Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere

It's that time of year again where minds go to one thing: pumpkins.

Give me a minute to finish my latte.

Okay! Anyway, there are so many good books, videos, and printables about pumpkins that I almost don't know where to start.



Okay, I'll start with Spookley. I love Spookley the square pumpkin. It's a book about being different and being accepted for just who you are, so of course I adore it.



Five little pumpkins is a classic rhyme and one of our favorites. This little board book is lovely, but make sure you also learn the ginger play for which there were So many developmental benefits.




Becky from This Reading Mama, who is one of my favorites, had two great freebies: a Pumpkin poetry pack and a Pumpkin literacy activity pack which includes nonfiction reading, comprehension, and vocabulary activities.

But what about math?
I found two amazing resources for hands on math activities using pumpkins. Math cats and Math wire.

AND these two free printable math resources Pumpkin bump math center game and for older kids Pumpkin order of operations puzzles

Did you think I forgot science? Check out this great Pumpkin life cycle packet.

And what might be my new favorite, this pumpkin chunking physics video:

Cuba

This unit is another one on request, this time on the nation of Cuba. I didn't know a lot about Cuba before I started this, so it was really cool to learn.



This 8 minute video from the Geography Now channel on Youtube gives a good overview and background presented in a fun way.


For a good, complete description, I recommend the National Geographic Kids page on Cuba, which includes the flag, statistics, and great images.

For a more thorough look at Cuba's full history, the site History of Cuba has great timelines and articles about various periods in history.


Since I love incorporating the arts, I thought this great video on Cuban music from All Around this World music was a great addition.

For older kids, this complete lesson focused on Immigrant journeys uses the PBS documentary 90 miles and seems very thorough. I haven't been able to find the full documentary online but there are clips on the website, or you can buy it from Amazon:





The 90 miles website also includes a great reading list. Some books that stood out to me are below: