How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?

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Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins!  These big, round, orange fruits take center stage from Halloween through Thanksgiving.

Bring pumpkins into your classroom to engage your students in science, and don’t forget the picture books. Pairing fiction and nonfiction picture books to teach science is explained in the Picture Perfect Science series and Teaching Science Through Trade Books.

Authors Emily Morgan and Karen Ansberry suggest How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? (fiction) and Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden (nonfiction) to kick off a science inquiry lesson on pumpkins.

A pumpkin is a fruit?

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Yes! Even though we often refer to pumpkins as vegetables, they’re actually the fruits of a pumpkin plant.

This lesson features pumpkins to explore the similarities/differences between fruits and vegetables.

It’s a good follow-up to a lesson on plant parts.

Both of these lessons are based on  Molly’s Organic Farm, a picture book that uniquely combines both fiction and nonfiction.

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subscribe     Blog by Carol Malnor I love making connections: kids and nature, science and reading, fun and learning. I discovered the joy of connecting Dawn Publications' books with kids when I was a classroom teacher. Dawn's books were easy to incorporate into my lessons and the kids loved them. I used picture books with students of all ages, from primary school all the way up through 9th grade. Over the years, my relationship with Dawn changed and developed, and I authored Dawn’s Teacher’s Guides as well as writing books for children 4-14 years old. ARTICLE How to Use Creative Nonfiction Picture Books in Support of Common Core and Science ACTIVITIES Dawn Publications STANDARDS Common Core State Standards Next Generation Science Standards National Science Teachers Association Picture Perfect Science   OTHER FAVORITES Dawn Publications Children and Nature Network
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