CHALLENGING WORDS

ghost
hard
kicked
pie
stronger
stuck
try
tugged
vine
witch

SUMMARY

The Witch has grown the biggest pumpkin you have ever seen. She wants to make a pumpkin pie for Halloween, but the pumpkin is so large she can’t move it. No one can move it. Then, a tiny black bat comes along and tries to move the pumpkin. Does he succeed?

--- Conversation Questions---

(1) / Name all the characters that tried to move the pumpkin.
(Answer) / Witch, ghost, mummy, vampire and bat.
(Follow Up) / Have you ever tried to get a pumpkin off of the vine?
(2) / Estimate how long it took the Witch and her friends to get the pumpkin off of the vine.
(Answer) / Any logical answer.
(Follow Up) / Do you know how long it takes a pumpkin to grow?
(3) / Imagine you had a large pumpkin. What would you do with it?
(Answer) / Any logical answer.
(Follow Up) / What are you going to be for Halloween?
(4) / Suppose you had a pumpkin and you could not get it off of the vine. What would you do?
(Answer) / Any logical answer.
(Follow Up) / Have you ever grown a pumpkin?
(5) / Explain what a “pumpkin” is.
(Answer) / A round, orange vegetable that is used for Halloween decoration.
(Follow Up) / Do you like pumpkin pie?
(6) / Look at page 2. What do you think the Witch is doing?
(Answer) / Planting the seeds?
(Follow Up) / Have you ever planted seeds? What happened?
(7) / Find where the bat appeared in the book. How do you think the little bat pulled the pumpkin?
(Answer) / Any logical answer.
(Follow Up) / Have you ever played tug-of-war?
(8) / Name what they ate after the Witch got the pumpkin off of the vine.
(Answer) / Pumpkin pie.
(Follow Up) / What is your favorite pie?
(9) / List some things that it takes to grow a pumpkin.
(Answer) / Dirt, seed, water, sun.
(Follow Up) / List other things that grow in a garden.
Activities
1. / Make a list of things you should do to cook a pie.
2. / Design your own Halloween costume.
3. / Give the students cut-outs of pumpkins. Ask them to write their target words on the pumpkin and glue them in their journal.
4. / Draw and design your own pumpkin. Make it creative.
5. / In your journal, make a list of what is involved in growing a pumpkin from beginning to end.
Introductions
1. / Show the students a large pumpkin. Discuss how they think the pumpkin got off of the vine. Ask them to tell you some things that you can do with a pumpkin. Tell them that our story today is about the biggest pumpkin you have ever seen.
2. / Show the students pictures of all kinds of pumpkins. Allow them to put them in order, smallest to largest. Discuss the difference in size. Tell them that today we will read about a Witch that grows the biggest pumpkin you have ever seen.
3. / Copy page 2 from the book and color it. Show the picture to the students and ask them if they can tell what the Witch is doing. Tell them that we will read about the problems that she is having with her very large pumpkin. Let’s read and find out how she works things out.

Book Title: Big Pumpkin

Author: Erica Silverman / Illustrator: S.D. Schindler
ISBN: 0-02-782683-x / # of Text Pages: 16 AR: 2.8 LEX: 350
Building Oral Vocabulary
1 / sprout / 7 / Hmph! / 17 / drat
Prediction Questions
1 / What do you think the Witch is doing?
7 / Do you think the ghost will be able to move the pumpkin?
17 / Is this going to work?

This resource is provided by THE LEARNING CORPS—Barren County Board of Education, an AmeriCorps project funded in part by the Kentucky Commission on Community Volunteerism and Service and the Corporation for National and Community Service.