Pumpkins Everywhere!

We’re learning all about pumpkins this week and the kids couldn’t be more thrilled!!  I thought I’d share some of the fun we’re having in case you’re knee deep in pumpkin seeds, too!

We started the week activating & growing our pumpkin schema.  We read a few fun non-fiction pumpkin books, gathered new learning, and added our little fact seeds to our pumpkin chart.  Did you know that pumpkins are fruit?!  That was a “are-you-for-real?!?!” moment for the kids. 

We followed up our new learning with a little apples vs. pumpkins venn diagram.  We reinforced a few key vocabulary words {similar, contrast, compare, alike, different} & used that verbiage while we talked about both.  The kids did such a GREAT job recalling facts. 

I read the book, “The Littlest Pumpkin” and had the kids wrote about why the littlest pumpkin felt disappointed.  They then made a text to self connection and wrote about a time they felt disappointed.  It’s much easier to articulate it than it is to write it down!  Especially at this time of the year!!!  All that to be said, I think my kids did a GREAT job….especially since they worked independently doing so! 

We were working on sequencing this week, so I put a little sequencing activity in the pocket chart & they had to sequence the life cycle of a pumpkin.  I found the real life pumpkin photos & they matched them to sentences that I typed up on the computer.  After they matched the pictures to the words & sequenced the steps, I had them finish a little life cycle sequencing worksheet to check for understanding.

My FAVORITE activity is one I’ve been doing for years….Pumpkin Investigations!  The kiddos got to measure the height and circumference of their pumpkin. They predicated if the pumpkin would sink or float……it floats!   We talked about using our 5 senses…minus the sense of taste…to observe the outside and inside of a pumpkin.  As each kiddo took a turn observing the outside of the pumpkin, I had him/her give me an adjective to describe their observation.   We created a word web and I wrote down all of the adjectives for the outside of the pumpkin in green.  Then we did the same thing for the inside of the pumpkin.  I cut it open and had the kids dig in and give me an adjective for what they felt/saw/smelled.  Then I wrote those words on the web in red.   They then put the seeds in groups of 10 and counted them.  Boy those pumpkins hold a lot of seeds!  Thank you to the parents who came in to help with this fun project!!!

 

Counting how many lines the pumpkin has.

 

Measuring the height and circumference of our pumpkins.

Our pumpkin floats!!!!

Getting all the seeds out......

 

 

 

 Counting the seeds.....there were lots of them!

 

.  We ended our fun pumpkin day by making our 3rd snazzy snack!  The kiddos got to put frosting on a rice cake and decorate it with candy corn and chocolate chips to make a face.  They did a great job!