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Pumpkin, Pumpkin

Pumpkin, pumpkin sitting on a wall
(have children sit down)

Pumpkin, pumpkin Trick or treat!!!

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh, my! Its getting late!"
The second one said, "There are witches in the air!"
The third one said, "But we don't care!"
The fourth one said, "Let's run, let's run!"
The fifth one said, "Its only Halloween fun."
Then woooooo went the wind, and
out went the light,
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Mr. Pumpkin
(tune: Where is Thumbkin)

Mr. Pumpkin,
Mr. Pumpkin,
Round and fat.
Round and fat.
Harvesttime is coming.
Harvesttime is coming.
Yum, yum, yum.
That is that!

Pumpkin Song
(tune: I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little pumpkin
Orange and round.
Here is my stem,
There is the ground.
When I get all cut up,
Don't you shout!
Just open me up
And scoop me out!

Pumpkin Song
(tune: Have You Ever Seen a Lassie?)

Have you ever seen a pumpkin,
a pumpkin, a pumpkin,
Have you ever seen a pumpkin,
that grows on a vine?
A round one, a tall one,
a bumpy one, a squashed one.
Have you ever seen a pumpkin,
that grows on a vine?

 


Mr. Pumpkin
(tune:  Where is Thumbkin)

Mr. Pumpkin, Mr. Pumpkin,
Eyes so round, eyes so round
Halloween is coming, Halloween is coming
To my town, to my town.

A pumpkin seed's a little thing.
When it's planted in the spring
But, oh, the fun it can bring.

At Halloween it turns into
A pumpkin pie for me and you
Or jack-o-lantern that says...
BOO!

Pick a pumpkin from the vine (pretend to pick a pumpkin) Pumpkin round, pumpkin fine
(make gesture big and round)
Pick a pumpkin from the vine (pretend to pick pumpkin)
Let's pick pumpkins!
(gesture, "Come with me!")
Pick a pumpkin from the vine (pretend to pick pumpkin)
You pick yours. I'll pick mine. (point to you and me)
Pick a pumpkin from the vine (pretend to pick pumpkin)
Let's pick pumpkins!
(gesture, "Come with me!)

The Pumpkins Are Here
(tune: The Farmer In The Dell)

The pumpkins are here; the pumpkins are there.
The pumpkins, the pumpkins are everywhere.

The pumpkins are up; the pumpkins are down.
The pumpkins, the pumpkins are all around.

The pumpkins are in; the pumpkins are out.
The pumpkins, the pumpkins are all about.

The pumpkins are low; the pumpkins are high.
The pumpkins, the pumpkins all say, "Good-bye!"

Pumpkin, pumpkin
Big and round
Pumpkin, pumpkin
On the ground.
With my finger
I will trace
A smile upon
Your orange face.

I picked a pumpkin,
A big fat pumpkin,
That was growing on a vine,
I carved a jack-o-lantern,
And it turned out just fine!

Pumpkin Pumpkin
by Jeanne Titherington

It's Pumpkin Time
by Zoe Hall

Apples and Pumpkins
by Anne Rockwell

The Biggest Pumpkin Ever
by Steven Kroll

Picking Apples And Pumpkins
by Amy Hutchings

Pumpkin Circle :
The Story of a Garden
by George Levenson

Patty's Pumpkin Patch
By Teri Sloat

Too Many Pumpkins
by Linda White

The Pumpkin Patch
by Elizabeth King

Big Pumpkin
by Erica Silverman

Shared Reading
Here's a Shared Reading Activity to extend Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jean Titherington

Pumpkin story wheel: Because of the story's cyclical format a perfect activity is making a story wheel. Start with a circle and divide it into eight sections. In each section write part of the story. You will have to combine some of the pages. Students will illustrate the sections and then cut out the wheel. Fasten to paper plate in the middle with a brad. You can use orange styrofoam plates available this time of year, but white paper plates work too. The children can color the edges with crayon. Staple a piece of green or brown construction paper to be the stem.  Read the story wheel together by reading the section that is by the stem and then turning the wheel so that the next section is on top.

Guided Reading
Try this as a Guided Reading Activity

Laminate orange construction paper
Buy 4x6 adhesive magnetic sheets for photos (2 packs or 3 sheets)
Attach magnetic sheets to orange paper 1 sheet should do 2 pumpkins
Use a die cutter to cut out 6 pumpkin shapes
On 5 of the pumpkins write __ump
On the last pumpkin write ___ump__ __ __
Get magnetic letters: b, p, p, d, h, l, d, k, i, n

To introduce the lesson:
Read the book Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Show students the magnetic pumpkins and the letters
Tell them that the letters u,m,p say ump and they are going to try to make some "ump" words.Let students try to use a letter to make a word.  Continue until you have completed all but the last pumpkin. Let students try to guess what word the left over letters will make and let them experiment to see if they made a real word.   Continue until someone correctly spells pumpkin.
Sing this poem:
(tune: I'm a little tea pot)
I'm a little pumpkin fat and round
Growing in the cornfield on the ground
I'll be a jack o'lantern with two big eyes
Or maybe I'll be baked into some pies
Then put the pumpkins and letters on a small magnetic board
Put all in a ziplock bag and add it to the ABC center.

