Pumpkin Fun!

I love pumpkins! I just love everything about them. They are cute and I love using them to decorate my house for fall (cloth ones!) They are fun to carve. They taste oh so yummy in just about anything you make them into--pie, chai, bars, muffins, whoopie pies (with cream cheese frosting, of course!) And they offer SO many great options for incorporating them into the classroom! Pumpkin day is probably one of my favorite days in first grade. We make pumpkin pie, get messy investigating pumpkins, estimate and then count the seeds by 10, carve pumpkins, write descriptive sentences, and make a fun craft with our seeds! I'm getting excited just thinking about it! Our pumpkin day is about 2 weeks away, but I'm trying to stay ahead in planning so that my pumpkin activities are ready to go!

I've put some of my favorite pumpkin activities into my latest TPT unit "Fun in the Pumpkin Patch!"

This packet is FULL of great math and literacy activities and centers to throw your very own pumpkin day or to use for a week of pumpkin activities. Everything is all set and ready to go and each activity in the packet is aligned with the Common Core!

Let me highlight just a few of my favorites from this packet. One of my favorites is the pumpkin descriptive writing craftivity:

And who loves pumpkin pie?!

This pumpkin pie opinion writing craftivity is great to use if you are making pumpkin pie with your kiddos and is also a great compliment to the "Slice of Pumpkin Pie" graph and data activity that is in included in this packet.

Both of these craftivities are easy to prep (which it a MUST for activities I use!) and like all of my activities come with detailed instructions and ready to go materials.

I also love the Pumpkin Investigations activity we do:

I put my students into small groups of 4-5 students and have a parent volunteer help guide each group of students in their investigation. Students end their investigation by carving their pumpkin by using a shape spinner to determine the shape of each part and then draw and label their pumpkins shapes on the recording sheet. Pumpkin Investigation is always a wonderfully messy blast in first grade and the students learn so much in the process as they estimate, measure, weigh, group and count seeds by 10 and practice their geometry skills too! My big tip for pumpkin investigation: cover your tables with bulletin board paper beforehand (note the green, orange, and brown paper in the pictures)! :)

Altogether this unit includes:

-a whole class Pumpkin Investigation math lesson/activity involving estimating, weighing, measuring, making and counting by groups of 10, and geometry pumpkin carving

-a pumpkin pie class graphing and data activity

-a pumpkin pie craftivity focusing on opinion writing

-a pumpkin craftivity focusing on using adjectives to describe pumpkins

-a short u and long u room word hunt, followed by a writing activity

-a 2 or 3 digit addition math center activity utilizing the number line (students can use candy pumpkins to hop on the number line--the kids LOVE this!)

-a commutative property of addition math center activity

-an I Have, Who Has? short u word class game

-a non standard estimating, measuring and then ordering activity of different size pumpkins with an extension measure the room activity
-answer keys, samples, and a table of contents page with common core standards

Click {here} or on the picture above to purchase this unit!

For those that are interested in just the pumpkin writing crafts I have put the 2 craftivities in their own packet called "Pumpkin Craftivities" that can be purchased {here}.

What's your favorite pumpkin activity to do in the classroom? The first two people to leave a comment with their email will get this unit for FREE!

Is it pumpkin day yet? :) I'm ready to roll!