1-2-3 Come Do Some More Pumpkin Activities With Me

“Show Me the Number” is a super-fun, “print & go” booklet, which will help students practice a variety of standards that involve numbers 1-10, as well as 2D shapes.

The pumpkin’s eyes have these shapes:

circle, oval, triangle, square, rectangle, hexagon, pentagon, octagon, rhombus and trapezoid.

I’ve included the latter shapes, as we do a lot of activities with pattern blocks.

Having different eye shapes, makes things more interesting and allows you to cover another standard. Woo hoo!

So that you can diversify your lesson, I’ve also provided two booklet options.

There are 6 pattern pages, with 2 pages on a one-page pattern; which provides a “just the right size” booklet for children to make.

I have a room helper run off, cut and collate the booklets for me.

On the first day, my students color the cover, write their name at the bottom and do pumpkin #1.

When they’re done, I collect the booklets, then pass them out the next day, when they complete pumpkin #2.

You can also space things out, and do every other day.

This is a quick, easy and fun “table top” activity for my young fives.

Since the prep has already been done, it’s easy-peasy for me, and I have a lesson for two weeks!

My students feel empowered, and can get right down to business. I’ve already given directions the previous day, so they know what to do.

On the last day, I do pumpkin #10 as well as the last page, where students trace and write the numbers.

I try to time things, so that they are finishing up on Halloween party day, which can be rather hectic, so this is one less thing I have to make.

Afterwards, children have a nice little keepsake to take home.

I’ve also included a (full page) set of colorful pumpkin posters.

Use them to introduce the lesson, as a sample for when students are working on that matching page, as a border, bulletin board, flashcards, or sequencing center.

Today's featured FREEBIE also has a pumpkin theme. Are your students working on transitions and "how to" "directional" writing? 

"How to make a pumpkin pie" is a quick, easy and fun activity to help them practice.

The packet includes printable patterns, completed sample, recipe, list of transitions, transition poster, a graphing extension, Venn diagram activity, plus an adjective worksheet.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for popping in. 

I'm contemplating whether I should buy another pumpkin today...

We weren't sure what was eating holes in our pumpkins, then today we caught the culprit.

An obviously hungry squirrel happily chomped away, with no fear that we'd fuss. 

I just peeked out the window and the baby pumpkin is pretty much gone, except for the stem and a few bites.....hmmmm.

"When black cats prowl and pumpkins gleam; may luck be yours on Halloween." - Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Nine Fine Pumpkin On The Vine Math Activities With Me

I have so many fun pumpkin activities to share, that I thought I'd feature 9 of my favorites that I use to teach all sorts of math standards.

A quick, easy and fun way to review numbers from 1-30, counting backwards from 20 or 10 to 0; plus skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's & 10's is with the pumpkin slider. There are 3 different pumpkin patterns for children to choose from. 

So that you can also review upper & lowercase letters, I included those traceable strips as well.  Sliders are a great way to whole group assess as you play an "I Spy!" game.

If you're working on telling time with your kiddos, the Pumpkin Time cards are perfect for a pocket chart or use as flashcards.

They review analog and digital time to the hour as well as time to the half hour.   Make extra sets for students to play Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has?" games. I've included a tip list of other things you can do with the cards, plus a Kaboom game.

For more telling time reinforcement, your kiddos will enjoy the  "It's Pumpkin Time!" games.  There are dice as well as spinner games. 

Both reinforce digital as well as analog time.  I've included blank templates to use as an assessment tool, or for students to make mini time booklets.

Have you started working on money?  Then I think you'll enjoy Pumpkin Payment. 

Several standards are covered in this easy-reader pumpkin coin booklet that reinforce coins and shapes. 

Students trace and write the coin word, the value of the coin, plus the shape word.  They trace the shape and then draw it on the pumpkin; cutting and gluing the coin(s) to the matching numbered boxes.

Are you looking for some measurement activities? Help students practice measurement, by using apples and pumpkins.

You can run this packet off as an entire booklet for each child to work on, or use one worksheet each day during your math or science time. 

I have pages where students measure with blocks, and other worksheets where students measure with a real scale and a yardstick.  Click on the link for Pumpkin & Apple Measurement Activities

More measurement activities can be found in the Pumpkin Investigation Booklet. 

