OOOOPPSS! Be kind to a beginning blogger!

 

OCTOBER CELEBRATIONS: 

 

OOOOPPPSS - I'm new at this "blogging thing" and just figured out the not one, but two of my posts in the last couple of months have been sitting in a draft folder AND DIDN'T GET POSTED!  For those of you collecting the monthly booklists and monthly celebrations, here's the 2 that will round out the montly collection

 

 How many seeds are there in a big pumpkin? Medium? Small? Counting pumpkins is messy business but once the slimy job is done, to everyone's surprise the smallest pumpkin has the most seeds.

 Order Up: Pumpkin shaped die cuts can be used to order the letters of the alphabet.  Attach velcro to the back of the die cuts and matching velcro on a strip of black ribbon. Variation: Instead of all 26 letters of the alphabet, put out the letters starting with K or P . . .  you get the idea.  Do the same thing with numbers.

What's in the Haunted House? After reading the book In the Haunted House by Eve Bunting have a class discussion about all the things that could be lurking inside a haunted house.  Draw a large outline of a haunted house on brown butcher paper and hang in the writing center.  On strips of paper, students write what they imagine might be in there and paste the written strip on the outline.  The finished product becomes a story starter for writing Halloween stories.

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? Cut open different kinds/sizes of pumpkins.  Put the students in pairs or small groups to count the pumpkins.  Use portion cups for every 10 pumpkin seeds. Each pair or group should be ready to come back to the large group and report the number of seeds in their pumpkin.  All the seeds are added together for a class total. At the end of the activity read the book How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara and see if your class discovered the same thing!   

 

Decomposing Pumpkin: After counting the seeds, cut one section of the pumpkin into small pieces. Put the pumpkin pieces in a tightly sealed clear jar.  Leave the jar in the Discovery (Science) center for the remainder of the month.  Whatever you do, do not open the jar! Have students record the experiment as well as the changes that occur to the pumpkin over the course of the month in their Discovery journals. Writing and Science integration at it's finest.

 

 

 More Decomposing Pumpkin: If your school has a community garden or if you are a brave soul, leave your pumpkin outside and document it every month. Photos of the process make for a very interesting bulletin board display.  Have students document the process monthly in their Discovery journals.

 

 

 

 Jack-o-Lanterns: This Halloween activity has a lot of layers to it and that's what makes it so effective.  Die cut pumpkins from thin orange craft foam.  Also die cut different shapes from the same type of craft foam - only in black.  Put the shapes in a small Halloween gift sack.  First step is for students to sort the shapes.  Then have them make different faces on their pumpkin shape that would represent different emotions.  For example:  Make a mad face.  Talk with the students about what might make them mad.  Remove the shapes and try an excited face.  Repeat.  After the discussion about feelings, students make a variety of different faces using the shapes.  When they have a face they like, they draw the face onto a recording sheet. Repeat.  Lots of skills involved with this activity.  Thanks to the wonderful Kindergarten teachers at Daybreak Elementary in South Jordan, Utah for this one!

 

Mosaic Pumpkins: Students draw a pumpkin on white art paper.  The wilder the pumpkin, the darker the crayon, the better the outcome.  This might take several days.  When the pumpkins are finished, have students crumple up the paper so it fits in the palm of their hand. (This cracks the wax and helps give the final project a "batiky" look.) Flatten out the paper and paint over the entire paper with black tempera paint.  Quickly wash off most of the black paint.  The paint sticks to the plain paper and in between the cracks of the waxed crayon. These are real stunners! Note: I usually run an old iron over the back of the paper after they've dried for a crisp and finished look. 

 

Magic Show: Turn your Halloween party into a Magic Show by conducting simple but "show stopping" (anyway by Kindergarten standards!) experiments . . . er . . . I mean magic tricks.  Every year I do something different.  Static electricity: "I can make my hair stand straight up without touching it."  Rub a balloon on a piece of wool.  Put it near your hair and - straight up! Same principle applies with making a Cheerio move without touching it.  (In the picture I have the Cheerio tied to a string and taped to the edge of the desk.)  Static Electricity can also be used to move salt and pepper across a table - without touching it!  Can you make an egg float?  I can.  First put an egg in a container with just water.  It sinks.  Add 6 T. of a magic ingredient (We know it's salt, but THEY  don't) and the egg now floats!  Be sure to explain to the scientific principle to the students after each demonstration. Dancing raisins? Color mixing? Which coke can will sink and which will float?  Any simple experiments work - it's all in your delivery!  oo