Name: Jennifer Heckel Lesson Title: All About Pumpkins!

Introduction: In this lesson, students will learn about the lifecycle of pumpkin prior to taking a field trip to the pumpkin patch. Students will discuss prior knowledge, read a book to introduce how pumpkins grow, sequence the pumpkin growth cycle on Padlet, and then take a trip to see the process in action. Content Area and Grade Level of Students: Kindergarten Science Objectives: The students will be able pictures and key words. The students will be able growth. The students will be able (kidwrite). The students will be able pumpkins.

to identify stages in pumpkin growth through to draw a picture showing a stage of pumpkin to write words that match their pictures to order the events regarding the growth of

Standards Addressed: Common Core English Language Arts Kindergarten 2- Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic. Common Core English Language Arts Kindergarten 3- Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened. Duration: Three 30 minute class lesson slots prior to the field trip for lesson acitivies, and then two 30 minute writing slots after taking field trip for lesson assessment project on storyjumper.com. Materials Needed: Smartboard or Computer with projector, Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jane Titherington, digital camera, computer with internet access.

Lesson Procedure: Prior to learning about pumpkins, assess where the students are at with their knowledge of pumpkins. Use a KWL Chart from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Education Places website. If you have a Smart Board to access or a projector, project this graphic organizer for the whole class to work on together. If a Smart Board is not accessible, you can use Penzu to create an online notebook to make a KWL chart that looks simliar. This notebook can be accessed on the class iPad or online. Here is a screenshot of the created All About Pumpkins notebook in Penzu:

Using this information, teachers can tailor the information presented to students. After completing the KWL chart, the teacher will read Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jane Titherington. This story shows the sequence from pumpkin seeds to full grown pumpkins in great illustrations. Students will then use their new knowledge of the pumpkin growth cycle to create a graphic visual of the process using Padlet. The teacher created a site named Pumpkin Pumpkin. Please click the link to be taken to the wall. Here, the teacher can mix up the sequence of words and pictures, and the class can work together to put the words with the right pictures and then put the pictures in the right order according to what they learned in the book.

 The children then will take a trip to a local farm to see the process in action. At Solly Brothers Farm in Jamison, PA, the farmers take the children through the process by taking them on a hayride through the growing pumpkin patch, exploring pumpkin seeds and vines, and then allowing children to walk through the patch to pick their own pumpkin. Assessment: As an assesment activity after the field trip, students will create a class book on Storyjumper.com that highlights their learning through the book and at the farm. Here is a screen shot of the cover of the class book:

Each student will draw a picture on paper, and using a digital camera, the teacher will take a picture and upload it to storyjumper.com. Then, the students will work with a teacher to type words to match their picture. The teacher will look for words that match pictures and understanding of the growth stages of pumpkins. The teacher will put the pictures/words in sequential order, and then share the book with parents through email and link on class website.