Poking Around in Pumpkin Patches

This lesson focuses on pumpkins and incorporates two interesting trade books. The first one is called “Pumpkin Circle” by George Levenson, and the second one is “The Pumpkin Book” by Gail G... See More

This lesson focuses on pumpkins and incorporates two interesting trade books. The first one is called “Pumpkin Circle” by George Levenson, and the second one is “The Pumpkin Book” by Gail Gibbons. The article contains some background information on pumpkins and provides two different lesson plans. One is for grades K-3 and is called “Pumpkin Exploration”. The children basically dissect the pumpkin as they learn about the parts and their functions. The young students practice their observation skills as they record what they notice. The 4th through 6th grade lesson is called “Pumpkin Math” and starts out open-ended where students are invited to pose their own questions that they might want to investigate. One of the questions was about whether a pumpkin would sink or float. The article shares a data table for students to use to collect measurement data on their pumpkins. Read the article to find out what other kinds of questions the children asked as they actively engaged in pumpkin science!