Apples and Pumpkins

When we came back from gym on Thursday, we found something new in our classroom...

…a pumpkin!  We were very curious about it, so we decided to make a list of things that we could do with it.  We came up with some good ideas, but Mrs. Kurt had something else in mind!

We started out by reading the book It's Pumpkin Time! by Zoe Hall, illustrated by Shari Halpern.

This story is about the most favorite time of the year for the characters…pumpkin time.  The brother and sister in this story actually plant pumpkin seeds in the spring.  Then they water, weed and watch as the seeds sprout, become shoots and eventually vines.  Flowers bloom on the vines and that's where the tiny pumpkins begin to grow.  Did you know that pumpkins are not always orange?  They start out green and as they grow they become yellow, and when they are orange they are ready to pick or be cut from the vines!  We learned lots about pumpkins from this story!  Then we participated in our pumpkin investigation.  That's what the pumpkin was for!!

This was a pretty fun activity.  We actually had to practice estimating how many lines the pumpkin had and how much it weighed.  Estimating is a little tricky for us because we don't like to be wrong.  But it is an important skill for us to learn and practice, just like real scientists, meteorologists, and mathematicians do.  And the good part is when you estimate, it is just a guess and it is ok if your guess is not right.  That is one way for us to learn!

   

After we estimated how many lines were on the pumpkin, we actually counted them to see the exact number.  It had 25.  Then we estimated how much it weighed and we took it to Mrs. Hannasch's office.  She is the school nurse and she has a big scale that we used to weigh it.  It is actually 14.5 pounds.  Next we had to predict if pumpkins will float or sink.  We learned that they float!!  We also listed words that describe how the pumpkin looks.  We had fun!

While we were busy with the pumpkin investigation, Mrs. Radermacher was busy watching over the applesauce that was cooking in our classroom.   It smelled so good.  We added all the apples our families sent in, some water, a little sugar and some cinnamon.

   

When it was ready, Mrs. Radermacher dished it up and let it cool a little bit.  Then we got to try it.  It tasted great and Mrs. Kurt was so proud that so many of us tried it and liked it!  

   

   

As we have been learning about trees, we have discovered that some trees give us food, like apples.  That is why we chose to make applesauce now, to coincide with our tree unit.  Hope you have a great weekend!