Last week, we kicked off our Pre-K expedition with a pumpkin explosion on the playground! Children arrived at school and were surprised to see that there were pumpkins of all shapes and sizes everywhere!
Briana: I found a pumpkin on a bicycle!
Andres: There’s pumpkins everywhere!
Amen: I found something! A pumpkin! I need to find more.
Mae: Instead of going to a pumpkin patch, our school became a pumpkin patch!
Friends noticed and wondered all sorts of things about the pumpkin on the playground. As children found them, they were asked to bring them to the picnic table so that we could explore them further.
Waju: I have never seen a white pumpkin!
Sarah: Is it an orange?
Trebor: I want to smell them. I don’t know how they will smell like.
Ayub: Is this the pumpkins home?
Siah: Wow… heavy!
Ayub: The baby pumpkins on the branch look like marshmallows.
Zeina: Yeah, it looks like roasting marshmallows on a stick!
Elliott: I can make a snowman.
Next, all four Pre-K classes piled onto buses and we hit the road for Butlers Orchard to learn more about where pumpkins come from and what it means to harvest.
Bennett: Thanks bus driver for taking us to the pumpkin patch!
Cory: This is a bumpy ride.
Esther: It looks like a pumpkin party here!
William: It’s really tough to walk through the vines at the mumpkin pumpkin patch.
Waju: I think a porcupine ate that pumpkin!
William: Lots of spiders on the pumpkins… ah!
After the long weekend, friends returned to school and continued to notice, wonder and ask questions about the pumpkins. Children were ecstatic to see that pumpkins were still on the playground, in their classrooms and even in the Studio!
Kavalli: Pumpkins in the Studio! That’s crazy! There’s more pumpkins! Pumpkins are everywhere!
Friends used twist crayons to do an observational drawing of the pumpkins. Children examined the color, size and texture of the pumpkins and gourds very carefully.
Carlos: I’m counting the pumpkins so I know how many to draw.
Siena: The red pumpkin on top looks like a hat.
Miguel: I like these pumpkins. They are all different sizes but I like the little one the best because it’s like a baby.
Next, children used liquid watercolors to paint over their pumpkins. Friends were excited to see that they could still see their crayon drawings and enjoyed watching them emerge through the paint.
Ra’Maya: I can still see the dots on my pumpkin! It’s like the paint disappeared in the paper. I think it went to church.
Waju: Hey, I remember these! They are water paints!
Dai’Jah: I can still see all the lines on my pumpkin. And they were skinny.