Hands On Pumpkin Science

It's pumpkin time!  I absolutely love this time of year.  Routines and procedures have been established and my kindergarteners are ready to dive head first into our science units.  Our pumpkin theme is spread out over two weeks in October but it could easily be done in just one.  The prep is minimal.  All you need are a few different pumpkins (many grocery stores will donate the funnier looking pumpkins to teachers!), a tub of water, something to measure with (we use linker cubes), and some carving tools.

Week 1

Investigating the Outside of the Pumpkin

We begin the unit by observing the outside of the pumpkin and talking about what we notice.  Students discuss size, shape, color, texture, temperature, similarities and differences, etc.

As all good scientists do, we record our observations and investigation results in our Pumpkin Journals.

We also count the ribs (lines) on the outside of the pumpkin and measure the height using linker cubes.

  

Then comes the real fun!  Will the pumpkin sink or float?  We always make a prediction before testing it out.

  

We also learn about the life cycle of a pumpkin.  I love these's Read and Find Out" books for science topics.

Week 2
Investigating the Inside of the Pumpkin

Students love to get their hands on their learning.  They can't wait to get inside the pumpkin to find out what's in there!  Estimating the number of seeds is always a ton of fun.  It's great for counting to 10 and skip counting.  We use counting mats to help us keep track.

  

It's amazing just how many seeds can be inside a pumpkin!

Last, we work on labeling the parts of the pumpkin that we find.

After 2 weeks of pumpkin fun, we celebrate by roasting pumpkin seeds!

You can find all of the activities and journal pages in my Pumpkin Science unit.

What are your favorite pumpkin activities?

This post contains affiliate links for Amazon. By purchasing an item on the Amazon site using these links, I will receive a small commission on your purchase.

0

Fall Math & Literacy Centers

Hooray! September is here.  I absolutely LOVE fall (and not just because I'm a fall baby).  There are so many fun themes this time of year...apples, seasons, pumpkins, just to name a few.  I love to incorporate our themes into all parts of our day.  My Fall Math & Literacy Centers do just that!

Here are a few of the activities that are included:

Apple Pickin' Rhymes

Fall Letter Match Up

Gobblin' Up Shapes

Apple Seed Count & Match

There are 10 activities in all, 5 for math and 5 for language arts.  Other skills covered in this resource are color words, ordering uppercase and lowercase letters, sentence building with sight words, non-standard measurement, numbers 0-20, and matching number to quantity to 10.  You can see the complete unit by clicking here!

How would you like to win a copy, just in time for fall!?!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

I've linked up with my friends Jennifer and Sara for Winner Wednesday!

All you have to do is enter the rafflecopter below!  Then head over to A Dab of Glue will Do or Sara J Creations to see some of the other fabulous products you can enter to win this month.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2

Primary Punchbowl Fall Blog Hop

Welcome to the Primary Punchbowl Fall Blog Hop!  If you've arrived via another member of The Punch Bunch, welcome!  If this is your first stop, you're in for a real treat!  

The air has become crisp, the leaves are changing color, and there is pumpkin everything everywhere!  #pumpkinaddict  I hope you'll find some fun ideas along the way, pick up some fantastic freebies, find some great sales, and enter to win some awesome prizes!

My favorite fall activity is our annual field trip to the pumpkin patch.  Living in a big city, our local pumpkin patch is brought in on trucks and set up in vacant lots.  But that doesn't mean it can't be magical for the kids!  There are pumpkins, a hay maze, and a hay ride, too!  

To get there, we always take public transit.  The kids have an absolute blast! (And the teachers are thoroughly exhausted!  Ha!)

My Kinders absolutely love write the room activities.  I'll take any chance I can to get them up and moving around the room.  We spend a lot of time working on numbers and using ten frames in October.  I created this Pumpkin Count the Room activity to celebrate the season.  You can get this freebie here or by clicking on the picture below!

Please be kind if you download and leave feedback!

But wait, there's more!  My four featured items on TpT are also on sale!  These items are 50% off from October 11th - October 18th!  You can see these units in my TpT store here.

 

You can also search TpT for all of the featured products on sale using #primarypunchbowlfallhop.

We're not done yet!  How'd you like to win some TpT cash?!  

Enter the Rafflecopter below to win a $10 gift card!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now hop around to the blogs below to collect some more ideas, freebies, and to enter the giveaways!  Don't forget to visit our new collaborate blog, The Primary Punchbowl, to enter an extra special giveaway!

An InLinkzLink-up

13

Five For Friday

Yay!  It's Friday! And it's a three day weekend.  We have Monday off for Indigenous Peoples Day (aka Columbus Day).  I'm really looking forward to the long weekend.  I'm excited to be linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday for the first time in a while.

We use FOSS kits for science in our district and this week was all about Trees!  We were busy observing trees, painting trees, learning about the parts of trees and what trees need to live.  I'd say my little scientists are now tree experts!

This week has also been all about writing numbers 0-9.  I absolutely LOVE these Number Construction sets from Learning Resources.  You can find them on Amazon here.

It's Fleet Week and our school is up high on a hill.  The Blue Angels fly right over the school during their practice runs.  The moment my Kinders hear the jets, all else stops.  So we headed outside to watch.  The giggles and shrieks of joy are so worth it.

We are getting ready for pumpkin week!  It's one of my favorite units to teach.  We will head to the pumpkin patch, explore pumpkins, eat pumpkin treats.  I might be more excited than the kids!  :)  We will be using the activities in my Pumpkin Science Unit that you can find on TpT here.

I am super excited to announce the launch of a new collaborative blog, The Primary Punchbowl!  Check back this Sunday for an exciting Fall Blog Hop where you can pick up some great freebies and enter exciting giveaways! 

Will you join us?

Head over to Doodle Bugs Teaching and see what everyone else has been up to this week.

3