Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden

Transcription

1 Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden By George Levenson Come with us and round we ll go in the circle of a pumpkin s life! Explore the story and learn new things about pumpkins.

2 Thank you for reserving Pumpkin Circle There are just a few things we will need: 1. Parking: Safe, legal parking with easy access to our vehicle must be provided. 2. Space: This program requires a regular-sized classroom. Please be advised that this space must be available to us 45 minutes prior to the scheduled start time for set-up and 30 minutes following the conclusion for breakdown. (For safety reasons, we cannot have students in the area while we are engaged in the set-up or breakdown of programs.) 3. Equipment: There is no special equipment needed. 4. Restrictions: The audience is limited to a maximum of Directions: If you know that the online driving directions to your location are inaccurate, please see the next page. Please contact us at if any of these outlined criteria present an issue.

3 Our Traveling Science Educators normally use MapQuest for directions. Most times the directions are accurate. However: If directions from online services to your venue are inaccurate or difficult to understand, please use this form to clearly print or type directions to your location. If there are any special instructions we must follow once we get to your location, please note them below. Please use this form only. Do not substitute! Venue (program site): Date of program: Contact name: Telephone: Estimated driving time from Liberty Science Center: Hours Minutes To ensure our timely arrival, we MUST know how long it takes to reach you. Directions (Must start from Exit 14B of the N.J. Turnpike or the Holland Tunnel): Please return via mail: Or by fax: Liberty Science Center Traveling Science Program 222 Jersey City Boulevard Jersey City, NJ Attn: Traveling Science Program In case of inclement weather, call as early as possible. Please reschedule for the next working day at Please return this form no later than two weeks prior to our visit.

4 Pumpkin Circle Pre-Visit Activity Guide This packet contains some simple classroom activities utilizing everyday, inexpensive (or even free!) items. Please feel free to duplicate these pages as needed - they are sent on plain white paper to ensure the best quality of reproduction. We suggest that these activities be conducted before our visit in order to familiarize students with some of the concepts we will explore together during our Pumpkin Circle presentation. However, they may be performed after our visit to serve as a reinforcement of the concepts covered in the program. If and when you choose to use these activities, or whether or not the activities are appropriate for your class, is entirely at your discretion. If you have questions about any of the enclosed activity procedures, please contact us at We thank you for your interest in our program and eagerly look forward to visiting your school!

5 Pumpkins are Fruits, Too! Materials: Different fruits to dissect, one for each group of two or three students Cutting knife Newspaper to cover tables Paper towels Field journal (a clipboard or small notebook) Ziploc sandwich bags Magnifying glasses Like all fruits, pumpkins have seeds. Continue the exploration with other fruits. You can either choose to have the entire class explore the same fruit or have different groups explore different fruits and compare their findings. Procedure: Prepare the classroom by covering the tables with newspaper. Remember, scientists use all their senses to make observations. Before cutting the fruit open ask: What do you know about this fruit? What does this fruit look, feel, smell and sound like? What do you think the inside of this fruit will look like? Can you describe your observations? Cut the fruit and continue investigating. While exploring the cut fruit ask: How does the outside of the fruit feel different from the inside? What different parts of the fruit can you see and feel? Can you describe how the fruit smells? Where do you find the seeds? How are they attached to the pulp of the fruit? What part of the fruit is edible? If the seeds are inside the fruit, how do they get outside the skin to grow a new plant? What kind of symmetry does it have if you cut it in half different ways? Was there anything about the fruit that surprised you? Follow Up: Plan time to have students reflect and document their observations in their field journals.

6 Seed Hunt Materials: Ziploc bags Field journal (clipboard or small notebook) Procedure: Take the class outside for a seed hunt. Ask the students to use their scientist eyes and see how many different types of seeds they can find. At different times of the year you will find different types of seeds. Have students collect the seeds in a plastic bag to bring back to the classroom. Ask them to remember where they found the seeds. Seeds can be found by trees, flowers, grasses and even weeds. Nuts from trees are especially fun to collect, look at and talk about. Be aware of any nut allergies, these often extend to tree nuts. Bring the seeds back to the classroom. See how many different seeds were found. Were some more abundant than others? Ask students to make observations. Follow Up: Make connections between where seeds were found and the plants in that area. You can make a chart of the different seeds found using tally marks to count how many of each type of seed was brought back to the classroom. Have the students document the hunt and their observations in their journals. Discuss the possible ways seeds may have traveled from the plant that produced them to the places they were found.

7 Watch Your Garden Grow Materials: Small drinking cups Potting soil Sunflower seeds (or beans, which germinate and grow quickly) Water in a container that the students can handle Field journal (a clipboard or small notebook) Procedure: Sunflower seeds are suggested because they are big enough for young students to handle easily, but any kind of seed can be used. Before planting the seeds, ask students to brainstorm what seeds and plants need to live. Give each child a cup, some potting soil and one or two seeds. Instruct them to put the soil in the cup and push the seeds about one knuckle length into it. Refer to the list to make sure the seed has everything it needs to grow. Plants need sunlight, water, space to grow and air. Have students document what they did in their journals. Over the course of the next month, students should be sure their seeds are watered, but not soaked. Keep a chart of the number of days before sprouting, how many leaves it grows on which day, and the height measured daily. Popsicle sticks planted with the seeds can be used as makeshift rulers if you draw quarter and half inch marks on them. Record these observations in field journals. Follow Up: What happens to seeds in different locations? Try growing seeds in a warm place, in the sun, inside a dark drawer, and inside the refrigerator. Or try planting them in different mediums. You can try sand, paper towels and gravel instead of potting soil. What do you think will happen? Where do you think the seeds will grow best? You may be in for a surprise! You can even watch a seed germinate. Place the seed in a clear plastic bag on a wet paper towel in the sun. Plant the seed after it has sprouted. Be careful to watch the moisture level in the bag or mold will grow.

8 Pumpkin Ponders How many ribs are there on a pumpkin? Do all pumpkins have the same number of ribs? Is there anything inside the pumpkin that lines up with the outside creases? How many seeds are in the pumpkin? Count them in groups of 10. If each seed in your pumpkin grew one vine, and on each vine there was one pumpkin with the same number of seeds in it, how many seeds would there be? The largest pumpkin on record weighed 1,502 pounds and was grown in Rhode Island in Can you guess how many students it would take to weigh that much? A baby elephant weighs about 232 pounds at birth. How many of baby elephants weigh as much as this giant pumpkin? A really big polar bear can get up to 1,100 pounds, too! Pumpkins are a type of squash. Bring in other kinds of squash and compare and contrast them using various descriptors. Use Venn diagrams to help. Weigh and measure the other squash. The biggest pumpkin pie on record weighed 418 pounds. It was over five feet in diameter. The chef needed 80 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, 12 dozen eggs and six hours to bake the pie. How many of your pumpkins would you need to make 80 pounds of pumpkin? What else can you find that may be five feet in diameter? Can you count out 12 dozen of something? Dry some of the seeds from your pumpkin for planting next season, or in the classroom now. Bake the rest of the seeds on a baking sheet in the oven with a little olive oil. When they are done sprinkle them with salt for a tasty treat. Remember, the nut is actually inside the seed coat. Did you know that pumpkins are grown all over the world? Six of the seven continents can grow pumpkins. They have even been grown in Alaska! Antarctica is the only continent where pumpkins will not grow.