Pumpkin Day

Objective:
The students will recognize the letter sound p, group words into categories, and explore the literary device alliteration.

Materials

• White board/chalkboard
• Squares of drawing paper, cut 6" by 6"
• Crayons or colored pencils
• A story about a pumpkin, a suggestion for the reading is "The Pumpkin Blanket" by Deborah Turney Zagwyn.

Procedure

1. Introduce the word pumpkin by reading the story of your choosing about a pumpkin.
2. Brainstorm by asking the students to list food words that start with the letter P.  (For example, pumpkin, pear, pizza, plum, etc.)  Record their responses on the white board or chalkboard.
3. Ask the students to list people's names that start with P. (Peter, Penny, Paige, Paul).
4. Ask them to list animals that start with the letter P. (Porcupine, platypus, porpoise, penguin...)
5. Have the students choose one thing from each list.
6. They will be asked to combine the three things to make a named character that likes a particular food.  For example, "Peter the penguin likes to eat pizza".
7. They will illustrate their creature. 
8. Combine all the squares to make your own class " Pumpkin Blanket". This activity can still be done without reading the suggested story. Choose any story you like about a pumpkin.

Other Lesson Ideas

1. Story Starter. "I looked into a pumpkin and saw…"
2. Have each child bring in a recipe using pumpkin. Combine all the recipes to make a pumpkin recipe book they can take home. You can make pumpkin bread to share with the class during this time.
3. Read the tongue twister Peter, Peter Pumpkin eater.  Have the students rewrite the first line only of the twister.  Instead of Peter have them insert their own name. They should change the food they eat to match the beginning sound of their own name . Example: Samuel, Samuel Sandwich eater. They could include an illustration with the line.
4. Have the students write the directions for carving a particular pumpkin face.