1-2-3 Come Make a Pumpkin Slider With Me!

Making a hands-on craftivity, is a fun way for students to learn about, and review the basic 2D shapes and the shape words associated with them.  I tried to do at least one shape activity a week with my Y5's. The more exposure they had to shapes, the better the chances of their light bulb going on, in an interesting and non-stressful way.

My "sliders" have always been extremely popular, so I wanted to make a pumpkin one with shapes.  They are called sliders, because students pull(slide) their strip through slits, to reveal whatever I want to teach.  Sliders are a quick and easy way to whole-group assess.  Simply call out a shape and have students find it on their slider and then hold it up.  You can also individually assess with a slider; the game-like activity, lessens a child's apprehension when being tested.

Here's how to make the Pumpkin Shape Slider:

• Run off the sliders on white construction paper and the pumpkin on orange.
• For younger kiddo's, you may want to pre-slit the lines on the pumpkins, where the sliders will be pulled through. I use an exacto knife.
• Students trace and color the eyes. Encourage them to use different colors, so you can also review that standard. For a bit more pizzazz, have students add some color to the stem, nose and mouth sections.
• Teacher asks students to make their pumpkin’s eyes triangles. Children pull their “slider” ‘til they have located the triangle eyes, and then pull the mouth strip ‘til it says the word triangles.  
• Everyone “reads” their pumpkin together as a whole group.
• There’s a teachable moment for fractions (cut and glue 1/2 the strip) as well as plurals: The pumpkin has 2 eyes so the shape word needs to have the letter s on the end.

Click on the link to view/download the Pumpkin Shape Slider. I also made a Pumpkin ABC-123 Slider that has different strips, so you can review: upper and lowercase letters, numbers from 0-30, skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's, as well as counting backwards from 10 to 0 and 20 to 0. Run off whatever strips you want your students to work on.  Make a laminated one yourself to use as a demonstration, review, or assessment sample. 

So that the strip is easily managed, students can fold the ends up. Have children TRACE the letters/numbers with two different colored highlighters in an ABAB pattern. Click on the link to view/download the ABC-123 Pumpkin Slider. There are 3 pumpkin templates to choose from: students can draw on their own face, add wiggle eyes, or use the pumpkin that has a face on it. TIP: Decorate the pumpkin on both sides and glue 2 slider strips back-to-back for double duty.

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"The only place success comes before work, is in the dictionary!" -Vidal Sassoon

1-2-3 Come Learn About Pumpkins With Me!

Our pumpkin unit was one of my Y5's favorites.  We culminated our apple studies and launched into pumpkins, with a field trip to an apple orchard, that also had a huge pumpkin patch.  My little ones really enjoyed the tractor ride, and picking out a class pumpkin.

To empower my students, I designed activities that incorporated the same directions from the previous unit.  I had already spent quite a bit of time explaining how various things were done, when we studied apples, so to save time, I repeated some of those activities only with a pumpkin theme. 

My students were now familiar with the format and could get right down to business.  This was a great self-esteem builder.  Because the theme had changed, students' interest was high, and children whose "light bulb" had not come on with apples, had another chance to practice and reinforce those lessons with pumpkins.

Keeping that in mind, I wanted to turn some of the most popular apple downloads, into pumpkins, so that this time-saving concept would work for you too.

It usually took through November, before all of my Y5's could identify the flat shapes, so I made a Pumpkin Shape Matching Game like the apple one.

Likewise, the apple counting anchor charts with matching "What's Missing?" worksheets, were extremely popular, so I made a pumpkin set. 

Click on the link to view/download the Pumpkin Counting Packet.

I also made pumpkin number cards.
This packet includes pumpkins numbered from 1-120; pumpkin number words 0-10, pumpkin tiles for counting, and a set of math symbols on pumpkins, so that you can show and make equations, plus a blank set of pumpkins to program with whatever. Click on the link to view/download the Pumpkin Number Packet.

Finally, there's also a Pumpkin Number Word Matching Game. Print, laminate and trim the cards.  Students pinch a clothespin on to the number that matches the number word on the pumpkin. 

If you mark an X on the back of the cards to show the correct answer, students can self-check their work.  I made a set for apples too.  All of these activities make wonderful independent centers, or something students can go do, if they finish their work early.

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"More people than ever before are graduated, but not really all that educated." -Robert Gunderson