Independent Reading
Many class books can be made for Independent Reading.  Try these ideas:

I Like Pumpkins
Each page contains a page with various colored shapes designed to look like pumpkins. For example, the text on the page may read, "I like red triangle pumpkins." It is an easy pattern which helps build the children's confidence about reading

Pumpkin Book
Page 1 "Pumpkin, pumpkin big and round."
(finger-paint a pumpkin, cut and glue on page with words)
Page 2 "I'm glad that you grow on the ground."
(cut out 4 small pumpkins,add yarn vine on page with words)
Page 3 "I'm glad that you don't grow in a tree."
(precut trunk and fall leaves, glue on orange pumpkins on page with words)
Page 4 "'Cause then you might fall down on me."
(draw self with bump on head and pumpkin broken on the ground on page with words)

How a Pumpkin Grows

Use paper plates as the pages.  For the cover, sponge paint the plate orange.  After the orange paint dries, the children use black paint to design a face.  (You can also have them cut and glue black construction paper shapes to make a face.)  The inside pages have sentence strips and representations to show the pumpkin life cycle.

Page 1-  See the seed.  
(Glue on pumpkin seeds.)
Page 2-  See the flower. 
(Glue yellow tissue paper flower shape.)
Page 3-   See the vine.
(Use green crepe paper for the vine.)
Page 4-  See the small pumpkin. 
(Glue on a small green pumpkin shape.)
Page 5-  See the big pumpkin. 
(Glue on large pumpkin in orange felt.)
Page 6-  See the pumpkin pie! 
(Glue on picture of student eating pumpkin pie.)

   *Make books over several days*

Shared Writing

Create a list of "Pumpkin Investigations":
1. How many creases does the pumpkin have?
2. How much does the pumpkin weigh?
3. How many seeds does it have?
4  Will the pumpkin float or sink?
5. What is inside the pumpkin?
6  Are pumpkins mostly full or mostly empty?
On a pumpkin-shaped chart, write words describing pumpkins; external descriptors are written outside the pumpkin outline, internal descriptors are written inside the outline.  

Extension: Each student is given a pumpkin booklet, made of 2 orange die-cut pumpkin shapes.  
On the front is a label: (Name) knows pumpkins outside ...
On the inside is a label: and inside!  
Students write/copy descriptive words on the outside and inside of their booklets. They can add seeds and orange/yellow yarn on the inside, too.

Interactive Writing

Students will be given a picture of a pumpkin with the heading "P is for Pumpkin and …" They will find 6 words in the room that start like pumpkin, and write them in the pumpkin.

Independent Writing

*Draw a pumpkin growing on a vine.
*Draw a jack o' lantern.
*Draw something bigger than a pumpkin.

Estimation

1. Estimate How much your pumpkin weighs, check your guess with teddy bear counters.

2. Estimate how many seeds are in the class pumpkin, graph the estimate. Count the seeds to see who was the closest. Guess how many cups your seeds will fill. Measure with unifix cubes how long your seeds will line up on the floor.

3. Estimate the circumference of your pumpkin. Have each child cut a piece of string that they think will go all the way around the pumpkin. Check the strings.

4.  Draw a large simple pumpkin with 3 vines twisting about. The task is for each student to estimate the length of each vine in centimeters, record, then using tape measures, find the actual length of each vine. Record.

Measurement

*Measure the height of the pumpkin with unifix cubes and other math manipulatives.

*Measure the circumference of the pumpkin with a piece of yarn.

*Weigh the pumpkin using a balance scale.

Sorting and Comparing

*Sort pumpkins by color, stem, size, weight, etc.

*Compare pumpkins to gourds and squash.

*Draw a Venn diagram (draw one "circle" to look like a pumpkin and the other to look like an apple.) The task is for the students to compare and contrast apples and pumpkins. They record one comparison and one contrast fact on their record sheet.

Graphing

*Let the children vote on what kind of face to carve on the pumpkin by creating a graph.  Have the students place a pumpkin sticker or small picture of a pumpkin that they drew next to the kind of face they wanted on the pumpkin (scary, silly, or happy--etc.).

*Have the children design a face for their pumpkin.  Make a picture graph of the different types of faces.

*Make a list of other fruits and vegetables that grow on vines and have a taste test, graph which you liked the best.

More Math Ideas

*Make pumpkin patterns: small, big, small, big or stem, no stem, stem, no stem, etc.

*Buy a large pumpkin to use for the pumpkin unit. Use a ball of yarn and unwind it.  The children each take turns guessing the circumference of the pumpkin and cutting a piece of yarn to match it. Place 3 index cards on the board- too short, too long, and just right. As each student guesses,   wrap the yarn around "Mr. Pumpkin" and see which category each falls into. After all have finished, count to see which category has the most, least, etc.

