Michigan are in the Southeastern area. We also notice that they are all near a major highway(this is ideal for exporting apples). After an apple is separated from its tree, it has a certain amount of time to remain fresh before it begins to rot. It's important that the apples can get to their perspective consumers, markets, and factories in a timely fashion.I would probably pose a question to the students similar to the following: "If you were to run an apple orchard, looking at the locations of the other orchards where would yours be?". This would get the students thinking about convenience and competition. It will also plant seeds of leadership in their minds, they don't have to just work at a certain place in the future...but they could own it!!!Also, I would allow the students to find the apple orchard that we're visiting, and search the orchards website for anything they might consider interesting. They could also share the information with their parents and siblings to further share their field trip experience with others.