NAME: Melissa Suffield

TITLE: Pumpkin, Pumpkin

AGE LEVEL (S): 1st-2nd grades

TEACHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Everybody is at least a little familiar with pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, and activities that might originate from these items. Farmers grow and harvest pumpkins for people to have enjoyment from them, such as making pumpkin pie or carving them for Halloween. What the students need to realize is that there are many activities that can go along with a pumpkin unit, especially one that is based on a book about the particular subject. The idea behind this unit is for the students to have fun and complete a project that they might not have ever thought of.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: After listening and/or reading the story, "Pumpkin, Pumpkin," the students will complete activities that will further their knowledge of the growing life of a pumpkin and the different ways pumpkins can benefit us educationally and physically.

1. Objectives:
   1. The students will increase their science knowledge by observing the growing cycle of a beginning pumpkin sprout, a larger pumpkin sprout, and the harvesting of pumpkins.
   2. The students will also become aware of how local farmers get income by growing pumpkins. The students will also learn how we eventually see pumpkins in a grocery store or in a fruit stand.
   3. The students will further their mathematical skills by estimating and counting pumpkin seeds. The students will also become acquainted with weight by weighing their pumpkins.
   4. The students will increase their art skills by painting on pumpkins and making paper pumpkins for display.
   5. The students will learn how pumpkins can be important to our nutritional diet by participating in baking pumpkin bread and deciding how pumpkin bread can be a part of our diet.
2. List of Materials:
   1. For Science Activity One: Pumpkin seeds, paper cups, potting soil, popsicle sticks(for labeling), and pumpkin shaped journals
   2. For Science Activity Two: One large pumpkin sprout to be used for observation
   3. For Social Studies Activity One: Permission from a local pumpkin farmer to visit the pumpkin field and for each student to be able to have one pumpkin, transportation to and from a local pumpkin field
   4. For Social Studies Activity Two: Interview with a pumpkin farmer to find out information about farming pumpkins
   5. For Math Activity One: One large pumpkin, one sharp carving knife, one large spoon, paper towels, old newspapers, pumpkin stickers
   6. For Math Activity Two: One bathroom scale, the pumpkins the students picked out at the pumpkin farm
   7. For Art Activity One: Paint sets and brushes for each student, pumpkins the students have already picked out
   8. For Art Activity Two: 10 pumpkin patterns, 1 piece of orange paper for each student, scissors, crayons
   9. For Nutrition Activity One: Ingredients for Pumpkin Bread(recipe listed in references), baking pan, spoons, availability to an oven
   10. For Nutrition Activity Two: Food pyramid chart
   11. For Culminating Activity: Halloween video, Halloween treats such as cookies
3. List of References:
   1. For the Teacher:
      1. Howlett, Martha P. The Weekly Reader Anytime Activity Book. Middletown, Connecticut: Weekly Reader Books, 1983, p. 11.
      2. Miller, Bob and Sue. Ammish Country Cookbook-Vol.II. Newton: Bethel Publishing, 1986, p. 110.
      3. Raines, Shirley C. and Canady, Robert J. More Story Stretchers-More Activities to Expand Children's Favorite Books. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994, pp. 112-113.
      4. Schweninger, Ann. Autumn Days. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1991.
      5. Titherington, Jeanne. Pumpkin, Pumpkin. New York: Mulberry Press, 1986.

      For the Students:

