Pumpkin Project

Our class participated in an online pumpkin project, hosted by Jen at Pumpkin Seed Count 2012.  As a group, my class estimated the number of seeds inside a pumpkin that weighed four pounds.   Next we cut it open to check our prediction.  We also decided to count the seeds of a pumpkin that weighed 8 pounds, so we could compare the results.  We predicted that the bigger pumpkin would have more seeds than the smaller one.

Next, students took out 10 seeds at a time, and placed them on a small paper plate.  We took turns counting the seeds of both pumpkins, so that everyone would get a turn.

After taking out all the seeds, we each held up the paper plates with groups of ten so we could count by tens to see how many we had.  We found that the small pumpkin had exactly 370 seeds.  We were amazed with how many there were!

The larger pumpkin had 540 seeds!  Our prediction was right!  The large pumpkin did have more seeds than the smaller one.  As a matter of fact, it had 170 more!

We also did some fun pumpkin activities thanks to Sandy at the "Soaring Through Second" blog.  The activities are aligned to the Common Core Math Standards.  One of the activities was to predict the number of pumpkin candies in a jar, and then count them to see how close we were.  There were over 300 candies, so students got a lot of practice counting by fives and tens.

Another activity involved predicting how big the circumference is on three different sized pumpkins - a small, medium, and large.  Then we measured the pumpkins with tape measures to see the actual circumference of each pumpkin, and found the difference between our prediction and the actual measurement.

 

At another center, students predicted which fruits and vegetables would sink, and which would float.  Students marked their predictions on recording sheets, and then recorded their findings.

Have you ever tried bowling with a pumpkin?  That was one of the centers today!  Students took turns rolling a pumpkin and tried to hit toilet paper rolls with numbers on them.  Students added up all their numbers for their final score.

The last center was a matching game.  Students had to turn over number cards and try to find numbers that added up to 20.  It was a lot of fun for everyone, and good math practice.

Besides all the pumpkin activities we had a Spooky Sprint (Jogathon), and took class pictures of kids who wore costumes to school.  It was a fun, busy day!!!

A Nikon D300 camera with flash mounted on a light stand with umbrella was used for these pictures.

Can you tell I was a zookeeper?