How Many Seeds in A Pumpkin and Other Estimation Fun Grade 2/3

Our Pumpkin Inquiry

At the beginning of October, I found pumpkins on sale at No Frills and thought it would be a great time to do some pumpkin investigations.  I found several books about the life cycle of the pumpkin to match the Living Things curriculum. It also seemed to be a good time to learn about estimation, counting, patterning and measurement. This inquiry helped us to meet many Big Ideas in the Grade 2/3 Ontario Ministry Expectations. You can find them here:

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language.html

Science (Living Things):

1. Living things need air and water to survive. (Gr. 2)
2. Plants have distinct characteristics. (Gr. 3)
3. There are similarities and differences among various types of plants. (Gr. 3)

Mathematics:

1. Number Sense: Read, represent, compare, and order whole numbers to 100 (Gr. 2); to 1000 (Gr. 3)
2. Measurement: Estimate, measure, and record length and mass, capacity, using non-standard units and standard units (Gr. 2); estimate, measure, and record length and mass, using standard units (Gr. 3)
3. Patterning and Algebra: Identify, describe, extend, and create growing patterns..counting by 1,2,5,10 (Gr.2); describe, extend, and create a variety of numeric patterns (Gr. 3)

Language:

1. Oral Communication: Listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes (Gr. 2 and 3)
2. Reading: Read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary, graphic, and informational texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning (Grade 2 and 3)
3. Writing: Generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience (Grade 2 and 3)

I also found some great books to read a loud to the students about estimation and counting in multiples. We have spent most of this month reading the book, The Candy Corn Contest. To add to the fun, I brought in a small jar filled with Halloween erasers; the students estimated how many erasers were in the jar.  Congratulations to Jerome and Vittoria who got to keep the contents of the jar, since their guesses were the closest!  Everyone else received one Halloween eraser for their participation.

After reading books about the life cycle of pumpkins and other facts we read, How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?.  We did a knowledge building circle and I asked them what they knew about pumpkins.

As a group, I asked the students to estimate how many seeds might be in our pumpkins and how we might count them once we clean them out.

The students also estimated the height, weight, and circumference around the pumpkin.

It was time to measure! The students used string and metre sticks to take the height and circumference.

We attempted to use a food scale and a regular scale to weigh the pumpkins but they did not work!

We took the weight of a student and recorded it; then we gave her the pumpkin to hold and we weighed again.  Each pumpkin was approximately 9 lbs.

It was time to get to work retrieving the seeds.  The students worked together to clean out the seeds; it was a messy job but lots of fun!

One group pulled out a sprouted seed! We decided that we would extend our investigation by planting it inside one of the pumpkins (will post at a later date).

Since we had four pumpkins left (we are going to use one for planting), we decided that it might be fun to carve out Jack-o-Lanterns.  To make it fair, we had a "Make a Jack-o-Lantern Face" contest.  Everyone got to work planning out a face design.

Yesterday, we had the vote.  Here are two designs that were chosen.

Our Math/Science investigation will continue next week as we count the dried seeds and plant the sprouted seed inside the pumpkin.  We may even get to taste some roasted pumpkin seeds!

Our Oobleck Investigation Grade 2/3

Yesterday, I read the book: Horrible Harry and The Green Slime.  I asked the students to listen for clues about what exactly the green slime is made of because we might be making an experiment in class.  I chose this book for several reasons: 

I wanted to:

• review the Comprehension strategy from The Daily Five: Check for Understanding by retelling, "Who" and "What" (Listening to Understand and Using Comprehension strategies)

• have an introduction to Procedural Writing for Language (Problem solving - reflecting and communicating what they learned)

• review the Mathematical concept of Measurement and Capacity

• summarize the Properties of liquids and solids (Grade 2) and what happens when you apply force and movement (Grade 3)

For the most part, it is easy to tell whether something is a liquid or a solid, except when it comes to Oobleck!  I thought it would be fun to pose the question: "Is Oobleck a liquid or a solid?"

I asked the children to recall how to make Oobleck and I wrote the ingredients on the board.  As I did this, I showed each ingredient as it looks in real life.

We measured the cornstarch and water and I handed out the materials and the students got to work.

They chose a colour to add to the water and then mixed the water with the cornstarch.

They found out that if they applied force by squeezing or poking it quickly, it became a solid...

but if they let it relax, it became a liquid.

Some of the experiments were too watery so we added more cornstarch!

It also made a huge mess but they had so much fun.

Today, we reviewed the instructions for making Oobleck and the students wrote, "How to Make Oobleck".  We also learned that Oobleck has properties of both liquids and solids.

If you would like to make Oobleck at home, here is the recipe: