A Learning Journey: November 2010

More Pumpkin Activities
(Some Halloween Activities)

You can find Week One Pumpkin Activities here.

We got more done this week than I ever imagined considering the fact that I was trying to get ready for her birthday bash. However, I ran into a HUGE problem. I guess I reached my max storage of photos through Yahoo (for my blog). I am not sure what I am going to do now. Any suggestions? I don't see a delete button and then if I do find a delete photo button - will it delete the photo from my blog?? I wasn't aware that I had a limit on how many photos I could upload otherwise I would have been more selective. They had an offer to purchase storage space, but I do not want to waste funds on that. So I am obviously missing a ton of photos for this week's blog - CRAZY huh. I like blogging with photos so I am not sure if I will have a post for next week unless I figure something out. Does your blog do that? What other FREE blogs are out there without photo storage limits??? I may have to start a new blog ... might be a good idea anyways.

One of my absolute favorite websites (I was supposed to tell you about this website last month during our "All About Me Unit") is Shari Sloane's Kids Count 1234. She is an amazing K teacher with LOTS of FREE printables that can be easily adjusted for different levels. I adapt them and use them with Alyssa - she'll turn three this week. Please check out her website and let me know if you found something you could use!

Books Read
The Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs
P is for Pumpkin: God's Harvest Alphabet by Kathy Jo Wargin
It's Pumpkin Time! by Zoe Hall
Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherton
The Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden byGeorge Levenson
From Seed to Pumpkin
How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? byMargaret McNamara
How Things Grow by Nancy Buss
The Very Best Pumpkin by Mark Kimball Moulton
The Stubborn Pumpkin by Laura Geringer
Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night by Anne Rockwell
Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell
Pumpkin Soup! by Helen Cooper
Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell
Pumpkin Day! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Patty's Pumpkin Patch by Teri Sloat
The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons
The Three Friends and the Pumpkins by Tomie dePaola
Where is Baby's Pumpkin by Karen Katz
I like Pumpkins by Jerry Smath
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
The Pumpkin Man by Judith Moffatt
Pick a Pumpkin, Mrs. Millie! by Judy Cox
Harriet's Halloween Candy by Nancy Carlson
All About Holidays by Kathleen Kain
Picnic at Mudstock Meadow by Patricia Polacco
The Three Bears' Halloween by Kathy Duval

Language Arts

Pumpkin Make a Word

Seven letters were placed in the pocket chart. Alyssa was asked if she could spell a word (any word) using the letters. She spelled pumpkin as the first word. Then, we talked about how she could spell other words with the letters in the word pumpkin. She made the words "pump," "kin," "up," and "in." I showed her how to make other words that weren't as obvious.

There Was An Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything
Story Sequencing Sticks (LOVE THIS IDEA!)

Making Learning Fun had a neat activity for sequencing story events. I printed and laminated the printable. Then, I cut them apart and added velcro to the pieces. I added the velcro to the paint stick. I introduced the book and new vocabulary to Alyssa. Then, she did a picture walk and predicted the story events based on the pictures. We read the book aloud. The second reading she used the pieces to sequence the story as I read it aloud. The third day she sequenced the story events while doing a retell of the story. I hope that Making Learning Fun creates more activities like this! It was a great hands-on way to sequence story events and my daughter enjoyed the activity.
I have a little container that holds reading supplies that we use on a daily basis during our read alouds. One of the items are the green Nonfiction and Fiction cards as seen below. We also have cards for the parts of a book. They are both from Mailbox books I own.

-ump Word Family (Onset and Rime)

Donna Whyte's Smartie Zone has a beginning and end activity. I printed the mat and cut out just the -ump word family for the ending (rime). Then, I gave Alyssa pocket chart letters that she could use to build words in that word family. She read each word aloud after building it.

Pocket Chart -ump Word Building

I gave Alyssa several -ump word family cards and we placed them in the pocket chart. I also gave her onsets to add to the beginning. She created and read new words made. We discussed the meaning of any new words (vocabulary opportunity).

Positional Words: Pumpkin and Wagon

I gave Alyssa a wagon full of fall leaves and a pumpkin. She placed the pumpkin in the correct spot based on the positional terms used. For example, I would say Alyssa place the pumpkin in front of, behind, above, under, in, out, next to the wagon and so forth. This was a review activity for her.

Pumpkin ABC File Folder Game

The file folder game came from Childcareland. First, Alyssa matched the uppercase letters to the file folder game and then she matched the lowercase letters to the capital letters.

Reader: Pumpkin Life Cycle Book

Alyssa sequenced the life cycle of a pumpkin and used the pictures to create a book. The life cycle book came from Montessori Print Shop.

Reader: Five Little Pumpkins

I gave her the pages from the book at DLTK to place in order before stapling. She also colored the book pages from Making Learning Fun. Then, we assembled the book together and she read it again.

Writing

My Pumpkin is ... Predictable Chart

I gave her a small pumpkin and asked her to describe or tell me about it. I wrote down her sentences on chart paper. We discussed how a sentence starts with a capital letter and that a telling or describing sentence ends with a period. She had some GREAT sentences, but I can't upload anymore pictures.

Pumpkin Journal

I asked Alyssa to draw and label a pumpkin in her journal. She did a great job spelling pumpkin on her own. I also wrote the word pumpkin on the page and she insisted on writing it again. No pic -see reason at top of blog.

Pumpkin Story Dictation

I placed several items including a pumpkin in a bag. She pulled them out one at a time and told me a story. At first she only retold my story, but then she started being creative. I started writing them in a journal so that I can see her progress ins storytelling.

Poetry

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater

We reread last week's poem this week. I also cut the poem up into sentences for her to sequence.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pocket Chart Poem

I really wanted to add orange dots underneath each word in the poem as seen at Montessori Journey. But, I think my sentence strips are smaller than hers, because the dots were hanging of the sentence strip. She uses the dots as tracking guides for students reading the poem. They point to each word or dot as they read the poem. Anyways, I wrote the poem on sentence strips and here are a few activities that we did using the poem which was found here:

1.) We were going to do the I read, we read, and then you read. But, she beat me to the pocket chart and started reading the whole thing on her own (she has never seen or read this poem before). She did a GREAT job reading it on her own. She asked me to read it to her after she finished.

2.) I gave her wooden pumpkins so that she could identify the word pumpkin, cover it with a pumpkin, and then count how many times the word was in the poem.

3.) Then, we used the pumpkins again to cover rhyming words in the poem.

StoryTelling

Mystery Bag Riddle

I read aloud a riddle I made last year. She guessed what was inside the bag and pulled it out to see if she was correct.

Music/Songs:

See last week's songs here!

The new song we used this week was from 1+1+1=1 (We All Fall Down).

"Mr. Pumpkin"
(Tune: "Where is Thumpkin")

"Pumpkins"
(Tune: "Mary Had a Little Lamb")

Math

Days of the Week Sequencing

The days of the week cards are from Childcareland. She placed them in order while singing the days of the week song.

Pumpkin Number Cards and Pumpkin Counters

(With Even and Odd Sort)

First, Alyssa placed the pumpkin number cards in numerical order from 1-20. Then, she put them in a pile on the table. I placed two wagons in front of her with the words "even" and "odd" on them. She looked at the number card and identified the number. After identifying the number; she counted out the correct amount of pumpkins for each card (one at a time of course). She placed them on the table in a Montessori fashion. Then, I showed her how to use two fingers to see if the number was odd or even (had a partner). I told her that if it had a partner then it was an even number and if it did not then it was an odd number. She did VERY well with this activity. I was so impressed with my baby girl! She would get excited and ask me to come see her work (I was working on birthday party stuff ... running out of time). She would tell me if the number was odd or even. I would then ask her how she knew that and listened to her explanation. The file folder game was found at File Folder Fun and I added on the pumpkin counters.

Pumpkin Weight

I gave her a scale, a pumpkin, and Unifix blocks to explore. She told me the Unifix blocks were lighter than the pumpkin (we didn't have enough). Then, we tried the dominoes because they were heavier and we had more of them. She was able to make the scale balance and at one time she told me her pumpkin was heavier than the dominoes. Last of all, I brought out some actual weights for her to explore. She really liked the weights. She was amazed by how heavy the 1 pound weight was. I think she expected it to be lighter because of its size. She used the weights to estimate the weight of a tiny pumpkin.

Pumpkin Height Comparison

She used Unifix blocks to see how tall each pumpkin was and then she compared the Unifix sticks. I had her measure to the tip of the stem for this activity. She also put the height towers in order by size (smallest to largest and then largest to smallest).

Ordinal Number Sequence Pumpkins

Alyssa placed the pumpkin ordinal numbers in numerical order from 1-10. I found the printable at KidSoup (membership required). It actually had another printable attached with it showing the pumpkin life cycle, but we did not get around to using it.

Ordinal Pumpkin Seed Game

I used the pumpkins from Oriental Trading and inside one I put a seed. I sang a song, "Do You Know Where the Seed Is?" to the tune "Did You Ever See a Lassie." The original game idea came from a website I can't find, but the song was too long so I shortened it for Alyssa. The name of the person that came up with the game was Sarah Ebbers and the song/chant creator was Heidi Samuelson 2010. Before Alyssa could open a pumpkin to check inside she had to tell me the ordinal name for its location (first, second, third and so forth).

