BOOKS

Reading and Writing

JOURNALING QUESTION PROMPT:

Write out one or more of the following questions in your Family Theme Day Scrapbook or on a piece of paper to glue in your scrapbook:

What are your favourite types of jack-o-lanterns: scary, funny, cute, a scene? Have you ever been to a pumpkin patch? Describe what it looked like or what you imagine it would look like? What would the best pumpkin festival be like?

Here are some picture books about pumpkins or jack-o-lanterns:

Delicious! A Pumpkin Soup Story, by Helen Cooper, Doubleday, 2006, - Cat, squirrel and Cuck can’t find a pumpkin for pumpkin soup so they look for other ingredients but Duck will never eat any other type of soup.

How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow!, by Wendell Minor, Nancy Paulsen Books, 2013—This playful book imagines what it would be like to have pumpkins as big as lighthouses, roller coasters and skyscapers using some of America’s favourite places as inspiration.

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara and illustrated by G. Brian Karas, Schwartz and Wade Books, 2007—Charlie dislikes being the smallest in the class but after the class does an experiment with three pumpkins (small, medium and large) to see which one has the most pumpkins he is surprised by the results and learns that sometimes smallest is best! This book has math and science lesson to it in a subtle way.

Pick a Perfect Pumpkin: Learning about Pumpkin Harvests, by Robin Koontz and illustrated by Nadine Takvorian, Picture Window Books, 2011 – Two kids visit a pumpkin farm.

Pumpkin Town!, written by Katie McKy and illustrated by Pablo Bernasconi, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006—José and his brothers grow the best pumpkins but one day when they throw away the smallest seeds the wind carries them to a town where the pumpkins grow and overtake everything! This book has fun college type illustrations.

Pumpkin Jack, written and illustrated by Will Hubbell, Albert Whitman & Company, 2000 – This is a picture book but it explains the life cycle of a pumpkin in such beautiful way that it could be considered a non-fiction book

The Runwaway Pumpkin, by Kevin Lewis and illustrated by S.D. Schindler, Orchard Books, 2003—Three kids find a giant pumpkin but when they cut it from the stem it rolls and rolls down the hill through the family farm!

Sixteen Runaway Pumpkins, written by Dianne Ochiltree and illustrated by Anne-Sophie Lanquetin, Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2004— A rhyming tale of a raccoon named Sam collecting pumpkins in his wagon.

Go to the library to find books about pumpkins!

Pumpkins

Here are some of Non-fiction titles about pumpkins:

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch, text by Megan Faulkner and photographs by Adam Krawesky, Scholastic Inc., 2006—A class of kids visits a pumpkin farm and learns all about pumpkins.

From Seed to Pumpkin, by Wendy Pfeffer and illustrated by James Graham Hale, HarperCollins Publishers, 2004 – A really good picture book to explain the lifecycle of a pumpkin.

How Did That Get To My Table? Pumpkin Pie, by Emily J. Dolbear, Cherry Lake Publishing, 2010 – This would be a good book for beginner readers.

Life Cycle Of A Pumpkin, by Ron Fridell and Patricia Walsh, Heinemann Library, 2009 – A great easy reader book with large print and lots of photos and illustrations to clearly teach your little one about the life cycle of a pumpkin.

Play with Your Pumpkins, by Joost Elffers and Saxton Freymann and text by Johannes van Damn, A Joost Elffers Book, , 1998—Older kids will like this book as it offers more text and historical background but also has fun photographs of carved pumpkins using the stems as noses.

Watch it Grow Pumpkin, by Barrie Watts, Smart Apple Media, 2002 – Another great beginner reader book but this one has beautiful close up pictures of all parts of the pumpkin’s life cycle.

How to encourage your child to write:

Choose the level of your child:
Toddler/Preschool – discuss the answer(s) out loud first and have your child draw a picture of the answer.

Preschool/Kindergarten – discuss the answer(s) out loud first and write the answer down for him/her leaving one word for him/her to write out himself/herself with your help. You could also encourage him/her to draw a picture as well.

Early Grade School – have your child either write out the answer himself/herself (encourage phonetic spelling) without your help, or offer to help with spelling each word out loud one word at a time.

Grade School – have your child write a sentence or two on his/her own and then read over and discuss the response. (You decide whether to correct the spelling or not)

Older Child – have your child write a longer response (paragraph).

As A Challenge – instead of a question ask your older child to write a story or poem about a visit to a pumpkin patch or a magical jack-o-lantern.

WRITING