Pumpkins!
We're trying our hands at some informational writing this October! Later in the year, third graders will do an independent research project about a MN Zoo animal, so this pumpkin research project we do as a whole class to get the gist of researching.
We read a book about pumpkins all together and then took some notes in our flip books. We will write a few informational paragraphs from our notes later this week. As you notice, one of the areas of research is "What is it like on the inside?" so naturally we had to open up these pumpkins to investigate a little further!
The investigating this morning was actually two-fold. I slipped in a little math without them hardly realizing it! :) First, students had to walk around and make some predictions about circumference, weight, and number of seeds. The kids also voted for their favorite looking pumpkin.
Next, we did an accurate circumference measurement, weighed each pumpkin, and finally got to dig in and count the seeds! This was a huge job and these pumpkins held more seeds than the kids thought! We also took a moment to write descriptions on the board (later to put in our flip books) about our observations of the insides of the pumpkins!
We grouped the seeds into piles of 10 so we could count them easily!
This was voted the most favorite pumpkin!
This was our largest pumpkin at 19.4 pounds with 631 seeds inside!
This pumpkin had a little rotten spot, so they worked around the yucky part!
Our data!
Woo Hoo...New Selfie Stick!
Buddies!
We also got a chance to read with our Kindergarten Buddies this morning! The third graders were wonderful leaders and readers!
We'll have a chance to read with our buddies a few more times this year. We also get to sit near them during all school assemblies! It's a neat way to make connections and friendships across the school!