Pumpkin Circumference Match and Comparison

We tried this activity several different ways but each try didn't work. Alyssa came back and I had a new idea. I discussed the term circumference with her and she now knows what it means. Then, I gave her three pieces of yarn cut to match to each pumpkin (three different sizes). Her job was to look at the strings and guess which one would go around the circumference of the pumpkin. She did a wonderful job and got them all right. She explained the term to daddy when he got home and wrapped the strings around the pumpkins. He was in shock!

Pumpkin Number Sequence Hop

Alyssa placed the pumpkin number mats in sequential order. If she got lost she would run back to the beginning and count as she hopped to the end to figure out the next number. I believe the mats came from Childcareland.

Pumpkin Jack O' Lantern Counting

This activity was from Childcareland. She placed a number card in the box (1-20) and she counted out Jack O' Lantern erasers for that number.

Pumpkin Patch Counting

This was found at Confessions of a Homeschooler. This was the same idea but she used different manipulatives. She used pumpkin ornaments instead of erasers.

Pumpkin Addition (different one)

The addition mat was found at Math Wire (they have two and many other great pumpkin activities). I gave her the addition mat, seeds, and number tiles. Alyssa placed a certain amount of seeds on the first side and then a certain amount on the other side. Then, she found the total either by recognizing amounts by sight or counting for the higher totals. I would sometimes yell out an equation and she would figure out the answer. We did this as I worked on her birthday party goody bags.

Pumpkin Seed Estimation Jar

I placed a few seeds in a jar and she guessed or estimated how many were inside the jar. At first, she guessed 5 and then she changed it to 8. The amount was seven.

Ghost Marshmallow Sorting

First, she grabbed two handfuls of ghost marshmallows. She sorted the ghost marshmallows by color on a sorting mat. Then, she counted how many she had of each color. I had her count them into a container one at a time. She used number tiles to tell how many of each ghost color she had and she placed those on top of each ghost. The printable was found under the graphing activities section at Shari Sloane's KidsCount 1234 website.

Marshmallow Ghost Graphing

Alyssa sorted the ghost marshmallows on a graph. Then, we answered the questions at the bottom of the page. We didn't write the answers on the line. I asked additional graph questions. The printable was found under the graphing activities section at Shari Sloane's KidsCount 1234 website.

Ghost Patterning

She used the ghosts above to create her own pattern. She was really good at AB and ABC patterning. The others were not patterns.

Candy Corn Sorting

She sorted the pumpkins from the candy corns. Then, she noticed that the candy corns were different so she sorted them again into three piles.

Candy Corn Patterning

She used the patterning sheet from Shari Sloane's Kidscount 1234 website to pattern the candy corn.

Grab the Candy Corn Grid Game

The game was found at Math Wire. I placed letter and number pumpkin cards in photo dice. She rolled them and found the letter first. Then, she counted up to the correct number. This was a game that introduced ordered pairs or reading coordinate pairs on a grid.

Halloween Finger Puppet Sort

Alyssa sorted the finger puppets from Oriental Trading into three sections of a sorting tray.

Science

Soaked Seed

We soaked a seed overnight and looked at the tiny plant inside.

Pumpkin Seed Ziplock

We hung a ziplock with soil on the window for her to observe the changes in growth.

Life Cycle of a Pumpkin and Pumpkin Plant Parts

She colored and sequenced the life cycle of a pumpkin again. The cards were found at Kizclub.

Pumpkin Size Comparison

She used real pumpkins to compare sizes. It was funny watching her move the biggest one in the correct spot and she insisted on doing it herself (largest to smallest and vice versa).

Pumpkin Life Cycle

We used the pumpkin life cycle cards from Montessori for Everyone to do a three-part (three period) lesson. I started off with three cards at a time. Alyssa matched the labels to the pictures rather quickly. She also put the cards in order showing the pumpkin life cycle.

Pumpkin Life Cycle Book

She made a pumpkin life cycle book from Montessori Print Shop. I was blessed last month and won 40 dollars to spend in their shop. I bought the entire pink series reading cards for Alyssa and several other science related items. I am so excited. Now I just have to get organized. It was great timing after my encounter with Adena. I love ALL the products I won from Montessori Print Shop. Check them out!

Pumpkin Life Cycle Craft

She mixed the colors red and yellow to make the color orange (color mixing) on a paper plate. She did the same thing on a half of a paper plate. The plate dried overnight and we added facial features to the jack o' lantern. She colored the life cycle cards and taped them to a green string (vine). The items were stored inside the pouch created when the two plates were stapled together. I wanted to hole punch the plates and have Alyssa lace the orange yarn around the pumpkin, but the hole punch wouldn't go through the two plates. I found this activity in several different places online. But, I combined two activities. I used the Jack O' Lantern craft from dltk and the sequence cards from here. An example of this activity can be found at My Montessori Journey.

