Free Kindergarten Lesson- How to Grow a Jack-O-Lantern/The Pumpkin Life Cycle

Since I gave you The 14 Best Pumpkin Picture Books  Book List last week, I felt it was only fitting that I hook you up with a lesson plan to go along with one of those books.  

This free lesson plan is perfect for Kindergarten, First(1st), or Second(2nd) Grade, and it is perfect right now during the Fall/Autumn season before Halloween whether you are a librarian or a classroom teacher.  Of course, you can adapt it to your individual circumstance as well; special Ed or an older grade level could easily adapt this lesson just a little to have it work marvelously. 

This How to Grow a Jack-O-Lantern, and The Pumpkin Life Cycle lesson plan has you reading, Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington as a class read aloud.  The students will use their prediction skills at the beginning of the lesson, as well as assess their comprehension of the text by recalling the steps of the pumpkin life cycle.  It's an easy but valuable lesson that I loved teaching every year in the library. 

I also have a SmartBoard Notebook file that goes along perfectly with this lesson. I am happy to send it to you if you leave your email in the comments below or email me {meganruth{at}gmail{dot}com}.  

If you have a SmartBoard, the younger kids can practice their skills of how to use a SmartBoard and move objects around during the lesson.  I know my younger kids/students definitely needed the practice.  

For an easy to print copy of the lesson plan click here. 

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Kindergarten Lesson- Let’s Grow a Jack-o-Lantern, and The Pumpkin Life Cycle

Lesson Written by: Copyright Alohamora Open a Book

Time: 20-30 minutes

Lesson for the Library, Classroom, or Homeschool Environment.

Objective:        Use pictures to predict text, discuss the life cycle of a pumpkin

What Taught:  Retell a story in own words in correct sequence.

Use a variety of strategies (make connections, sense of story) to maintain comprehension of a range of tests listened to or read.

Materials:        Book, Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington

SmartBoard Notebook File: Pumpkin Life Cycle (email me for the file meganruth{at}gmail{dot}com)

You could also use pictures of the steps in the cycle and place them on the board with a magnet.

How Taught:

1-      Show students the cover of the book. 

a.       Who thinks they know what the title of the book is? 

b.      It’s called Pumpkin, Pumpkin. 

c.       Look at the cover of the book, what do you think this book is about? 

d.      Think in your head what you think the story could be about.

2-      Read “Pumpkin, Pumpkin” by Jeanne Titherington and discuss how we can grow a pumpkin

a.       What do you have to plant to grow a pumpkin?

b.      What happens first, next, last?

3-      As a class complete the sequence of a pumpkin life cycle on the SmartBoard.  Make it look like a circle/cycle.

a.       First- Plant a pumpkin seed

b.      Second- Pumpkin seed grew a sprout

c.       Third- Pumpkin sprout grew a plant

d.      Fourth- Pumpkin plant grew a flower

e.       Fifth- Pumpkin flower grew a pumpkin

f.       Sixth- Pumpkin grew and grew until it was big.

4-      A life cycle is the steps it takes for the seed of a pumpkin to become a pumpkin.  A cycle is something that can happen over and over again.

5-      Now that I have the pumpkin, I want to make a jack-o-lantern.  How do we make a jack-o-lantern?  What are the steps? Complete face of jack-o-lantern on the SmartBoard following the steps.

a.       First- Scoop out the pulp- gooey orange stuff with the seeds (save the seeds)

b.      Second- Carve a pumpkin face.

c.       Third- Put it in the window or on your front porch.

d.      Fourth- Save some seeds to grow a pumpkin next year.

6-      Review how we look at a book on the shelf? Pull it out halfway.  I am now going to take 5 students at a time and they can choose where to look at a book.  However, if there is already another classmate near a shelf you wanted to look at books, you can go to another shelf.  We don’t want to be too crowded.

7-      If this lesson is done in the classroom, you could have the students complete the cycle on a worksheet cutting and pasting the images from the smart notebook on a circle/cycle.

How Assessed- By the student’s ability to predict using pictures of what the story is going to be about.  Also, the student/class should be able to as a recall the steps of a pumpkins life and the steps to make a jack-o-lantern. 

Lesson Idea from: http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/seqlps/sudspres.asp?SUID=238&SSUID=235&SSTitle=Kindergarten+Language+Arts

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Happy Lesson Teaching of the Pumpkin Life Cycle!