Persuasive pumpkins

Using observation skills and comparative language, the children will express their own ideas to compare likenesses and differences of pumpkins. They will sort by their own rules and explain their reasoning. Using cooperative learning, they will listen to other children's discussions and come to some agreements.

A lesson plan for grade K English Language Arts, Information Skills, Mathematics, and Science

By RC Griffin

Learn more

• Pumpkins and More Additional ideas and information about pumpkins

Related pages

• Intrigue of the Past: Teach your students about North Carolina's fascinating past. This edition contains lesson plans about the fundamental concepts, processes, and issues of archaeology, as well as essays for the teacher with detailed information about four periods in North Carolina's ancient history.
• The five senses: The children will learn in this study the five senses through observations and experiments.

Related topics

• Learn more about science.

Help

Please read our disclaimer for lesson plans.

Legal

Learning outcomes

Students will:

• participate in a class discussion to observe and compare real pumpkins.
• draw their own pumpkins adding various attributes and be able to discuss their pumpkins.
• compare their pumpkin with a partner’s pumpkin and find likenesses and differences in the pumpkins.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

2 hours

Materials/resources

• real pumpkins of various size color, and shape
• white ten-by-thirteen-inch construction paper
• crayons
• scissors
• The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Stephen Kroll

Pre-activities

About three days before this lesson ask the students to bring in a pumpkin. Stress that they can have stems or not and may be any size or shape. As the pumpkins come in place them at the science center for student observation.

In the Science Center have pictures of pumpkins in the field, at a store, and as Jack-o-Lanterns so the children will see a wide variety of pumpkins.

Activities

1. Read the book The Biggest Pumpkin Ever. Discuss the pumpkins in the book. Focus on words like stem, leaves, largest, smaller etc.
2. Have students sit in a large circle in the floor. Put all of the pumpkins together and ask the children to look at them. Tell them to find two pumpkins that they believe are alike and be ready to tell you how they are alike. Let a student come up and pick out the two pumpkins he/she has chosen. Let the student explain the likenesses. Ask the other students if they see the likenesses. Then ask for a volunteer to come up and using the same two pumpkins find two things that are different about the pumpkins. Talk about how we can all look at the same things but see things differently, and it is good to listen to other people’s opinions and understand how they are viewing something. Continue this for several minutes letting various students come up and point out two pumpkins and their likenesses or differences and then asking for other points of view on the same pumpkins.
3. Let the students go to their seats. Tell the students you are going to give them a large piece of paper and that they may make a pumpkin that covers the entire page or that is tiny. Remind them that their pumpkin can have anything they want on it such as stems, no stems, lines, no lines, and may be very round or almost oval. It should look like a real pumpkin but be different from other pumpkins because all pumpkins are different. Have them draw, color, and cut around their pumpkin.
4. Cooperative learning time! When the students are finished with their drawings, bring the children back together and put them in groups of two. With their partner they are to find two things that are alike about their pumpkins and two things that are different. When each group has had a chance to work together have the class come together and listen to each group report their findings.
5. The next day the students will come back to a large circle. Each student will have his/her own pumpkin. The students will sequence the pumpkins from smallest to largest. The teacher will tape the pumpkins together and post them on a wall or bulletin board labeled “In Search of the Biggest Pumpkin.”

Assessment

As the students discuss their opinions in their groups of two, the teacher will observe each group and keep a checklist showing (+) or (-) of the students participating in the class discussion and using terms alike and different.

On day two each student will place his/her pumpkin in the appropriate place as the class sorts the pumpkins by size.

Supplemental information

The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll Scholastic, Inc. 1993.

Comments

Language development is extremely important for young children. They need a chance to play with language and expand their use of natural language. This lesson gives children a fun way to make comparisons without looking for one right answer.