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September Themes for Kindergarten

Are you looking for a fun and easy way to bring more engagement to your daily lessons? Consider adding themed activities to your lesson plans for September!  In this post, I’m giving you a closer look at two of my favorite September themes for kindergarten.  These fun thematic units will get your students excited about learning through fun literacy activities, crafts, and math activities.

September Themes for Kindergarten

The Benefits of Thematic Units in Kindergarten

Thematic units can be a fun way to bring more engagement to your content area instruction. These themed activities can give your students a touch of seasonal fun as they practice reading, writing, math, and more! 

Two of my favorite September themes for kindergarten are apple and scarecrow themes. Keep reading for some fun things that you can do in your classroom with each of these themes!

Apple Theme for September

One of my favorite lesson themes for September is an apple theme! Apples go hand-in-hand with back-to-school season in early September but they also work well for some fall fun throughout the month.

Apple Literacy Activities

A fun way to incorporate apples into your literacy activities is to learn more about Johnny Appleseed!

All About Johnny Appleseed Flip Book

Students can create a fun flipbook to document what they’ve learned from listening to read-alouds about Johnny Appleseed.

Adding an apple below a picture of a tree

Students can also practice positional words with these themed activities with an apple twist!

Acting out positional words with an apple on a string

These activities are also great practice for students to follow directions, an important skill for brand new kindergarteners!

Apple Math Activities

In September, students are still getting the hang of number sense concepts like counting and number identification.  Bring some apple fun to your number sense practice with these activities!

Adding ten frames to a counting activity

Students can complete this page of apple-themed number sense activities. First, they will order numbers by putting the trees in order.  Then they will match the correct number of apples to each tree.  Finally, they will match a corresponding ten frame to each tree.

Adding fingerprints with red paint

Another fun apple math activity is apple thumbprint counting!  Students will practice one-to-one correspondence as they add the correct number of fingerprint apples next to each number.

Apple Taste Test

An apple theme wouldn’t be complete without a taste test!  After giving students a chance to taste different varieties of apples, have your students vote for their favorite.  

Favorite apple graphing

Students can practice their graphing skills as they complete a class graph that represents the votes. There is also space for them to interpret the data.

Writing about my favorite apple

You can also bring some literacy practice to this apple tasting activity!  Students can write and illustrate a simple sentence about their favorite apple.

Apple Crafts

You can incorporate even more learning with these hands-on apple crafts!

A completed diagram craft of the parts of an apple

First, students can learn about the parts of an apple as they complete this apple labeling craft.  Students will assemble the apple and apply the labels to the correct part of the apple.

3D apple life cycle craft

Your class will also love learning about the apple life cycle as they assemble this fun 3D apple craft! Each side of the apple represents a different stage of the apple life cycle.

A completed Johnny Appleseed craft

If your students loved the fingerprint apples during math time, they’ll love to repeat the fun with this Johnny Appleseed craft! 

Scarecrow Theme for September

As the weather cools down and our thoughts start to turn to all things fall, a scarecrow theme is just the ticket for a unit study!

Scarecrow Literacy Activities

Read-alouds are important all year long, but they are especially helpful at the beginning of the year.  There are so many things that your students can learn from read-alouds!

A lift-the-flap sequencing activity

Your class can practice sequencing as you read “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything.” They can complete this fun lift-the-flap sequencing activity to put the parts of the pumpkin scarecrow in order. 

A problem and solution lift the flap activity

Another great read-aloud for a scarecrow unit is ”The Scarecrow’s Hat” by Ken Brown. You can use this story to practice the concept of problem and solution. Your students can match problem and solution graphics in a lift-the flap activity.

Completing an All About Scarecrows graphic organizer

Finally, you can read a variety of nonfiction books to help students learn more about scarecrows. They can document what they have learned about scarecrows on a graphic organizer. 

Scarecrow Math Activities

Scarecrows can also serve as inspiration for math practice in your classroom!

Adding crows to a counting mini book

Your students can practice counting on with this scarecrow reader. Each page has a number of crows and students will add the correct number of crow cards to get to six.

A completed more and less activity

As your students continue to practice counting, they can also explore the concept of more and less. Students will count two groups of crows, write the number, and then decide which group has more and which has less.

Putting seven crows in order on a fence

Students can also order numbers and then write a simple sentence to show how many crows they have.

Scarecrow Crafts

The graphic organizer that your students created can be helpful as they assemble a scarecrow craft.

A completed scarecrow flipbook craft

The adorable scarecrow will hold a flipbook with facts they have learned from reading nonfiction books together as a class.

A scarecrow craft made of 2D shapes, along with a graphing activity

This fun scarecrow craft incorporates shape and graphing practice!  After creating a scarecrow from a variety of 2D shapes, students can complete a graphing activity to show how many of each shape they have.

September Thematic Unit Bundle

Would you like to add some thematic fun to your classroom this September? All of the activities mentioned above (and MANY more!) can be found in one easy-to-download bundle of September thematic units. You’ll find everything you need to help your students practice a variety of literacy, math, and fine motor skills throughout the month of September. Just head over to the A Spoonful of Learning shop or TPT to take a closer look at everything included in this bundle!

September Units - Click Here to Shop My Website
September Units - Click Here to Shop My TPT Store

Save These September Themes for Kindergarten

If you’d like to come back to these September themes later, be sure to save this post! Just add the pin below to your favorite board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find these thematic units when you’re putting together your September lesson plans.

September Themes for Kindergarten