Pumpkin Investigation

Hey there Pumpkin! :)

Hope your day was as fun and filled with learning as mine was! (This week my pumpkin learning was a lot less stinky)

Today we had a great time learning about pumpkins and doing our Pumpkin Investigation! I actually got this idea from a great mentor teacher in college. Tammi was one of those teachers who changed your life! She taught me so much in such a short amount of time... so this post is dedicated to Tammi!

Well, you can't have a Pumpkin Investigation without a

fabulous pumpkin outfit! :) I found this baby at goodwill

and HAD to have it! Bringing back the vest! lol

The investigation started with 2 pumpkins!

our pumpkin & the pumpkin

Looking at these pumpkins and pulling from our schema,

we filled out the Old Information & Questions sections

in our schema folders. I completed a class folder while the students 

filled out their individual schema folder. (The free file is on my TPT)

Here is the inside of the student schema folder

Here are some student samples

We read this great book called how many seeds in a pumpkin?

It is an AMAZING book that gives some great information about how

to count the seeds, and how you can guess which pumpkin will have more seeds!

Next, it was time to get busy! We got to put our hands into the pumpkin

and pull out the seeds and pulp! What a mess... but lots of fun!

Once the seeds were all rinsed off we counted our seeds by 2's, 5's, and 10's

Then, I wanted to talk with the students about being a Scientist!

We read this book and went through the I am a Scientist song and

powerpoint from Dr. Jean. We discussed making a hypothesis.

We came up with a hypothesis based around the idea that our pumpkin

would have more seeds because it was bigger.

Then, we came up with another hypothesis that the pumpkin would

have more seeds because it is darker orange and has more lines. 

Then, we read Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden.

If you have not read this book to your students it is a MUST! The

vocabulary is AMAZING! We were able to do a word hunt for adjectives!

To end the day the students got to read and color their own 

Pumpkin life cycle books. I made these quick for my class this weekend.

The file is also free on my TPT! 

Thank you for stoping by! Happy pumpkin fun to you!

Fall into fun with Storybook Character Day!

I am beyond excited for Storybook Character Day!

There are 2 main reasons I am so excited!

First Things First

I created this Common Core Aligned, 

Storybook Character Day unit 

and I am really excited about it! 

I cannot wait to spend an entire day talking

about characters - interviewing characters - comparing characters

- learning about new characters - and reading lots of really great books!

Click on the picture below to find it in my TPT store

It includes an easy to use parent letter

with two options

 Plenty of sheets for the students to write about their character

 An interviewing sheet that is appropriate for primary grades

and several different reflection sheets for the students to 

write about what they learned on Storybook Character Day!

I also provided a list of the standards that this unit ties into

Storybook Character Day is going to be a lot of fun!

The Second Reason 

I am SOOO excited.. is because 

I am going to be dressing up as my favorite character as well!

My favorite Character is Lilly - from the Kevin Henkes books

I searched the internet high and low to find a picture of a costume to get ideas. The best one I could find was this one from a play. If you click the picture it will take you to the article about the play! It is pretty interesting!

so being a thrifty lady (I wish) - I headed to the Goodwill

and I found this purple purse for $2!

Then I got to work this morning creating a headband with ears and a crown, but

I need more white felt - so the pictures of that will be posted once it is done!

Now for the big debate! I want to paint my old cowgirl boots red with a yellow star. 

My Husband thinks I am a crazy woman and says no.

I need your support on this one! Should I do it?? I am thinking about going to the craft store today to get paint! I feel like I will wear them more each year dressing up as Lilly, than I will wear them as they are now! (I had to dust them off before I took this picture!)

So that is all I have for now.. 

but if you missed the pumpkin freebie yesterday, make sure to check it out today!

Happy Sunday!

Click on the picture below to find it in my TPT store