Pumpkin Day

Hello!
Can I show you a fun day from a couple of weeks ago?  I know, I know, we're supposed to be all about Thanksgiving right now, but we celebrated a fun Pumpkin Day and it's too fun not to share.  Put it in your pocket for next year!

Last year we were told there just wasn't going to be any money for field trips.  So, we decided to create a few fun afternoons that traveled to our 6 Kindergarten classrooms instead.  Two weeks ago we enjoyed a Pumpkin Day that is now taking the place of our field trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  (No, it's not the same. :()

Pumpkin Day wraps up our 5 Senses Unit and kicks off a study of pumpkins.  Each classroom represents a sense with a special pumpkin activity.

For our sense of taste we enjoy making and tasting pumpkin pie in a bag.

To reinforce our sense of smell, we pass around cute little Target Dollar Spot jack-o-lanterns with an essential oil on a cotton ball.  The students then guess the smell, determine if they like it or not, and find out what it was.  We also complete a recording sheet.

We use Linda Williams' The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything for our sense of hearing station. It's a classic story of an old woman walking through the woods.  She encounters two shoes, a pair of pants, a shirt, gloves, hat, and scary pumpkin head all which have a sound that goes with them. We found a fun youtube video that sings the story (you can find it here). Be careful, the song will get stuck in your head! 
I wish I could say our follow-up idea was my idea, but it's not.  We then retell the story using this adorable sequencing puzzle from I Can Teach My Child. 

I also love Making Learning Fun's retelling pieces - so cute!

We make some pretty goofy glasses for our sense of sight and play I-Spy.

And, finally, what's touch without feeling those slimy pumpkin guts and counting out seeds in groups of 10?

It ends up being a really simple afternoon and a lot of fun.  We get all of our supplies by sharing a google document with our parents and ask for 10 volunteers - two for each classroom.  The parents then run the centers and we rotate to each one with our class and use our P.E. times as the sixth center.  It works out to be a great way to spend a crazy Friday after Halloween! 

Hey, if you can't beat 'em...

I hope you'll put some ideas away for the stealing for next year.  If you'd like the direction pages, recording sheets (minus the "sound" retelling sheet - that's not mine to give away!), pie recipe, and sample google doc, hop on over to my TpT store.  I'll leave it up there for free until the end of the month and then will probably list it for a couple of dollars.



 Amanda