Art Center
  ~Paint a paper plate orange.  Add a face and stem
~Blend with fingers colors yellow and red to make orange.
~Get small fresh pumpkins and cut in half. Let the children dip the pumpkin halves in paint to make prints.
~Design jack-o-lantern faces on paper or real pumpkins.

Science

~Observe and record observations of pumpkin seeds growing in ziplock bags
~Get real pumpkin and cut open
~Record observations of a real pumpkin
~Smell inside pumpkin.
~Reach in and 'scoop' the seeds out.
~Taste raw pumpkin.
~Talk about the way it feels, smells and tastes.

Story Tellers

Retell favorite pumpkin stories, songs, and poems using flannel board, books, and charts.

After reading "Five Little Pumpkins", have each child make five jack-o-lanterns out of orange paper. Then glue a fence on black paper using popsicle sticks. Also add five small pieces of Velcro above the fence and on the back of each pumpkin. The children can retell the story with picture.

Math

~Count with pumpkin seeds
~Sort different shaped pumpkins.
~Pattern pumpkin seeds right side up, right side down, right side up, right side down, etc.
~Match pumpkin seed sets to numerals.  Program plain pumpkins with the numbers 1-10.  Encourage students to put the correct number of seeds on each pumpkin.
~Use a sheet with a pumpkin form on it. How many seeds will it take to cover your pumpkin?

Writing

~Create individual pumpkin stories.  Have stamp pads available for creating fingerprint pumpkins
~Make pumpkin shape books.
~Make books for the letter Pp.
~Put out a big, medium and small pumpkin in a center. Also put a scale, bear counters, paper and a magnify glass out also. The kids can use the scale and magnifying glass to help them write down words on the paper to describe each pumpkin.

The Pumpkin Seed Story

To make a pumpkin shaped book, fold an orange piece of 12"x18" construction paper so there are four sections.  While it is folded, cut out a pumpkin shape (but do not cut along the fold!)  Open it up and you will have 4 paper-doll style pumpkins.  Have the child draw a vine across all four sections.  In the first section, glue a seed.   In the second section, glue yellow tissue paper to form a flower.  In the third section sponge paint a green circle.  In the fourth section, "knuckle paint" a pumpkin.  Decorate cover, and draw a face on the back to make a jack-o-lantern.

Paper Bag Pumpkins

1. Have students paint brown paper bags with orange paint. Provide a variety of sizes for them to choose from (lunch and grocery store sizes).
2. Provide students with pre cut squares, circles and triangles to choose from for eyes, noses, and mouths.
3. Stuff paper bags with newspaper and close them with green pipe cleaners.
4. Twist the end of the pipe cleaners to create vines.
5. Display your pumpkins on a bale of hay in the classroom

From Seed to Fruit

Make a book to show how a pumpkin goes from seed to fruit. Use real pumpkin seeds, coffee grinds for "dirt" and raffia for vines.

Felt Pumpkin

Cut pumpkin from orange felt. Have variety of black felt shapes in box for features. Include, half circles, crescents, ovals, triangles, circles, and squares. Instruct children to make face of jack-o-lantern using particular shapes. For ex. "Decorate jack-o-lantern using 2 triangles for eyes, square for nose, and crescent for mouth." A variation is to draw several jack-o-lanterns models using outline of shapes for features. Child matches felt shapes to model.

Playdough

~Create pumpkins using orange playdough.~

Yummy, Yummy
Pumpkin Treats

You will need:
a pumpkin cookie cutter
bread
cream cheese
raisins
candy corn
cereal (like Cheerios)
orange food coloring.

1. Color the cream cheese orange with the food coloring.
2. Have each student press out their pumpkin on their slice of bread.
3. Spread the cream cheese on the bread.
4. Take 2 raisins and place them for eyes.
5. Take one candy corn and place it for the nose.
6. Count 5 Cheerios and place them in the shape of a mouth.
7. Eat and enjoy!

A Great Pumpkin Book

1. Encourage children to use their senses to describe the outside of the pumpkin & record their responses on the chart.  What does it feel like, smell like, look like, sound like, etc.?
2. Then, remove the pumpkin's lid and have the children observe & describe the inside of the pumpkin.
3. Give them the materials to make a pumpkin book.  It only needs to have a cover and 1 page.
4. Have the children record the descriptions of the outside of the pumpkin on the cover.
5. Have them record descriptions for the inside of the pumpkin on the inside cover.
6. On the white inside page, they may paste pumpkin seeds and yarn, and illustrate the inside of the pumpkin using crayons, construction paper, markers, etc.

Pumpkin Counting Book

Make a pumpkin counting book to "10 Little Pumpkins". Use the small chart seals.

Pumpkin Sense

Use the five senses to describe the pumpkin
It looks like________.  It feels like_______.  It smells like_____________. etc.

Pumpkin Pumpkin
by Jean Titherington

Kinder Korner

Plant a Pumpkin Seed ...
Watch it Grow

Kid Pix Ideas

Pumpkins at Enchanted Learning

Halloween & Pumpkin Themes