How to Have a Pumpkin Day in your Classroom

Are you looking for something fun and meaningful to do with your students this fall? What about having an entire day devoted to learning about pumpkins?! This Pumpkin Day activity pack will provide your students with engaging, standards-based pumpkin fun. Your students will love a break from the ordinary day!

This pumpkin day activity pack includes lessons on reading, writing, math, and science. Standards are included for easy reference. Several extra pumpkin-themed pages have been included to extend your pumpkin day fun past just one day!

Reading

For whole group instruction, students will read informational text about the life cycle of a pumpkin. They will use the diagram and text to create a pumpkin life cycle wheel. Next, teach a small group lesson about answering text-based questions. Finally, reading center activities are included extend learning during group time.

Writing

Work on explanatory writing about the life cycle of a pumpkin with a writing lesson. Packet includes explanatory writing prompt, graphic organizer, and writing page. Students can also practice writing sentences using vocabulary during reading center time.

Math

Three different math activities are included. I prefer to divide my class into three groups. Each group spends about 20 minutes on the activity before rotating to the next. This helps to cut down on supplies and needed technology. Use the pumpkin math activities how you see fit for your classroom.

Science

This is definitely the favorite activity of the day-pumpkin rolling! You will need 5 pumpkins of varying size and material. I purchased a styrofoam one from Dollar Tree, a few foam ones from Target dollar spot, and a bag of small real pumpkins. Students start by measuring the mass of pumpkins on a scale. We used a kitchen scale. Students then use a tape measure to measure the circumference of the pumpkin.

Finally its time for the fun part…rolling pumpkins down a ramp! Attach a large piece of cardboard to a chair. Roll one pumpkin at a time down the ramp. Measure the distance from the end of the ramp to where the pumpkin stopped.

Follow up the activity by analyzing the data. Read about potential and kinetic energy with the informational text. Vocabulary and graphing pages also included to extend learning.