Thinking Theme: Pumpkins

Letter of the Week:  Pp

Number of the Week:  10

Bible Verse of the Week:  "Every good and perfect gift is from above." James 1:17

Books:

Songs:
* Great songs here from Suite 101.
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Lesson 1: Pumpkin Patch Field Trip
Objectives:
* To visit a pumpkin patch
* To learn what pumpkins are and their characteristics
* To recognize the differences in pumpkins (different sizes and shapes)
* To pick out/purchase a pumpkin

Materials:
* camera :)
* money to buy a pumpkin

Procedure:
1. Visit your local pumpkin patch!  Talk about pumpkins and walk around to discover how each one is different.  Have your child pick out one to use during the week's lessons.  And, of course, take lots of pictures!

Sweet Brothers




Checking out the pumpkins!





Getting so big!




Going for the big one!




Of course, Tucker wanted to eat it!




Being Silly!












Lesson 2: Pumpkin Investigation
Objectives:
* To understand the characteristics of a pumpkin
* To find out information on your specific pumpkin including measurements, number of seeds inside, etc.
* To use measuring, counting, and observation skills
* To use the fine motor skills involved with cutting and writing

Materials:
* Pumpkin Investigation Printable

* plate
* knives (one real and one plastic)
* measuring tape
* scale
* pencil or crayon

Procedure:

1. Have your child pick up the pumpkin and observe it.  Ask them to use their senses and describe it.  Fill in the blanks on the investigation worksheet.

2. Measure the pumpkin and write the number on the worksheet.  Then weigh it on the scale and write this information, as well.

3. Time to get messy! Cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin, and have your child dig in!  Let them describe the inside of the pumpkin and how it is different from the outside.  Remember to have them draw pictures of each.

4. Have your child pull out the seeds and place them on the plate.  You will probably have to help them clean out the whole pumpkin.  Your child might not be able to count all of the seeds inside since there are so many, but have them tell you if there are a lot of seeds or just a few.

5. Talk about the many things we bake with pumpkins. (pies, cookies, soups, etc.)  Then discuss how you can create jack-o-lanterns, as well.  Ask your child to choose specific shapes for the face of the jack-o-lantern that you make.  Let them make little cuts with their plastic knife.

Lesson 3: Pumpkin Growth Sequence - From Seed to Pumpkin Book
Objectives:
* To understand the sequence of the life cycle of a pumpkin and be able to put pictures of the cycle in the correct order
* To state the life cycle of a pumpkin
* To create a life cycle book using the fine motor skills involved with cutting, hole punching, and tying

Materials:
* life cycle printables from Montessori For Everyone
* 2 pumpkin printouts (I just used clipart)
* scissors
* hole punch
* ribbon or ring to hold book together
* book about pumpkin life cycle if you have one

Procedure:

1. Read or tell your child about the life cycle of a pumpkin.  Talk about the sequence of the cycle and the specific order that a pumpkin grows in. Cut out the pictures of the life cycle and have your child place them in the correct order.

2. On one of the pumpkins, write "From Seed to Pumpkin" as the title of your little book.

3. Align the pictures with the pumpkins and punch a hole in the top and tie a ribbon to create the book.

4. Review this cycle with your book throughout the week!

Lesson 4: Pumpkin Craft
Objectives:
* To review the characteristics of pumpkins, focusing on the outside
* To create a pumpkin craft using the fine motor skills involved with tearing and gluing

Materials:
* pumpkin printable (you can use any pumpkin printout you want to)
* orange, green, and brown construction paper

* glue

Procedure:
1. Tear the orange construction paper into small pieces and glue them on the pumpkin shape.  This is a great activity to build up the tiny muscles in your child's hands and fingers.

2. Tear a few small pieces of brown construction paper and glue them on the stem of the pumpkin.  Discuss how the stem connects the pumpkin to the vine that it grows on.

3. Tear some green pieces of paper and glue them around the stem for leaves.

Lesson 5: Pumpkin Cooking
Objectives:
1. To recognize that pumpkin can be cooked in many different ways and in many different dishes
* To cook whatever you'd like with pumpkin
* To use measurement and cooking skills
* To follow a recipe and understand the order of steps in cooking
* To use the motor skills involved with pouring, stirring, etc.

Materials:
(This lesson is up to you!  There are so many recipes out there with pumpkin, and I'm sure you have your favorites!  Cook whatever your craving!)
* whatever your recipe calls for

Procedure:
* Follow your recipe!  Here are a few that I like:
1. Pumpkin Cheesecake
2. Pumpkin Cookies
3. Pumpkin Gingerbread

Extra Thinking
* Letter Pp - cute crafts here from Totally Tots

* Pumpkin Lessons from 2 Teaching Mommies

* Compare pumpkins and apples in order to review their characteristics and learn their similarities and differences.  You can use a venn diagram for this.