Pumpkin Life Cycle Bracelet

She used pony and flower beads to sequence the life cycle of a pumpkin. This activity can be found at Making Learning Fun.

Pumpkin Observations: 5 Senses

Alyssa used her senses to describe her pumpkin inside and out. My favorite quote, "What's that smell?" She said that after I took the stem off the pumpkin. She felt the pumpkin and described it. Tasted pumpkin seeds and other pumpkin products and describe them. She also used descriptive words to describe the appearance of the pumpkin and what it looked like inside. She shook it to see if she could hear anything.

Pumpkin Gas

See Homeschool Creations for an explanation of this activity. Daddy also explained it in simple terms (he's a fire fighter and works with kiddos too so he had some good information to share).

Pumpkin Sink or Float

We took a tiny pumpkin and I asked her if she thought it would sink to the bottom of the container full of water or if she thought it would float on top of it. We tested and checked her predictions. There is a reader at Making Learning Fun to use with this activity. I ran out of ink so I couldn't use it.

Pumpkin Decomposition

We read Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell and the Jack O' Happy poem aloud (google it). Then, I cut up a small pumpkin and placed the pieces in a plastic see thru container. We placed the container outside and plan to check on it at least once a week. I will have her journal (draw the changes that take place ... what she sees ... most likely I will write her dictation). We will use an observation sheet from Scholastic to draw her observations.

Pumpkin Cooking, Baking and Snacks

Pumpkin Pancakes

I made pumpkin pancakes. The recipe was from All Recipes. I cut them into pumpkin shapes and Alyssa gobbled them up! I made a few changes to the recipe to make it healthier. I thought the recipe was too moist, but my husband also enjoyed eating them. I will be working on this recipe in hope to make them "not as moist" and "more flavorful."

Roasting Pumpkin Seeds

After Alyssa sorted the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin pulp or meal. We seasoned and roasted the seeds for a movie night snack. She used a little more kosher salt than we needed. Alyssa liked them.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Sandwich

We used a pumpkin cookie cutter to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.

Pumpkin Soup

First, we read the book, Pumpkin Soup written by Helen Cooper. Then, Alyssa and I googled pumpkin soup recipes. We tried the recipe found here. It was okay. She of course helped make it!

Art

Painting Pumpkins

She used washable paint to paint a pumpkin - idea from Childcareland videos. She also used washable markers to draw Jack O' Lantern faces on her pumpkin.

Sticker Pumpkin Faces

We used Pumpkin Decorating Craft Kits to make faces on pumpkins. They are from Oriental Trading. I had other ideas for these, but we ran out of time. On the agenda for next year.

Pumpkin and Halloween Stamp Painting

She used washable paints to create a Halloween scene. I believe I found the stamps in Target's dollar area or at Hobby Lobby.

Fine Motor

Pumpkin Hammering

I found this activity at Childcareland. Alyssa loved using her new hammer to pound orange and black golf tees in the pumpkin. This also worked on eye hand coordination. Then, she twisted them and pulled them out. She was pretty good at this thanks to daddy's previous lessons on hammering.

Sort Seeds and Pulp

First, she predicted what might be inside the pumpkin (she said goop and seeds) and how many seeds she would find (a lot). We also used the pumpkin as as sensory bin. I let her rub her hands all around inside and just play for a little while. Then, I asked her if she could help me with a big job. I had her predict how many seeds she would find inside her pumpkin (she said a lot) and Alyssa used bug tweezers to sort the seeds from the pulp. Then, she figured it was easier to use her hands. She doesn't usually like her hands messy, but she survived the activity. She recorded her information on the sheet provided at Childcareland. The roasting seed activity took place after this one.

Gross Motor

Pumpkin Obstacle Course

Rolling Small Pumpkins

Pumpkin Spoon Game (cones)

Pumpkin Toss

Pumpkin Running
Pumpkin Hula Hoop Hop (# cards).

Pumpkin Bowling (small pumpkin)

Sign Language and Spanish Words Taught

pumpkin

seed

plant

yellow, orange, and green

Fun

Pumpkin Tic Tac Toe

This was her first tic tac toe game. She didn't understand what we meant by three in a row at first. She started to catch on, but I think we will have to play it often or she'll forget. She also played this game with daddy a few times.

Pumpkin Riddle Bag

I placed a plush pumpkin inside a bag. I read aloud clues (riddle form) to Alyssa describing the object. She guessed what was inside. I told her when her guesses were getting "hot" (close) and "cold" (not close).

Miscellaneous Activities

Dollar Tree Finds

She played with the number, alphabet and word building cards from Dollar Tree. She matched the numbers to the quantities. Then, she sorted them by number.

Five Little Ducks

She used six duck props and a rainbow prop (wooden from Hobby Lobby) to retell the Five Little Ducks song by Raffi. She did it several times with the book and the several times without it.