1. Overview: How can we use pumpkins?

, Pumpkins, Nicole Velez, Preschool

2. Objectives/Justification/Standards
a) ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS / KEY IDEAS: How can all the parts of the pumpkin be
used? How do different cultures use pumpkins? How can we use pumpkins in different
ways?
b) OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to (SWBAT):
❖ Analyze how the different parts of the pumpkin can be used in various cultures
and for various creatures.
Reading Informational Text:
➢ RI.PK.7 With prompting and support, tell how the illustrations support the
text (information or topic) in informational text.
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:
➢ L.PK.4,a,b Begin to determine the meaning of new words and phrases
introduced through preschool reading and content.
❖ Illustrate how they use pumpkins in their family.
Visual and Performing Arts:
➢ 1.4.4 Demonstrate a growing ability to represent experiences, thoughts,
and ideas through a variety of age-appropriate materials and visual art
media using memory, observation, and imagination.
Social Studies:
➢ 6.1.2 Demonstrate an understanding of family roles and traditions.
Writing:
➢ W.PK.2 Use a combination of drawings, dictation, scribble writing, letter-
strings, or invented spelling to share information during play or other
activities.
❖ Share how their picture relates to their family’s use of pumpkins.
Social Studies:
➢ 6.1.3 Express individuality and cultural diversity.
➢ 6.1.2 Demonstrate an understanding of family roles and traditions.
Speaking and Listening:
➢ SL.PK.4 Begin to describe familiar people, places, things, and events and
sometimes with detail.
➢ SL.PK.5 Use drawings or visual displays to add to descriptions to provide
additional detail.
 c) Justification: In previous learning experiences students have learned about the parts
of the pumpkin and pumpkin growth. They have also carved a pumpkin in as a whole
class and made a jack-o-lantern. As the students were participating in small group
instruction for the previous learning experience on parts of the pumpkin, a student asked
what pumpkin tasted like and if they could eat it. I explained that parts of the pumpkin
could be eaten or used to make food and in many places around the world they do eat
pumpkin. In addition to that, during the pumpkin carving, my cooperating teacher
explained that pumpkin seeds could be baked in the oven and eaten. This sparked interest
in the students, as several were heard saying “really?!” and some were observed
scrunching their faces up. Students have also been heard discussing trips to local farm,
Duffield’s, picking pumpkins with their family. According to the constructivist view of
learning, contextual learning is important for students because it builds connections to
knowledge and experience. They are building meaning based on experience, so in having
the students analyze the use of pumpkins worldwide and connecting it to their personal
experience with their family, they are able to deepen the thinking; thus building a
stronger understanding of pumpkins.
3. Assessment
Pre-Assessment: To begin instruction, I will uses the thumbs up, thumbs up,
checklist type of assessment. I will have a list of questions on a sheet of paper, and I
will ask the students to either put their thumbs up if they know about a certain topic
or thumbs down if they do not. In the checklist, I will record how many students have
thumbs up and how many have thumbs down. Questions will include: Thumbs up if
you know what a tradition is? Can you give me an example? Thumbs up if you know
one way you can use a pumpkin? Example? Thumbs up if your family uses pumpkins
in the fall. Thumbs up if you think that pumpkins are used the same way all over the
world. This not only tells me students prior knowledge, but their dispositions going
into the learning experience.
Checking for understanding: After reading the text, the students will be challenged
to, with prompting and guidance, students will be retelling to a partner and then share
with the whole group, how pumpkins are used in different places using the pictures
from the text for support. Anecdotal notes will be taken gauge understanding and
ability to retell.
Post-Assessment: The students will be illustrating and sharing the traditions that
their family have that revolve around pumpkins with both their peers and me.
 Through this discussion the students will demonstrate the knowledge and
understanding they have regarding their family traditions surrounding pumpkins and
the new vocabulary taught.
4. Learning Experience
Brief description of learning experiences:
This lesson will begin with quick introductory questions used to gauge prior
knowledge and disposition. (Reference questions can be found in the pre-assessment
section of the lesson plan). During this time I will be introduce some new vocabulary
including tradition, carving, roasting, and stacking. This new vocabulary words will
come up in the text to be read and connect to pumpkin use. We will then go on a field
visit to a pumpkin in patch in which we will pick pumpkins and briefly talk about
what we can do with them. After completing this, we will read the book that I put
together based on how various places and even creature use pumpkins. (citations for
the book created and book created are attached at the end of this lesson). As each
new use of pumpkin is introduced, I will use the map of the world as a reference in
order to illustrate where each place is in accordance with the United States of
America. In reading each page I will ask the students, “How does this place use
pumpkins?” Upon finishing the book, I will walk back through the pages, showing
the students pictures, and giving them the place the picture is referring. Prompting
and Guiding along the way, the students will be asked to retell how each place uses
pumpkins and even how some creatures use pumpkins with both a partner and then
share with the group. Then I will quickly talk about how this is connected to how we
use pumpkins. For example, animals eat pumpkins and so do we, but we cook it first.
Once the review is complete. I will explain to the students how my family uses
pumpkins. Discussing that my family likes to have pumpkin carving contests and it is
always a lot of fun. Students will then be asked to illustrate how their family uses
pumpkins in their house. If they do not use pumpkins in their home, the students will
be encourage to illustrate a way that they would like to use a pumpkin in their
illustration. Scaffolding and back and forth discussion will be provided on an
individual level in order to support each child’s learning. After students complete
their pictures. They will be asked to share and explain their pictures to their fellow
classmates.
Connected learning experience: There are several connected learning experience to
this particular learning experience. Students will go on a virtual field visit to a
pumpkin patch in order to learn how to pick pumpkins and even talk briefly about the
cycle of growth and how we can use the pumpkins once they are harvested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmwIsqWKnnY There will also be a connected
experience next week in culminating activity, in which the students have a visit with
