Johnny Appleseed & Apples Lapbook

                           

*Johnny Appleseed images drawn by Breezy Tulip for HSS
Minit books by Ami

Links ~ More Printables!
Apple Tree Through the Seasons Printable
Apple Cycle Sequence Cards
Johnny Appleseed Hidden Pictures
Apple Tree Through the Seasons Craft from Hubbard's Cupboard
Apple Printable Pages from US Apple
Apple Math Book from Hubbard's Cupboard

The book, Who was Johnny Appleseed? includes a Family Tree picture as well as a timeline (in the back).  Both of these would be nice additions to your lapbook (to photocopy and include).

Library List

Who Was Johnny Appleseed by Joan Holub
Johnny Appleseed by Reeve Lindbergh
Johnny Appleseed (A Tall Tale Retold) by Steven Kellogg
The Story of Johnny Appleseed by Aliki
How do Apples Grow?  by Betsy Maestro
The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons

Johnny Applseed Biography
~contributed by Lisa H.

His real name was John Chapman born on September 26, 1774 in Boston, MA and died on February 18, 1845 in Fort Wayne, IN.  (Some accounts report he died in 1847.)  He spent 50 years planting apple seeds in the Midwest, which at that time was the new frontier and full of pioneers trying to settle the land.  Johnny Appleseed cared about the new men and women of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennslyvania and Ohio.  He never wanted them to go hungry nor feel discontent. 

Johnny’s appearance made him an easy to spot man:
He wore no shoes.
He wore old clothes that were often old coffee sacks with holes cut for his arms and legs
He wore a tin cooking pot on his head.
He carried a Bible and several other books with him.

As strange as he may have looked, the appleseed man was kind to animals.
When Johnny would come across a farm or house were the animals were not being taken care of or were neglected, he would offer to trade for them.  Most of the time he used appleseeds.  When Johnny would come to a wooded area or forest, he would search for any animals that might have strayed or ran away from bad people.  He would care for them and take them with him on his travels.  When he came to a farm with people who would promise to love the animal and take care of an animal, he would leave it there.

As strange as he may have looked, the appleseed man was kind to people.
Many of the new frontier people were poor, but Johnny didn’t want them to grow hungry.  Often he would give the appleseed away. Some were able to trade old clothes for the seed.   He also wanted people to read.  He would give books to people who really wanted them.  When the number of books he had became low, he would leave a chapter of a book. 

As strange as he may have looked, the appleseed man cared about his plants.
Johnny appleseed travelled over 100,000 sqaure miles and distributed bushels of appleseed.  But he did not just throw it here and there.  When Johnny Appleseed travelled down the Ohio River, he would stop and look for dirt that the appleseed could grow in.  After planting, he made fences with bushes and branches so deer and other animals couldn’t eat the little plants.  He also remember where he planted orchards and each year would visit them and prune the trees. 

In Johnny Appleseed’s dream, there were blossoming apple trees everywhere and no one went hungry.  He worked hard and long to see that dream become real.