The pumpkin seed math game is perfect to use while studying addition or multiplication. You may like to keep it in a box inside your game cabinet to use on rainy days, too.
Materials:
- Free "Pumpkin Seed Math Game" Template
- construction paper (orange for pumpkin & green or brown for stem)
- cardboard
- egg carton
- tape or glue
- pumpkin seeds or beans (1 seed per student)
- black marker
- A piece of scratch paper to keep track of scores.
Instructions:
Day #1
Teacher
- Use the free template to trace a pumpkin onto the cardboard.
Students
- Cover the cardboard pumpkin with orange construction paper.
- Glue or tape on the green stem.
- Cut out 7 cups from the egg carton.
- Paint each cup yellow. (Let the paint dry.)
- As the paint is drying, write a number "2" (or whatever # you want to practice) on each seed with the permanent black marker. (1 seed per student).
Day #2
- Write the numbers 1-7 inside each yellow cup.
- Glue or tape the cups to the orange pumpkin in the shape of a Jack-o'-lantern.
Play the Game
Each student has 3 beans or pumpkin seeds. Each seed has the number of study on it (e.g. 2)
Try to throw the seed/bean inside the cups. Each time you make it in the cup add or multiply (depending upon if you are studying addition or multiplication) the total on the seed and the cup. For example, if you have 2 on the seed and you have a 5 on the cup and you were studying addition, you would add 2 + 5 = 7. (If you were studying multiplication, 2 x 5 = 10.)
Let each student playing the game do this three times. Take one turn and then give the seed to your neighbor. You will take turns until you each have three tries.
The person with the highest score wins.
Additional Uses:
Different Season - You could also make a heart, apple or snowman instead of a pumpkin.
Division or Subtraction - You could also use the number on the seed and the number in the cup in a subtraction or division problem.
Differentiate Instruction - After assessements, you can assign each student a seed with the number most challening to him. For example, if the student finds multiplying by 3 challenging. Give the student a seed with the number 3 on it.
Halloween Jack-O'-Lantern Craft & Lesson Plan
Here's a lesson plan and Jack-o'-lantern craft with a free, printable template for the craft.
Craft Materials:
- Jack-O'-Lantern Frame Free, Printable Template
- Construction Paper (orange & green)
- Scissors (1 per student)
- Glue (1 per student)
- Pencil (1 per student)
- Googly Eyes (2 per student)
- Pipe Cleaners or Wikki Stix (green, 1 per student. Used as a twisted vine near the stem & leaf.)
- Magnets (optional, 1 per student)
Craft Instructions:
Teacher
Print the template onto card stock, cut it out and use a marker to trace it onto construction paper (orange for pumpkin, green for stem & leaf.)
Students cut out the pieces & follow these instructions:
- Glue leaf & stem onto the Jack-o'-lantern.
- Twist the pipe cleaners around the pencil. Glue onto the back of the jack-o'-lantern near the stem.
- Glue on the nose.
- Glue on the googly eyes.
- Glue the magnet on the back.
- Glue picture of the child wearing his/her Halloween costume inside the frame.
- Send home now or save for the classroom memory book (which is sent home at the end of the year.)
Lesson Plan
(I suggest the following order: 1. Show Photos, 2. Share History & Poem, 3. Do the Craft, 4. Read Aloud the Story. Please adjust order as you find necessary.)
Show Photographs of Jack-O'-Lanterns
Do a search on the Internet and find several photographs of Jack-o'-lanterns. Print out a few to share.
-or-
Call the school librarian and ask her if there are any jack-o'-lantern books in the library and have a volunteer parent or student assistant bring the books to you. :)
Share & Discuss the History of the Tradition & a Poem
"North American Tradition
A traditional Irish Halloween Jack-o'-lantern from the early 20th century on display in the Museum of Country Life, Ireland.Throughout Ireland and Britain, there is a long tradition of carving lanterns from vegetables, particularly the turnip, mangelwurzel, or swede.[1] But not until 1837 does jack-o'-lantern appear as a term for a carved vegetable lantern,[2] and the carved lantern does not become associated specifically withHalloween until 1866.[3] Significantly, both occurred not in Ireland or Britain, but in North America. Historian David J. Skal writes,
Although every modern chronicle of the holiday repeats the claim that vegetable lanterns were a time-honored component of Halloween celebrations in the British Isles, none gives any primary documentation. In fact, none of the major nineteenth-century chronicles of British holidays and folk customs make any mention whatsoever of carved lanterns in connection with Halloween. Neither do any of the standard works of the early twentieth century.[4]
In America, the carved pumpkin was first associated with the harvest season in general, long before it became an emblem of Halloween.[5] The poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who was born in 1807, wrote in
"The Pumpkin" (1850):[6]
“ Oh!—fruit loved of boyhood!—the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!"
(9/10/09, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack-o'-lantern)
Read Aloud
Read aloud the classic book, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown by Bill Melendez and Christopher Shea. (It might even be in your classroom library, school library or public library.) You can also read aloud any other pumkin or jack-o'-lantern book you have in your classroom library.
Discuss the difference between a pumkin and a jack-o'-lantern before reading any of the books you choose from. When you see a pumpkin or jack-o'-lantern while reading ask, "Is this a pumkin or Jack-o'-lantern?"
