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Watson celebrates Johnny Appleseed
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Watson second-graders attended their Sept. 23 Johnny Appleseed presentation wearing paper hats festooned with apples. The hats were meant to resemble the pot that Appleseed often has perched on his head in pictures. The second-graders are Stevie Pateras (left), Krista Capito, Chad Fullum, and Anthony Patino.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Watson second-grader Cole Corey (left) helped Ron Johnson sing the tune "This Little Light of Mine."
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Ron Johnson, who teaches history at Austintown Middle School, visited Watson Elementary on Sept. 26 in character as Ezechiel Johnson, a traveling buddy of folk hero Johnny Appleseed. During his presentation, Johnson had to reach deep into his bag, pulling out cloth, pans, and tools along the way, to find a juicy green apple.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Ron Johnson added his own twist to traditional songs during his exploration of Johnny Appleseed. He spelled out the word apple to the tune of "Bingo" and added apples to the story of "Yankee Doodle."
By SARAH FOOR
Ron Johnson made a quick costume change on Sept. 26.
As he left work at Austintown Middle School, he was simply a history teacher. By the time he arrived at Watson Elementary that afternoon, he was Ezechiel Johnson, a traveling mate of the famous folk hero Johnny Appleseed.
The visit from Johnson was part of a second-grade unit, organized by teacher Chrissy Palmer, exploring the life of Appleseed and the celebration of his Sept. 26 birthday. Watson’s second-grade teachers taught their students about Appleseed’s passion for living simply and plenty about his favorite fruit.
Johnson visited the second-graders dressed in a frontiersman outfit and shared stories of Johnny Appleseed’s childhood and subsequent fame for planting apple orchards, many of which were in north-central Ohio.
“Johnny, who I knew as John Chapman, was an odd man. He didn’t care for material goods. He wore mismatched clothes and shoes and sometimes had a pot perched atop his head as a hat,” shared Johnson, in character as Ezechiel.
Johnson had the second-graders explore the many different ways to eat apples, including a fresh bite, in baked goods, as juice or cider, candied or caramelized, or as apple butter.
To close, Johnson sang familiar tunes with a twist, playing guitar and singing “Bingo” but instead spelling out “Apple” and inserting the crisp fruit in the story of “Yankee Doodle.”
Johnson also sang “Happy Birthday” to second-grader Shiama Duecaster, who celebrated her birthday on the same day as Appleseed.
“It’s cool to have a birthday on the same day as someone so famous who did lots of good things,” shared Duecaster.