Jack-o-Light

We use pumpkins to demonstrate that fire needs air to burn. This goes really well with Fire Safety Week and our pumpkin unit. Also, we 'guesstimate' how many pumpkin seeds are in the pumpkin. We roast them afterwards by following a recipe. You can also create a Kids Pix picture of pumpkins.

A lesson plan for grade 1 Healthful Living, Mathematics, and Science

By Michele Tipton

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Related topics

• Learn more about counting, estimation, field trips, fire safety, guest speakers, mathematics, number sense, and science.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• learn that fire needs air to burn.
• learn the “Stop, Drop, and Roll” procedure.
• guess how many pumpkin seeds, put seeds in groups of ten, and count by tens and then ones to find out the total amount.
• learn about living things and what they need to grow. (water, sun, food, air).
• learn the process of how pumpkins grow.
• create a pumpkin picture using Kids Pix.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

6 days

Materials/resources

• pumpkin
• knife (adults only)
• tray
• candle (adults only)
• lighter (adults only)
• dixie cups
• wet ones
• How Pumpkins Grow book
• orange, white, green and brown construction paper to create the pumpkin shape book
• crayons
• Kids Pix
• Pumpkin cutouts

Technology resources

Computer with Kids Pix software

Digital camera to take pictures on the field trip

Pre-activities

• We visited a pumpkin patch before doing this lesson.
• Read books about pumpkins e.g. Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington
• Circle Map-brainstorm all the things you knew about pumpkins.
• Read books about fire safety.
• You can also have a firefighter guest speaker talk about “Stop, Drop, and Roll.

Activities

Day 1

Firefighter guest speaker, read fire safety books.

Day 2

Read books about pumpkins.

Day 3

Take a trip to a pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins.

Day 4

1. Students come one by one to feel our class pumpkin. They touch it and think about how many seeds you think could be inside the pumpkin.
2. We pass out pumpkin cutouts and have students write their name and guess on the pumpkin.
3. We graph the pumpkins into groups. Less than 50, around 50, and more than 50. Everyone gets to put their pumpkin cutout on their guess We discuss and ask students to share their guesses.
4. We gather in a circle. Students watch the teacher carve a circle at the top of the pumpkin. We go over the parts: stem, pulp, skin, seeds. We talk about how they use big shears to cut the pumpkin from the vine. We review how the pumpkin grows…seed planted in the soil, roots grow, lose seed coat, sprouts, leaves open, flower grows, pumpkin forms: it’s green at first, then pumpkin gets bigger and turns orange. You need special shears to cut the pumpkin from the vine.
5. Once the lid has been removed, students come up one at a time and take a handful of pulp and seeds and put it on a tray. I ask them to describe how it feels. Then they go wash their hands. After everyone has had a turn, we give the tray to my assistant and she cleans the seeds and drys them for counting.
6. While assistant is preparing the seeds, talk about what would happen if I lit a candle and put it in the pumpkin and closed the lid? Responses were: it will cook the pumpkin, it will blow up, it will cook the seeds, it will burn it, the candle will go out, etc.
7. So after predicting, the teacher lights the candle (I suggest a candle in a jar…its easier to light and easier to put into the pumpkin) put the candle in the pumpkin and then wait for a few minutes until all of the oxygen is gone. Do not open until you see no glow around the lid. As you wait, you can build suspense, by repeating their prediction. Another good effect is to turn off the lights.
8. Then say, ok I believe it is ready, and take off the lid and show them the candle. Ask, was our predictions right? What happened?
9. Talk about how fire needs air to burn. Without air (oxygen) the fire wouldn’t burn. That’s why we practice stop, drop, and roll. If you run while your clothes are on fire, what are you doing? Yes, you are allowing more air for the fire to burn. You want to smother the fire so it will not have air to burn.
10. Then ask students what will happen if we carve a face and light the candle again? Almost all said the candle would burn because air can get to it through the carved areas.
11. The teacher carves a face as students watch, while I carve I review what a pumpkin needs to live. We also review about how a pumpkin grows. We talk about the seed, seed coat, little plant in the seed, putting it in the soil, watering it, then it grows into a sprout, then a vine, then a yellow flower forms, the green pumpkin begins to grow, and grow, until it is orange. Then they cut it with clippers from the vine. Then relight the candle, and watch the pumpkin face glow.
12. Now, we have our jack-o-lantern for our class Halloween party. (Advice, do this a couple of days before the party. If jack-o-lantern sits to long it will mold and attract gnats.)

Day 5

1. Lay the seeds that have been cleaned and dried on a large tray. Give each child a dixie cup. Call them by color groups to bring their cup and put ten seeds in their cup. Continue until each child has had a turn.
2. Tell the kids instead of counting these seeds one by one (which would take a long time since there are so many) that we would make groups of tens and count by tens to make it easier. So, I ask each child to tell me how many seeds they each had and they said “10″ so now we can count by tens.
3. I went around and touch each child as we counted by tens. We continued in this fashion until we came down to three left over seeds. Our total was 513.
4. We went back and looked at the student’s guesses and determined which student was the closest.
5. We read over the recipe for toasting pumpkin seeds I took them home to roast, because we did not have access to an oven, but if you do, you could bake them at school and pass them out as a treat. (Pumpkin Toasting: lay seeds on a cookie sheet spray with a cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Then cook on 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. I watched mine closely, because they can burn easily I also, turned them with a spatula several times.)

Day 6

Go to computer lab and open Kids Pix. Allow students to create a picture about pumpkins. They can write a sentence to go along with the picture.

Assessment

• Can demonstrate stop, drop, and roll
• Kids Pix picture
• Observations
• Drawing the correct sequence of how a pumpkin grows.

Supplemental information

Comments

This lesson could be adapted for K and 2nd. This lesson was one of my student teaching lessons and the class really enjoys the pumpkin carving.