If It's October, It Must Be Pumpkin Time

This past week, I've been working on the nursery rhyme, "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" with my first graders. They LOVE this rhyme!   I brought in a couple of small pie pumpkins and we cut them open.  I cut while they watched (of course!) and then we scooped out the pulpy strings and seeds.  I purposely did not make the pumpkins into jack o'lanterns because I wanted the kids to see what a pumpkin "shell" looked like.  I left the hollowed out pumpkins in my room for three days and let the students lift off the lids and peek inside the pumpkins.  We all decided that living in a pumpkin shell would not keep one "very well" at all!  We thought it would be very stinky and messy.

Last week, I found a few interesting activities to add to my Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater lesson.  I like the Itsy Bitsy book from Kidzone. ( Note:  If you haven't put together one of the Itsy Bitsy books, read the directions first.  It takes a little manipulation, but it gets easier once you've made a few.)
Thematic Itsy Bitsy Books

I thought the Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater puppets from First School were fun, too.  Puppets are always great activity to do with English Language Learners. 

First-School Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater activities 

Finally, I found some great graphic sequence cards on a blog called Montessori for Everyone.  I definitely will use the Pumpkin Life Cycle cards, but I see a lot more useful materials for future sequencing lessons. 

Free sequence cards from Montessori for Everyone 

Have a great October!