Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Everywhere

I have been working with Kindergarten and First Graders on the pumpkin life cycle this week using the Super 3 process. We talked about where we could find more information about pumpkins and several were thoughtful enough to include pumpkin farmers along with the usual books, computer, smart phone, etc. We looked at photos of different stages of the pumpkin life cycle and watched a short clip of a pumpkin growing. I like to also read the book Pumpkin Jack, but it was already checked out this year when I looked for it.

We talked about the steps and how a cycle repeats. It also helped to explain why the pumpkins are green for a while by comparing them with tomatoes and bananas that are green before they are ripe. 

I had the Kindergarteners shorten the cycle to 4 steps of the life cycle and their end products looked something like these.

For the first graders, we talked a little more about what cycle means and that it repeats. We added the step of the green pumpkin into the life cycle also. Here are some of their products.