Perfect Ways to Celebrate National Pumpkin Day

Judy — Thu, 19 Oct 2017 21:55:27 +0000

Are you looking for a way to celebrate every day? Look no further than national days! Celebrate National Pumpkin Day on October 26th this year. Even though Its origins are unknown, that shouldn’t keep you from joining the fun!

There are pumpkins aplenty in October, making it the perfect time to incorporate them into your classroom learning. Although your kids may fuss about it after Halloween, you can even continue this theme into November!

Some popular activities include reading books, visiting a pumpkin patch, investigating pumpkins (math, science, and language), and learning about the life cycle.

Pumpkin Facts

After perusing the internet for factual information, I found myself wishing for a set of old-fashioned encyclopedias! I read conflicting information about the weight of the largest pumpkin ever grown and about their nutritional value. I consulted a number of sites including the University of Illinois Extension, Good Housekeeping, and History.

Hence, I created three free fact sheets for you to share with your students. These have a color background but can be printed in black and white. The gorgeous watercolor graphics are from Photo Clipz.

Math Activity

Recently, I added this Five Little Pumpkins Ordering Numbers (0-120) activity to a line of seasonal and holiday-themed number sequencing resources available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

This open-ended resource can be used for sequencing numbers 0-120 in a variety of ways. It’s a perfect activity for kindergarten, first, or second-grade math.

Choose the numbers and skills that best meet your students’ instructional needs. You can create centers with sets of five or more numbers. Put each set in a baggie. Just mark the cards on the back with letters, dots, or stickers to (help!) keep the sets intact.

The numbers can be consecutive or non-consecutive, within a decade or across a decade number. Your students can sequence numbers by any multiple you pick. They can simply place the pumpkin number cards in order on any flat surface or use the gate mats.

In a similar fashion, you can also use the black and white number cards to create a cut and paste activity. You can print the pumpkins on colored paper or have your students color them. Then, your students can glue them in order on construction paper or sentence strips.

Along with updating the original resource, I added a second set of ready-to-use, easy to prepare black and white pumpkins with a variety of sequences, mixed up within each set of five numbers, in October 2019.

I included optional recording sheets for writing sequences of five numbers from least to greatest and greatest to least. I also added both one hundred and one hundred twenty charts to this resource to support your students’ learning, as needed.

Pumpkin-Themed Math Freebie

In addition, I’ve created a free set of eight coordinating pumpkin number worksheets, perfect for supplementing your instruction in first and second grade. These worksheets cover the skills of number(s) after and number(s) before (to 30 and to 100), missing numbers in a sequence, and counting by 10’s, 5’s, or 2’s from a given multiple to 100, to meet a variety of instructional needs.

Simply choose, print, and assign for morning work, independent math, or homework.

Read this blog post, 2 Colorful Ways to Boost Counting Skills, and find more ideas and resources for teaching counting sequences.

Other Themed Resources

Find a variety of math and literacy resources in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Addition Fact Strategy Game- Give & Take Make Ten Fall Themes, K-2 Math
Spin & Reveal Read & Sort Words at the Pumpkin Patch, 1-2 Literacy
Pumpkin Patch Number Mats 0-20, PreK-K Math
It’s in the Bag for Autumn- A Data Collection and Graphing Activity, 1-3 Math

Activities for Learning and Fun

Discover a plethora of activities by searching Pinterest and the internet. These science, math, art, and food ideas can get you started!

Still looking for even more ideas… Check out this seasonal Pinterest board!

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