I purchased on TpT this Pumpkin Science Investigation to do with the kids these two days of school: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pumpkin-Science-Investigation I only used the stations for Science and Math, and left the reading activities to the RLA teachers.
Yesterday I had the kids bring one pumpkin per team, so we did the stations for weight, height, circumference, number of ribs, and number of seeds. That made a total for 6 teams. Every kid had a trifold investigation log to record their predictions, actual measurements and comparison between the two.
Today we read the informational cards and completed the "background information" on the trifold investigation log. We also had an activity with the the Multiple Response Strategy "numbers in the poster". I displayed the pumpkin with the name of their parts and placed a number on each. I read the definition for each part and the kids, using their pinch cards, showed the appropriate label for it by pinching a number. This is how they also completed the parts of a pumpkin in their investigation log.
They decorated the logs, and then we moved on to the fun part: open the pumpkin. They observed the pumpkin's insides and estimated a number of seeds, recording it on their log. I handed out gloves and we covered the tables with newspaper, but I even had a team that came prepared with a tablecloth :)
I asked them to get a handful of seeds/pulp and then count how many seeds they were able to get. They rounded the number and record it on a piece of paper (one per team). Since the objective was "students will estimate products in real-life situations", they were able to notice that estimating was more appropriate than counting one by one all of them. The students kept on scooping out the seeds and counting how many they had, then writing down their rounded number of seeds. At the end, they had a list of numbers like: 20, 20, 30, 10, 40, 40, 40, 50, etc. We noticed that they were some equal groups, so they made the connection, and instead of adding, they decided to multiply. Then, they added the products and found the approximated number of seeds that were in their pumpkin.
Estimation is really hard for students to grasp, because they just shout out numbers like "one million!", "five hundred thousand!". So by really having their hands as a benchmark, they could experience estimating.
I must say, my kids had a lot of fun! The only bad thing is that I am not a fan of pumpkin and my classroom has been smelly all day... guess that is why I have a horrible headache. After the break I'll post pictures of the bulletin board outside the school. We created some cute 3D pumpkins with 6 word problems that include multiplying and dividing. I'll be posting the word problems too, just in case you like them! :)
Anyway, today's the last day, and now off to enjoy the rest of the week with my family that is visiting from Mexico... yay!!! I haven't seen my sister in a year! I am so excited that my mom, brother, sister, a cousin and an aunt come and spend Thanksgiving with me. I am so blessed that they have a chance to come, and I am thankful for the time and money they are investing in making this trip.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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