Fun Pumpkin Jack Activities Lesson Ideas and a Free File
Pumpkin Jack Activities and Read Aloud Lesson Plans
We love Will Hubbell’s book, Pumpkin Jack. Regardless if you include this great book in your Halloween activities or a follow-up activity to a visit to the pumpkin patch! This book is a great way to launch your pumpkin unit.
Fall is a wonderful time of year to explore all things pumpkin. You may even want to a few of your own pumpkins into the classroom for some science experiments.
Here is a brief summary of the book Pumpkin Jack: Tim’s carved pumpkin starts to rot so Tim’s mother suggests that he should place it in the garden. Over time he observes the pumpkin changes and takes care of his decomposing pumpkin. Then by that next fall season, he has observed the pumpkin seeds turn into pumpkin plants. Soon he has a whole patch of pumpkins!
Pumpkin Jack Read Aloud Lesson Plans
We love the book Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell.
This blog post contains affiliate links, but my opinions are my own.
I remember growing up and being a bit sad when our jack-o-lanterns melted into decomposition.
But this book is fantastic for looking at the life cycle of a pumpkin!
Pumpkin Jack Reading Comprehension Questions
This book is a great opportunity to talk about the narrative text. We ask students to create their own visual images from the text and retell the story in sequential order. You can see our students attached the Pumpkin Jack picture sequence cards to the pumpkin craft. You will find this free pumpkin craft template at the end of this post.
Pumpkin Life Cycle
Additionally, this book offers the opportunity to discuss the pumpkin life cycle.
Students will create their own pumpkin life cycle project as well!
Will Hubbel’s book is a great Halloween Picture book so we included it in our Engaging Readers units. You can find this set of activities by clicking:
Pumpkin Science Activity
Science lessons with pumpkins are so much fun. There are a lot of hands-on learning that covers many different subject areas.
Students can count the seeds in different size pumpkins.
You can also experiment with floating pumpkins. Will the small pumpkins float or will the big pumpkin sink?
Will opening the pumpkin shell make a difference?
Videos about Pumpkins
There are some great pumpkin science videos you can share with your students. This video is a time lapse video showing the decomposition of a pumpkin! This video takes the pumpkin from jack-o-lantern to a pumpkin plant again! So cool!
If you decided to create an observation center so students could watch the process of decomposition, this video above may give you a few ideas.
You may want to include a few children’s books about plants or pumpkins to the literacy center.
You could even add pumpkin decomposition journals at the center so students could record their observations.
Pumpkin Carving Science
We all would love to get our hands slimy with pumpkins (kidding). Or maybe you are short on time! This is a great video you can use before (or instead of) hands on fun!
And if you want a general video on how Pumpkins grow, this video is fantastic!
Lesson Plan template
Would you like a free lesson plan template like this one? Simple! Just click on this image to grab it from my Google Drive.
Free Pumpkin Craft
If you would like to download this free pumpkin craftivity, simply add your email information to the box below.
Pin for Later
Recommended Posts
Deedee Wills
My teaching career allowed me to experience teaching in different classroom environments and grades. My heart belongs to early childhood education. My job is to make teaching FUN, ENGAGING, and EASIER. Welcome!
Hi, I'm DeedeE.
My teaching career allowed me to experience teaching in different classroom environments and grades. My heart belongs to early childhood education. My job is to make teaching FUN, ENGAGING, and EASIER. Welcome!
Â
Free curriculum planning Map
Use Promo Code: WILLS
SHOP
Latest Posts
You Might Also Enjoy...
2 Responses
What a perfect lesson for Halloween weeks. Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome!!!