(bright music) - Hello, little learners.

Welcome back to our pre-K and TK classroom.

My name is Mrs. Lara, and I'm gonna be your teacher this morning.

Are you ready to tell me your name?

As loud as you can, wherever you are.

When I put my hand to my ear, I want you to let me know what your name is.

Here we go.

Ooh.

I'm so happy that you made it back today.

Let's see if I guessed your special letter.

Is this your special letter?

Letter I for iguana!

Look at him with all his tail right here.

I, iguana, yes?

No?

Can't seem to get it right.

Hopefully, next time if I didn't.

I'm gonna put you down Mr. Iguana.

Well, today is day four of the five days that we're going to be together this week.

Let me add another magnet so you'll see.

I have two on the top and two on the bottom.

Two and two together make?

Four, that's right.

And all this week, we're learning about spooky things.

We learned about an old lady who wasn't scared of anything, some creepy carrots.

And yesterday, we learned about another thing that we sequenced here.

Do you remember what it was called?

Today, we're gonna learn about big pumpkin or ugly pumpkin.

You'll have to wait to find out.

But speaking of pumpkins, let's start off with our song.

Here we go.

Here's our song.

Do you remember the tune?

It's.

♪ Where is pumpkin ♪ ♪ Where is pumpkin ♪ And you can use your thumbs and your face to make the emotions as we sing.

Here we go.

♪ Where's my pumpkin ♪ ♪ Where's my pumpkin ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Sad jack-o-lantern ♪ ♪ Sad jack-o-lantern looks like this ♪ ♪ Looks like this ♪ Ooh.

So sad.

Makes me want to cry.

Hopefully, there's a better, happier feeling coming up.

♪ Where's my pumpkin ♪ ♪ Where's my pumpkin ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Loved jack-o-lantern ♪ ♪ Loved jack-o-lantern looks like this ♪ ♪ Looks like this ♪ Oh, that's my favorite one.

Do you have a favorite?

This one and happy, I think, are my favorites.

♪ Where's my pumpkin ♪ ♪ Where's my pumpkin ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Happy jack-o-lantern ♪ ♪ Happy jack-o-lantern looks like this ♪ ♪ Looks like this ♪ Big smile.

Big, crooked smile, huh?

With one tooth.

(laughs) ♪ Where's my pumpkin ♪ ♪ Where's my pumpkin ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Angry jack-o-lantern ♪ ♪ Angry jack-o-lantern looks like this ♪ ♪ Looks like this ♪ Oh, he was just carved wrong, wasn't he?

His eyebrows down, looks kind of mean and scary when he's angry.

Let's see, next one.

♪ Where's my pumpkin ♪ ♪ Where's my pumpkin ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Surprised jack-o-lantern ♪ ♪ Surprised jack-o-lantern looks like this ♪ ♪ Looks like this ♪ Can you make a surprised face?

(gasps) Like you just saw a big spider crawling near you.

Yeah, that's the face I would make, followed by big scream.

(screams) And maybe running away, huh?

Speaking of things that scare us, I wonder if our letter is gonna give us a clue about our book today.

Let's see.

(bell rings) Here's the letter that Ms. Maria dropped off.

Now we practiced our left to right when we read, but now we're practicing, tracking.

So get your pointer finger out.

Remember, that's the one right by your thumb.

And you're gonna scoot your thumb in, and you start at the left and go to the right.

And when you get to the end, you, that's right, return, sweep.

Don't let your finger fall off.

Down, left, right, return, sweep to the next spot.

Okay.

Let's practice reading.

Goes like this.

"Dear, Mrs. Laura, what would happen if a pumpkin grew too big to pick?"

What would happen if a pumpkin was too large?

Did you know there are some places that even have prizes to grow the largest pumpkin?

Hmm.

"How would you get it out of the ground?

Would you need help?"

If a pumpkin was this big, enormous, I don't think I could get it out of the ground.

I might need help.

So in thinking about a pumpkin, we know it's a big pumpkin.

And getting help, I wonder if our book is about a large pumpkin.

Ooh, it is.

"Big Pumpkin" by Erica Silverman.

Erica Silverman is the author of the story.

And the author writes the words.

It's illustrated by S.D.

Schindler.

The illustrator draws the pictures.

And I want you to take a look at the front cover.

What do you notice?

Yes, there's a large pumpkin right here, and it's still on the vine.

And look, this is one of our characters.

It's a fictional character.

That means make-believe.

It's a witch.

And I can tell it's a witch by the hat that she's wearing.

So let's open it up and read the book, "Big Pumpkin".

Here we go.

"Big Pumpkin".

Oh look, here's the witch with, it says, "Spook Brothers Spring Seeds".

I wonder if she's gonna plant a seed.

