How many seeds in our pumpkin?

Last week was all things pumpkin! We've been reading and talking about what happens in the fall, and one thing that happens near us is that pumpkins get harvested, and start to appear all around the neighborhood! So for the past week or two, we've been writing, tracing, and drawing pumpkins, as well as counting with candy pumpkins. We also did a math project where we estimated and then counted how many seeds were in our pumpkin! The kids loved and hated pulling the guts out of the pumpkin as you can see from the expressions on their faces :)

School forest field trip & fall party

Last Wednesday was a big day! We had our first field trip, to the school forest, on a beautiful fall day. We also had our fall party where we played fall bingo, did an "exploding pumpkins" science experiment, made scarecrows, and had delicious treats. Thanks to all the parents who volunteered, came on the field trip, or sent in treats! It was a very fun day. (I only went with one group around the forest, so that's why there are fewer pictures of half the class - but I love how the whole class picture turned out against the barn!)

Pumpkin patch fun

I haven't had a chance to post pictures from our pumpkin patch field trip! It was beautiful weather for a trip to the pumpkin farm, and the kids had a lot of fun on the hay ride, picking out a pumpkin, and going on a scavenger hunt! Here are some pictures. Thanks to all the chaperones who came along! Happy Halloween to everyone!

More pumpkins!

After our very fun pumpkin patch field trip, our science unit last week was all about pumpkins. Here are some pictures from our pumpkin investigation:

First we brainstormed describing words for what the pumpkin looked like on the outside.

Then we did some measurements and found out if our pumpkin would sink or float! (it sunk)

Then we read the book How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? and made predictions about how many seeds our pumpkin had.

In order to find out the answer, we had to get the seeds out and count them! Here are kids working with their table partners to separate the seeds from the pulp and count them up. In the end, our pumpkin at 455 seeds. Grace was the kindergartener with the closest guess :)

And last but not least, after reading and watching a video on the pumpkin life cycle, we planted our pumpkin seeds! Who knows if they'll germinate in time this fall, but it was fun to do :)