Smashing Pumpkins- a Language Experience Approach Activity

No, we're not actually smashing pumpkins! That's just the title my students came up with for our collaborative-story pumpkin.

I started by bringing my pumpkin in a bag and having the students guess what it was. I wrote sentence frames for my lower proficiency students so they could easily say, "I guess there is a ___________ in the bag."

Next we guessed how much the pumpkin weighed using the same sentence frames, and I started the story with that sentence. "Mrs. M-C picked a pumpkin that weighs 9 lbs." We passed (rolled) the pumpkin around the carpet, and everyone added one or two sentences to the story. Of course, our story took a rather strange turn, but once everyone had dictated their portion of the story, they read it back to me from the chart. That is the basic tenet of LEA- "what you say, you can read." It's a great ELL strategy, because it proves to struggling students that they can read, and that gives them so much confidence to keep going.

The cool thing about using a pumpkin as a vehicle for our story was the motor development practice it gave them. It's hard to write on a pumpkin! I traced a straight line with chalk for some of my students who really needed help, but I think they did a pretty good job with their handwriting, bumps and lumps and all! They were so proud of their pumpkin, and it sat on my desk practically until Christmas.

Not a pumpkin fan? Here are some of my other favorite fall resources. Click any picture to go to my TPT store and check them out!