an expert in pumpkin carving but the students will learn about the different ways
pumpkins can be carved, since this is the typical use of pumpkins.
Expert Pumpkin Carver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3f_1pXKZ7E- Russ
Leno. Parents will be encourage to have their student describe the picture to them and
create a written dicated story that explains the pumpkin traditions at their house. Fake
pumpkins and even some dried out pumpkin seeds will also be placed in the dramatic
play area to integrate the experience into pretend play.
Considerations for diverse learners
Patterns of Learning- this small group of students presented with various
levels of language skills and ability to orally communicate effectively. They
have displayed a pattern of high engagement in classroom activities and
willingness to participate as observed during circle time and other small
group activities. This particular group of students were also observed to be
more cooperative in small group settings, thriving on one to one experiences,
which small group can better provide an environment for.
Interdisciplinary and integrated learning experiences- In this lesson
students will be connecting social studies, literacy and art to deepen their
understanding of pumpkins. Technology is integrated through the use of a
virtual pumpkin picking field visit. They will also be able to meet with a
pumpkin carving expert through technology, receiving tips on pumpkin
carving, the common use of pumpkins in our area. In deepening student’s
language and literacy, they will provided with new vocabulary to be
encountered in the text and possibly applied to their stories about how their
families use pumpkins. The new vocabulary words include traditions, carving,
roasting, and stacking. The vocabulary words will be reviewed, repeated, and
as they come across in the book, students will be prompted and guided in
attempting to define the words. These words could also be added to the word
wall. In early childhood, exposure to and review of new words, both sight and
content related, help to enrich the child’s overall language and literacy
development.
Play and active construction of learning- Throughout this lesson,
continuous scaffolding, modeling and back and forth discussion will occur to
support the student’s play and active construction of learning. The students
will be partaking in continual conversation about the uses of pumpkins and
will help me in retelling how the various places and animals use pumpkins.
They will also be actively constructing their own stories of pumpkin use. In
addition to the lesson, the students will be partaking in a virtual field visit to a
pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins and talk about what they are used for.
Addressing higher level thinking skills and self-regulation- throughout this
lesson students are working on their critical thinking skills in building
connections between themselves and others, and even with the text. They are
working on self-regulation skills as they take turns and work on their listening
skills as others share their family traditions with pumpkins.
Multimodal and multisensory experiences- This learning experience lends
itself to several multisensory and multimodal experiences through the use of
technology, field visits, verbal, and visual experiences to support their
development and learning. The sharing and conversation surround the entire
lesson support verbal skills and helps students development listening and
speaking skills. Visually, I provide several forms of visual aid to support and
deepen understand of the content in the learning experience. In order to
support a student with a speech impediment, I will provide verbal supports
and repetition of details from his story, ensuring to highlight and verify the
information that may have been unclear in the student’s original verbal
explanation. This allows me to verify the story that he was sharing with his
peers, even though I may not necessarily be able to understand everything
that he originally explained. I will also use the picture that he draws as a
visual aid to assist me in understanding the story he shares. I will ensure to
ask that each student if they would mind sharing their tradition with the group
before they share, to account for students who were not comfortable with
sharing. If they are not comfortable sharing with the whole group, I will give
them the option to just speak to me about their picture but note that if they do
not wish to share they do not need too.
Approaches to learning
 a. initiative, engagement, and persistence- students will take initiative
and show persistence in their illustrations and sharing. This lesson address
engagement in providing individual scaffolding and asking critical
thinking questions about how pumpkins are used in various places and by
various creatures in the wild.
b. creativity and imagination- The student are showing creativity and
using their imagination and they are planning and creating their
illustration and in how they tell the story about their family tradition with
pumpkins.
c. Children identify and solve problems- Once the story is read and the
students are taking place in a discussion, they will be required to use and
demonstrate problem solving skills in address what customs were used
where in the world.
d. Children apply what they have learned to new situations- In
applying the idea of tradition and family, the student will be creating an
illustration and retelling a story in which they used a pumpkin with their
family.
Next Steps: In looking forward, student’s investigation into pumpkins will be coming to a close.
They will meet the expert pumpkin carver, Russ Leno, and get some tips on how to carve a
pumpkin like an expert. Students will receive their work from the unit back, placed into a
portfolio or book of sorts to share with their parents. This is an effective way to collect authentic
student work from across the project and provide a record of the investigations they conducted
over the course of the learning experiences. Lastly, to close all that we have learned about
pumpkins, the students and I will sing a song that I created reviews everything we learned about
pumpkins. The students will be encouraged to sing along the second time and to move like a
pumpkin, or the various parts of the pumpkin. These two activities are a fun way to celebrate
accomplishments and all that we have learned. In connection with Howard Gardner’s theory, a
student’s intelligence is broken down into “Multiple Intelligences” that bring a collection of
varied skills and knowledge to each child. In having the students learn a song and do some dance
moves that incorporate all of the information they have investigated, the students able to learn
through various intelligences, building their unique sense of problem solving, understanding and
critical thinking through their Musical, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, verbal,
naturalist, and visual Intelligences.
Book I created and the bibliography for the information included.
Biblography
Great Global Pumpkin: Harvest Traditions and Recipes from Around the World. (2013,
October
10). Retrieved October 31, 2017, from http://www.coca-
colacompany.com/stories/great-global-pumpkin-harvest-traditions-and-recipes-
from-around-the-world

