Words, words, words Vocabulary: Word of Month Word web Story Board Language: Fun Photo patch patch The Pumpkin Patch Word of the month - patch Blue Ribbon Winner 1. a decorative patch 2. An eye patch 3. A patch cable 4. a cloth patch 5. A patchwork quilt 6. A garden patch A patch is a piece that covers a small area or closes an opening. Write the number for the correct example of each patch used below. 1. My torn jeans need a patch. 2. I grew a patch of squash in my garden this year. 3. The pirate has a patch. 4. I have a Hello Kitty patch on my purse. 5. I need to patch my game player into the TV. 6. My new cover has 120 blue and green patches.
Word web - (noun) a patch function cover conseal description small square thin parts edge of surface (verb) to patch synonym mend repair adverb completely carefully nouns a tire a tear in a hole in
Sequence Story The Pumpkin Patch a packet of seeds a seedling/ a sprout a vine a male flower/blossom a female flower/blossom a baby green pumpkin a young yellow pumpkin a mature pumpkin a ripe pumpkin
Growing a Pumpkin Basic: A pumpkin begins as a seed. A packet of seeds holds twenty seeds. The seed is planted one inch deep in the soil. The sprout will comes out of the ground in ten days. It will become a vine. The vine will grow to be fifteen feet long. It will grow big flat leaves. Ten weeks after planting, the vine makes flowers. The flower only lasts for one day. A tiny pumpkin grows at the bottom of the flower. The pumpkin will grow for one hundred and forty days. The pumpkin grows quickly. The color changes from green to yellow to orange. A full grown pumpkin will be thirty-five to fifty inches around the middle. Advanced: A pumpkin begins as a seed. A packet of seeds contains approximately twenty seeds. The seed is planted about an inch into the soil. The seeds need at least six hours of sun a day to grow. In eight to ten days, the seed germinates and emerges from the soil. A pumpkin sprout has a stem and seed leaves. From the sprout, the pumpkin vine develops. The main vine grows to a length of fifteen to twenty feet with huge leaves and secondary vines. Ten weeks after planting, the first flowers appear. The vine produces both male and female blossoms. The female blossom grows on a short stem with a tiny fruit attached at the base. This is the baby pumpkin. Most pumpkins require one hundred ten to one hundred forty growing days. As the pumpkin matures, it changes color from green to yellow to orange. By harvest time, the pumpkin can have a diameter of thirty-six to fifty inches. Vocabulary Practice Synonyms Using pictures and both the basic and advanced passage, list synonyms for the following words. 1. flower - 2. sprout - 3. holds - 4. emerge - 5. develops - 6. matures - 7. diameter - 8. base -
Activity One (see the number word identification activity under Instructional Strategies) Activity Two Questions basic: Fill in the blank. 1. A pumpkin begins as a. 2. The seed is in the soil. 3. A sprout out of the soil. 4. The sprout becomes a. 5. The pumpkin vine has big, leaves. 6. The vine grows a yellow that lasts only one day. 7. The pumpkin changes color from green to. 8. A pumpkin is ready to pick when it turns. Questions advanced: Answer these questions with a prepositional phrase. Example - How do you buy pumpkin seeds? They come in a packet. 1. Where are the seeds planted? 2. When does the seed germinate? 3. Where does the vine develop? 4. The first flowers appear ten weeks from what? 5. Where does the female flower grow? 6. Where is the tiny pumpkin attached? 7. When does the pumpkin reach a diameter of 36 inches? Thinking questions: 1. A pumpkin needs 6 hours of sun a day. What happens if it gets only 3 hours? 2. Why does a pumpkin patch have to be big? 3. A pumpkin changes color as it ripens. Name 2 other fruit that change color as they grow. 4. A pumpkin grows on a vine. Name 2 other fruits that grow on a vine. 5. Explain why pumpkins have big, flat leaves. Activity Three Use a calendar and mark the dates. 1. Mark a date in April when you will plant the seeds. Count 10 days to germination, mark the date. Count 10 weeks to the first flower, mark the date. Count 110 growing days, mark the date of harvest. 2. Now count backwards. You will harvest your pumpkin on Halloween Day. What day will you plant?
Fun with Pictures The Blue Ribbon Winner 1. Think of a story idea. How did you grow this special pumpkin? Special food? Special care? How did you get the heavy pumpkin out of the patch and to the fair? What will happen to the pumpkin after the fair? 2. Make a list of words related to the picture and your story idea. grow, ribbon, 3. What happens first? last? In the middle? 4. Write your story.