      1. "Pumpkin, Pumpkin" by Jeanne Titherington. Summary: A little boy named Jamie plants a pumpkin seed and watches it grow from a sprout until it is a huge pumpkin. He then carves the pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern. Jamie also saves six pumpkin seeds to plant again in the spring.
4. Content Related Words:
   1. Estimate: To guess how close something is to its actual number or amount.
   2. Fertilizer: A material that makes something, such as a plant, grow faster or better.
   3. Food Pyramid: A chart showing how many servings of food groups we need in our diet to stay healthy.
   4. Harvest: The process of gathering a crop, possibly to sell at a later time.
   5. Income: Money that is received for work or selling a product.
   6. Nutrition: Eating foods that would make your body stay in healthy shape.
   7. Pumpkin: A large, yellow-orange fruit having a thick outside layer and many seeds.
5. Projects and Activities for Students:
   1. Science Activity One: The students will plant 2-3 pumpkin seeds in a medium sized paper cup that is half filled with potting soil. The teacher will write each student's name on a popsicle stick so there is no confusion as to whose cup is whose. The students will then write down in a pumpkin shaped journal the results that they see every day for one week. The students will be able to take the cups home by Halloween and hopefully all of the pumpkin seeds will have sprouted by then.
   2. Science Activity Two: The students will also observe a more mature pumpkin sprout and record the results they see from that plant every day for one week.
   3. Social Studies Activity One: The class will go on a field trip to a local pumpkin field after receiving permission from the farmer. While there, the farmer could simply tell the students how pumpkins are planted, fertilized, and then harvested.
   4. Social Studies Activity Two: The second activity will be for the farmer to try and tell the class how much income can be received when harvesting the pumpkins and selling them. The class will also find out how the pumpkins get from the field to the grocery stores or fruit stands where people eventually buy them. The students will also be able to take a pumpkin back to the school for a later activity. The teacher will also need to get a pumpkin to complete math activity one.
   5. Math Activity One: For this activity, the teacher will have one large pumpkin in the classroom so the students can see it and get an idea of the size of it. The teacher will then ask the students to try and estimate how many seeds are inside the pumpkin. Everyone will write down his or her number and be sure to not show anyone. The teacher will then carve the pumpkin, scoop out the contents of the pumpkin, and put all the seeds into a pile on the newspaper. The class will then together count all of the seeds and see whose answer came the closest to the actual number. The winner or winners will then get a pumpkin sticker, but the rest of the class will get a sticker later.
   6. Math Activity Two: The teacher will bring a bathroom scale to the classroom and each student will get to weigh his or her pumpkins on the scale. The purpose is for the students to get an idea of how much an object weighs and how size can be a factor in the weight of the object.
   7. Art Activity One: The students will be able to paint a face on the pumpkins they brought from the pumpkin field. After the pumpkins are painted, the class could put the pumpkins on display in the school hallway or in the windowsill of the classroom.
   8. Art Activity Two: The students will receive and have to share pumpkin patterns that they will trace onto orange construction paper. The students will cut the outline out, draw a face onto the pumpkin, and then the completed pumpkins will be displayed on a bulletin board in the classroom.
   9. Nutrition Activity One: For this activity, everyone in the class will help mix up the pumpkin bread ingredients by being assigned a special duty, such as stirring or adding an ingredient. After the ingredients are mixed, the teacher will then take the mixture home and bake it. The next day, the completed project will be brought back to the classroom and the students will get to eat a piece of the bread. There will also be a class discussion to see who likes and dislikes the bread and why.
   10. Nutrition Activity Two: The teacher will display the food chart and explain the food groups and how many servings of each food group people are supposed to eat every day. The class will then decide what food group the pumpkin bread would fulfill in our daily diet and how many servings it could count as.
6. Culminating Activity:  
   1. The activity that would finish this unit is a movie party. The students will be able to watch a Halloween video since this unit will be completed around the time of Halloween. The students can also have Halloween treats, such as cookies.
7. Evaluation:

   A. The teacher will grade the students pumpkin result journals to see if the students recorded results every day. Completion of the science objective will be met if the students write the results they see every day.

   B. The teacher will grade the students on the social studies objective by recording the participation of the students on the field trip. If a student is not able to go on the field trip, that will be taken into consideration.

   C. The students will complete the math objective by participating in the estimation activity and in the pumpkin weighing activity.

   D. The students will complete the art objective by painting on the pumpkin and making the pumpkin patterns for display.

   E. The students will fulfill the nutrition objective by helping mix the pumpkin bread and helping the class decide where pumpkin bread fits on the food pyramid chart.