Must Have Pumpkin Books

Hello, friends! I am Erin, from Very Perry Classroom, and I am SO excited to share with you today! I don't know about you, but I am ALL about pumpkins these days: the coveted Pumpkin Spice Latte, candles, home decor, and more! Today, I am giving you our list of AMAZING books, both informational and fiction, that I love to read about pumpkins! It is great for us to use it to front-load information prior to our trip to the pumpkin patch.....

 To start off, let's talk about the one that I only just discovered recently, Pumpkin Circle, by George Levenson. This one has GORGEOUS pictures, taken by Samuel Thaler, and even BETTER vocabulary!! I loved using this one as a Close read because it is informational, but really challenges students' depth of knowledge with the language and vivid pictures. At the end of the book, there is even a "How-To" about growing pumpkins.

We like to make an anchor chart when learning something new, and this book is no exception to the rule! Here is the anchor chart we made for this one this year: 

(we added decomposing to our chart after I took this picture, and students were excited to use a "math word" for ELA)

 And another one...

 Of COURSE, I LOVE Gail Gibbons' book, The Pumpkin Book, too!!

I JUST ordered this one from Scholastic in a Fall Science pack. My students were enamored with it. 

Just a few more on our shelf... A few of them may even be used in Andrea's post tomorrow about Pumpkin Science!!

In my district, we assess Narrative writing first, so we read TONS of Narrative stories to compare to our informational text, and to discuss elements of narrative writing. 

One of my FAVORITES has to be Big Pumpkin, by Erica Silverman!! My students get SO into it, and so do I! It's a great rhyming, repetitive, rhythmic story that kids love to act out and sing. I make every character have a different voice, and the kids use them in cheers as well! 

We also like to do a sequencing activity as a group. 

Students get to take turns using stick puppets of the characters, or acting out the characters for each scene. It ends up being HILARIOUS (at least, I like to think so)!!

Here is a page we worked on as a whole group:

This week, we are reading The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything, by Linda Williams. I know this one is not directly about pumpkins, but it includes a pumpkin head, and I can't help but share it, in case you haven't heard of it! This one is HILARIOUS, builds as you read, and gets the kids involved, using sound effects. My students fall over laughing at this one, and it subtly teaches them to solve problems, instead of being fearful. 

We also write about our favorite part, and talk about what we are NOT afraid of. 

(This one is mine. I have not finished this activity with my kiddos yet)

I will be posting more about this book on my blog in a few days, so be sure to check that post out!

Finally, I love to go to our age-old favorite: Five Little Pumpkins. I practice this one in many ways: A PowerPoint, to do a shared reading. 

Monkey Mitt puppets, Acting it out with stick puppets, Emergent Readers, and a "Highlight the sight word" page. 

Have you seen the newest addition to the Five Little Pumpkins collection? I know I snatched one up from Scholastic as soon as I saw it!!

Here are a few more of my suggestions:

(The Stubborn Pumpkin is another one that is very similar to Big Pumpkin) 

Please feel free to share titles of pumpkin books you love!! I am always looking to add to my ever-growing collection!

Stay tuned tomorrow for some FUN pumpkin science activities from Andrea of Always Kindergarten!! 

Cheers! Erin