A is for apple and acorn

I'm doing a co-op preschool with 3 other moms. I'll teach one week a month (two days that week). We don't have a curriculum, but we're going to try and focus on a letter for the day.  I started, and today was the first day, so A it was.

A is for Apple and acorn:

1. We started with a generic coloring sheet with an apple and Aa on it.
2.  I got out three real apples to compare and eat: yellow, green, and braeburn (for the red since I think red delicious are disgusting).  We talked about the colors, decided that they were cold, crunchy, and that they had seeds. I gave them each a "plan toy" wooden fruit or veggie and a butter knife to cut them apart (they have velcro in the middle) while I was cutting the real apples. They really enjoyed that and most tried to cut their real apple with the knife as well. I had them taste a slice of each one and tell me if it was sour or sweet. One of the boys kept talking about having to water apples so they can grow. 
3. After snack, we read the book Ten Red Apples.  I made a cardboard tree with numbered apples stuck to it with clothes pins to go with the book.  As the animals in the book ate an apple, one of the kids got to take an apple off our tree.  At the end I let them put them back. The clothes pins are really good for fine motor skills. It was kind of Montessori inspired. I didn't do anything with the numbers with the big group. Too crazy. But in the afternoon, Dean wanted to play with this again and we put the apples on in order from 1 to 10. He really liked the tree.
4. We sang "Apples, apple, apples" to the tune of  Peanut butter and Jelly. They all did the actions. (First you climb the ladder and you pick it, then wash it, then cut it. chorus. Then you take the apple and you bite it, chew it, and swallow it.
5. We had an apples and acorns sensory tub inspired by this fall sensory tub by No Time for Flash Cards.  I had two tubs so it would be 2 to a tub (though the 3 boys ended up playing in one with the girl having her own), and each kid had their own bowl to sort the apples and acorns into. This was a HIT. All of the kids loved it. Dean got bored of it first (though he did want to play with it again later that afternoon), but I swear the other kids could have played there another half hour or hour!  They hid the acorns under the beans, dug them out with their hands, spoons, tongs, etc.  I had one little boy hording acorns like a little squirrel.  One liked burying his hands and elbows under.  They were very cute.
6. I tried reading 10 Apples Up on Top, but Dean had a major melt down when he started putting the apples from our tree activity on his head and they wouldn't stay up there.
7. Last for the activities, we did the lowercase apple a activity from NTFFC. I would have had them play outside to change it up a bit, but it was POURING today.