Thinking Theme: Autumn

Letter of the Week: Vv

Number of the Week: 11

Bible Verse of the Week: "Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life." John 6:47

Books:

Songs:
* Fun songs and poems here from DLTK.
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Lesson 1: Autumn Collage
Objectives:
* To understand the season of autumn and the changes that occur during this season
* To learn characteristics/colors of autumn
* To collect leaves, acorns, etc. from outside to create a collage

Materials:
* white construction paper
* tape/glue
* crayons/markers
* cup to gather items from outside

Procedure:

1. Go outside and help your child collect different leaves, grass, acorns, etc. that represent the fall.  Talk about the changes that happen during the autumn season like leaves changing colors and falling off the trees, the air getting cooler, etc.

2. Back inside, write at the top of your paper "Autumn Collage".  Explain that a collage is a collection of things that go together and represent something.  In this case, autumn.



3. Have your child glue or tape the items to the paper randomly.

4. Have your child use red, orange, brown, yellow, and green crayons/markers to draw on their picture.  Talk about how these colors relate to the season.

Lesson 2: Fall Tree (A pinterest find!)
Objectives:
* To understand what happens to the leaves on trees during the fall
* To recognize the colors that the leaves change to during the fall
* To create a picture representing a tree from this season

Materials:
* orange, red, yellow, and brown paint
* 4 Q-tips
* glue
* brown and white construction paper
* 4 paper plates or bowls

Procedure:

1. Put a little bit of each color paint onto a plate/bowl.

2. Cut out a rectangle shape with the brown construction paper and glue it to the white paper.  This will represent the trunk of the tree.

3. Have your child dip the end of a q-tip into the paint and then back onto the white paper.  Do this multiple times with each color.  These dots will represent the leaves.  Make sure to put some dots on the "ground" since the leaves are falling down.

4. A masterpiece!  You might have to help your child create the shape of a tree with the dots as they are painting!

Lesson 3: Which is Different? from 2 Teaching Mommies
Objectives:
* To recognize which picture is different in a row of similar pictures and to state why it is different
* To use the fine motor skills involved with drawing circles

Materials:
* printable #1
* printable #2
* pencil











Procedure:

1. Explain to your child that you will be looking at pictures of things from autumn (scarecrows, crows, and leaves).  Tell them that three of the pictures in a line will be the same, and one will be different.  They will be circling the different one.
* Hint: only show the line that you will be doing, cover the rest as seen here below.*

2. As your child recognizes the picture that is different, have them tell you why it's different (a different color, turned a different way, a different shape, etc.)

Lesson 4: Scarecrow Craft (another pinterest find!)
Objectives:
* To learn what a scarecrow is and the purpose of a scarecrow
* To create a craft representing what a scarecrow looks like
* To use the fine motor skills involved with cutting, gluing, and tracing

Materials:
* orange, yellow, and pink construction paper
* paper plate
* scissors
* glue
* pencil/crayon/marker
* 2 googly eyes

Procedure:

1. Draw a hat shape like this onto orange construction paper and cut it out.

2. Cut 4 small rectangle shapes out of yellow construction paper.  This will be the straw hair.

3. Help your child trace both hands on yellow construction paper and cut them out, as well.



4. Cut out a small yellow triangle for the nose and 2 small pink circles for the cheeks.  

5. Glue 2 rectangles onto one side of the hat and 2 rectangles on the other.

6. Turn the hat and hair over and glue them to the paper plate like this.

7. Turn the plate over and glue each hand to the bottom of the plate like so.

8. Create the face of the scarecrow.

9. Finished product!  So cute!

Lesson 5: Acorn Addition (I love pinterest!)
Objectives:
* To understand the concept of addition in putting 2 or more numbers together to create another number.
* To add certain numbers of acorns together
* To write an addition number sentence to see the written form of addition
* To understand the terms plus and equals

Materials:
* plastic plate with three divided sections (most children's plates have these divisions)
* dry erase marker
* towel
* cup to collect acorns

Procedure:

1. Collect multiple acorns outside and place them in a cup.  If you do not have these in your yard, you can use leaves instead.

2. Have your child place a small amount of acorns in one section of the plate and a small amount in the other.  Let them count the number of acorns in each section.

3. Write the numbers on the lower section of the plate.  Say the number sentence, "3 plus 2 equals..." then have them count the acorns all together to figure out the answer.  Write this number on the plate.

4. Erase the number sentence and repeat the steps with different amounts of acorns.

* This is a great way to visually see how addition works!  I will definitely be doing this again with different objects!

Extra Thinking:
* Letter Vv - make vegetable prints on the letter Vv or these crafts from Totally Tots

* Leaf Rubbings - collect different types of leaves, place them under a piece of white paper, and rub crayons over them to see the shapes and lines of the leaves

* Fall File Folder Games from File Folder Fun