Pumpkin Inquiry

At the end of October/beginning of November we used pumpkins to explore all kinds of different learning by doing different activities such as:

- Learning about shapes and drawing the shapes on Jack-O-Lanterns
- Learning about the lifecycle of a pumpkin
- Learning the actions and words to the song 'Five Little Pumpkins' and then re-telling it
- Estimating Seeds 
- Drawing and labeling of a pumpkin
- Jack-O-Lantern Art 
- Learning about our senses and using them to describe the inside and outside of a pumpkin
- Discussing different emotions and feelings that we have and then letting them assign a feeling to the pumpkin art they made
- Self-Assessment by using a classroom target

Drawing Jack-O-Lanterns with shapes

Observing a pumpkin/ Journal Drawing

Jack-O-Lantern Art

Completed Jack-O-Lanterns

Using our senses to describe inside of a pumpkin

Student Observations of inside and outside of a pumpkin

5 Little Pumpkin's Numeracy/Literacy Centres

We read the book 'From Seed to Pumpkin' by Wendy Pfeffer and learnt about the lifecycle of a pumpkin. Ask your child if they are able to recall how a pumpkins grows :)

After carving our classroom pumpkin they each got a chance to look inside and guess how many seeds there were. We counted out 100 seeds as a class but there were still lots left ! Our closest estimate was from Abir, nice work !

Our classroom has started making self-assessments of their work and will continue to do so throughout the school year. We did this by using a big target in our classroom – the inner green circle means they have done their best high quality work. The yellow center ring means they are almost there but still have some room for improvement. The outer red circle means they are having difficulty and might need a bit of extra help and practice. We discussed the target as a class and looked at different examples of Jack-O-Lanterns – we looked at the criteria of drawing shapes, coloring in of the shapes, and cutting the pumpkins.  We looked at different examples of Jack-O-Lanterns and they decided as a class whether they thought it belonged in the green, yellow or red portion of the target.

They then had the chance to make their own Jack-O-Lanterns and assess where they think their work would fall on the target by circling a self-assessment rubric. We looked at three things to self-asses: Drawing of the shapes, coloring in the shapes and cutting out of the pumpkin. 


Here are some important dates coming up in November/December  

November 21: Half Day for Students - Student Conferences from 3-7 pm

November 22: No school - Student Conferences 8-12 pm

December 5: Winter Concert 6-7 pm

December 16: Report Cards go home

*Please help remind your child to return their library books. We have library every Thursday morning :)