During their Integrated Learning and Information Science (ILIS) classes, JK students have been learning about pumpkins and the Fall season. We read several books that focus on the changing of seasons and on the changes we are seeing all around us as we move into Fall. We talked about Fall pumpkins and the changing of colors on leaves. JKers created talking pumpkins to describe their favorite thing about the Fall season.
From Seed to Pumpkin is a nonfiction picture book that explains the life cycle of a pumpkin, from a tiny seed planted in the spring to a large, orange pumpkin ready for harvest in the fall. The book describes how a farmer plants the seeds, how the plants grow, and how they are cared for by removing weeds and attracting bees to pollinate the flowers. The book highlights the key stages: a seed sprouts roots and a stem, grows broad leaves that make food from sunlight, water, and air, and develops a vine with a flower that produces a tiny fruit, which then ripens into a large, orange pumpkin.
Leaves is a children's picture book by David Ezra Stein about a young bear experiencing his first autumn. When the leaves fall, the bear tries to put them back on the trees, but eventually, he burrows into the leaf pile for a long winter nap. When he wakes up in the spring, the trees are covered in new leaves, and he joyfully greets the new season.
When learning all about Fall, JK students learned how pumpkins grow for months by starting out as a small seed that eventually turns into a gian pumpkine! JKers chose their favorite pumpkin color: white, orange, or green. Once students chose their favorite pumpkin color, we recorded their voices to make TALKING PUMPKINS! We used an app called Chatterpix to animate the pumpkins and record JKers voices. These "talking pumpkins" are in harvest baskets below our Fall tree in the Kovler Library.
You can come and scan their pumpkins to SEE and HEAR their pumpkins talk on your device, or, you can borrow an iPad from the Kovler Library. Please come and see their pumpkins come to life!