Students measure height, weight, width and circumference of a pumpkin. They trace and write vocabulary-building words, predict, answer questions, + collect and analyze data.

I think most teachers cover the life cycle of a pumpkin to add a bit of science into their day. 

With that in mind, I designed From Seeds To Pumpkin Pie: a quick, easy and awesome looking life cycle of a pumpkin craftivity.  Ever mindful of standards, I included some shape & fraction fun to go with it. 

The front of the pumpkin reviews all of the 2D basic shapes, including the hexagon, as students design their Jack-O-Lantern. (K.G.2)

The back of the pumpkin converts into a pie and is divided into quarters that show the pumpkin's life cycle. To make it look like a "real" pie tin, I covered a paper plate with aluminum foil. 

Two fraction worksheets are included, to work on dividing circles and rectangles into two and four equal shares. Students describe the sections using the words halves, fourths & quarters. (1.G.3) Completed projects look terrific suspended from the ceiling.

Finally, the Seed Sorting packet, helps you to continue with a bit more science, while covering all sorts of math standards:  Data collection & analysis, sorting, comparing & contrasting, predicting, guess-timating, counting, sequencing, greater than, less than & equal to, plus graphing. 

You can do these activities as a whole group, or set things up as a center and have students work independently on their own seed worksheets.

The easy reader My Seed Booklet, is a matching activity. You can simply make a booklet to share with your students, so that they can see the different kinds of popular fall seeds, or have each child make their own booklet by drawing the seeds. 

Since you can buy packages of popcorn, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, you may want your students to glue some real ones to their booklet as well.  You can always use the leftovers for all sorts of counting and sorting activities.

If you're looking for a few more math-related pumpkin activities, scroll down to another blog article filled with even more fall FREEBIES.

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  I hope you found a few things to get your kiddos excited about math, while learning a bit of science too. 

I'm off to the farmer's market to buy a few small pumpkins and gourds; I love decorating for fall.   Wishing you a colorful autumn day filled with ed-venture!

"Those who live in the past limit their future."  -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Apple and Pumpkin Activities With Me!

One of the much-needed skills for little ones, is the ability to cut.  Just learning how to hold a scissors is quite an accomplishment for some.  To help my Y5's strengthen their hand muscles and increase dexterity, I incorporated cutting practice in some form or another every day.  To make this less tedious and frustrating, many of the activities revolved around creating a craft that included other skills as well.

Keeping this in mind, I designed "A-peel-ing Apples" so children could practice cutting in a circle.  This is a wonderful opportunity to add the term spiral to students' vocabulary as well.  Giving a red, yellow or lime green color choice for the apple, also reinforces that science fact. 

To add a bit more pizzazz, older students can glue two different colors together.  The thicker paper lessens the drop of the spiral, and the double-sided colors add interest to the dangler.  Students glue a stem and leaf to the top.  Punch a hole; add a yarn loop and suspend from the ceiling, or as a border against a hallway wall.  Click on the link to view/download the A-peel-ing Apples activity.

Cutting on a straight line is also not that easy for some little ones. These apple and pumpkin "strip" puzzles, will not only give your students practice with that skill, but review and reinforce sequencing numbers from 1-10, skip counting by 10's, or counting backwards from 10-1. I've used a dashed-line font, for the numbers on the apples and pumpkins, so that students can get some writing practice in.  Encourage children to count quietly as they trace the numbers.

Simply choose a number concept you want to work on and run off the puzzles on construction paper.  Children choose a puzzle; trace the numbers; cut the strips, lay them in the proper sequence on a sheet of black construction paper, and then glue them down. 

Remind students to keep a small space between the strips.  Students add a stem and leaf to the top.  You can make the pumpkin more of a keepsake, by having children, or a room helper, trace their hand, with their fingers spread, onto green construction paper.  They trim and glue next to their stem.  Completed projects make a sweet harvest bulletin board.

You may want to laminate one of each kind, to keep in your math center.  Each puzzle has its own Baggie.  Children can work indepently, or pick a partner to play "Speed" against.  The first one who completes their puzzle, is the winner.  Click on the link to view/download the Apple and Pumpkin Number Puzzles.

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"Imagination is the highest kite one can fly." -Lauren Bacall