Halloween Traditions and Celebrations Around the World. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31,
 2017, from
http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/halloweenglobal.php
Interpro Translation Solutions. (2017). 12 Unique Halloween Traditions Around The World.
[online] Available at: https://www.interproinc.com/blog/halloween-traditions-
around-the-world [Accessed 31 Oct. 2017].
Lopez-McHugh, Nancy. “Celebrating Día De Los Muertos: Calabaza En Tacha.” NBC cha/.
Latino, 31
Oct. 2012, nbclatino.com/2012/10/31/celebrating-dia-de-los-muertos-calabaza-en-ta

Song for the culminating activity:

SUNG TO THE TUNE OF TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR

Pumpkin Pumpkin, just a seed

Grow into a pumpkin please
Move from seed to sprout to flower
Then to a vine, green, then orange.
Pumpkin Pumpkin, fully grown
Now I can pick you and take you home.

Pumpkin Pumpkin was a seed

Now it is big as can be
It has orange skin, some ribs, a stem
Squishy pulp, seeds, way more than then ten!
Pumpkin Pumpkin was a seed
Now it grew big as can be.

Pumpkin Pumpkin big and bright.

How can I use you tonight.
Maybe carve a spooky face,
Cook the parts, or stack them in place
Pumpkin Pumpkin big and bright
How should I use you tonight.