All About Pumpkins

This week was our annual Pumpkin Investigations!  I love this time of the year and all of the hands on learning the kids get to be involved in. We completed some of our investigations in the multipurpose room this year.  Each teacher was located at a different pumpkin investigation station.  The students in first grade took turns rotating through each of the rotations. This year the students investigated the pumpkins weight and height.  In addition, they completed a force and motion and sink or float experiment.  The students first made a prediction at each station and then they completed the task to confirm or reject their predictions.   Then, we took our investigations into our classroom.  We read the book "How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin" by Margaret McNamara and G. Brian Karas.  When reading this book we learned that for each line in a pumpkin there is a row of seeds.  We predicted how many seeds would be in our pumpkin, then we cut it open, pulled out the seeds, and counted the seeds.  Our pumpkin at 456 seeds! The student then got to keep one seed to place in their book.  We also read a book called "All About Pumpkins" and learned some very important vocabulary words about pumpkins.  We then completed an activity  about the life cycle of a pumpkin.  Below are some pictures of our day. The kids had so much fun and learned a lot!!  I also will get back on and add pictures of our fall party from last week when I get a chance.  Thank you to all the parents who donated pumpkins for our activity, treats, and drinks for our party.  Also a big thank you to our parents that helped out with our fall party.  We appreciate all of your help!!!