Pumpkin Day brings pumpkin patch to OLS School 1st graders

First-grade teachers and room mothers set up a pumpkin patch for the first-graders at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic School. 

“Since our annual first-grade field trip to the pumpkin patch was canceled due to pandemic restrictions this year, we felt adjustments could be made,” said first-grade teacher Jessica Taff. “This is typically a big field trip as we conclude our study of plants and the life cycle of the pumpkin. We really didn’t want to disappoint our students, so we created a Pumpkin Day.”

To start their special day, the students visited the pumpkin patch, which was provided and created by volunteer room mothers for the front lawn of the school. As the day continued, the youngsters enjoyed fun and educational pumpkin-style activities.

“This study unit is cross-curricular, so it involves science, math, language arts, technology, and art,” Taff said. “We created some hands-on projects for our students to apply and reinforce what they have learned over the past few weeks.” 

Some of the activities included placing the life cycle of the pumpkin in sequential order, completing a pumpkin investigation in Math by counting pumpkin seeds in groups of ten, and time on their computers to explore a virtual field trip to the pumpkin patch. The students also enjoyed pumpkin stories read to them throughout the day. They also had an opportunity to creatively paint their selected pumpkins to take home at the end of the day. 

Submitted by Mary Stephens Pugh.