And more clues that she may plant a seed.

A shovel, even.

Here we go.

"Once there was a witch who wanted to make pumpkin pie.

So she planted a pumpkin seed.

She weeded and watered.

And after awhile, a sprout poked through."

We learned about the pumpkin life cycle, didn't we?

That's the first step to something becoming a pumpkin, a seed, then a sprout.

"And then a pumpkin grew.

And it grew.

And it grew.

And then it grew some more."

So there she is, watering her little pumpkin seed in the garden.

"Soon, Halloween was just hours away.

The witch thought about pumpkin pie and bent down to take her pumpkin off the vine."

So here's the witch and there's the pumpkin.

And remember, her goal is to make some pumpkin pie.

Do you think she's gonna be able to lift it?

What's your prediction?

Remember the clues in our letter?

"Well, she pulled and she tugged.

And she pulled!

She pulled hard and she pulled harder.

But that pumpkin just sat.

'Drat!'

said the witch."

There she is, look at her expression.

I think she's frustrated.

She can barely wrap her hands around that pumpkin.

"Well, who should come along, but a ghost.

'Big pumpkin,' said the ghost.

'It's big and it's mine, but it's stuck on the vine!

And Halloween's just hours away,' said the witch.

And she kicked the pumpkin.

'I'm bigger than you.

I'm stronger too,' boasted the ghost.

'Let me try.'

'Hmph,' said the witch, but she thought about pumpkin pie and she stepped aside."

So now who's gonna try, but the ghost.

Let's see.

Almost skipped a page.

"The ghost bent down to take the pumpkin off the vine while he pulled and he tugged and pulled.

First, he pulled hard, and he then, pulled harder.

But that pumpkin just sat.

'Drat!'

said the witch."

There he is trying to pull it.

No luck.

"So who should come along, but a vampire.

And he says, 'Big pumpkin.'

'It's big and it's mine, but it's stuck on the vine.

And Halloween's just hours away,' said the witch.

And she kicked that pumpkin.

'I'm bigger than both of you and stronger too,' boasted the vampire.

'Let me try.'

'Hmph,' said the witch.

'Hmph,' said the ghost."

So there's the vampire trying.

Oh, do you think he's gonna pull it out?

He even has his feet on the pumpkin, trying to get it off the vine.

"Well, here pulled and he tugged, and pulled some more.

And he just couldn't get the pumpkin out, so it just sat.

'Drat!'

said the vampire.

Well, who should come along but a mummy?"

Of course, these are not real.

They're just pretend in a book that's just in pretend story.

"But that mummy said what the other had said.

'Big pumpkin!'

'It's big and it's mine, but it's stuck on the vine.

And Halloween's just hours away,' said the witch.

And she kicked that pumpkin.

'I'm bigger than all of you, and stronger too,' boasted the mummy.

'Let me try.'

'Hmph,' said the witch.

'Hmph,' said the ghost.

'Hmph,' said the vampire.

But they thought about pumpkin pie and stepped aside."

Oh, they must really love pumpkin pie.

So there's the mummy.

He's really trying to get it off of the vine.

And all of the other characters are just watching.

"The mummy bent down to take the pumpkin off the vine.

Well, she pulled, and she tugged and she pulled.

First, she pulled hard, and then she pulled harder, but that pumpkin just sat.

'Drat!'

said mummy.

But who should come along, but a little bat."

That was in our story from yesterday.

"Just then, along came a bat.

'Big pumpkin,' said the bat.

The witch didn't say a word.

She just looked at the ghost and she rolled her eyes."

So she doesn't even think that the bat could help at all, huh?

When you roll your eyes, it means you're not thinking something is true.

"The ghost looked at the vampire.

The vampire looked at the mummy.

They all looked at the little bat and they started to laugh."

(laughing) "'I may not be big,' said the bat, 'and I may not be strong, but I have an idea.'

And the bat told them what to do.

'Hmph,' said the witch.

'Hmph,' said the ghost.

'Hmph,' said the vampire.

'Hmph,' said the mummy."

I wonder what the bat's idea is.

Look at the picture.

Does that give you a clue about what the bat's idea was?

That's right, that they all work together.

So let's finish up our story.

"'Ready, set, pull!'

called the bat.

The bat pulled the mummy.

The mummy pulled the vampire.

The vampire pulled the ghost.

The ghost pulled the witch, and the witch pulled the pumpkin.

Well, they pulled and they tugged, and they pulled.

First, they pulled hard, and then they pulled harder."

And what do you think happened?

"Snap!

Off came the pumpkin!

'Drat!'

said the witch.

Whoosh!

It and flew and it flew and it flew.

Thud!

It landed on top of a hill.

And thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

It bounced all the way down to the witch's house.

And when it got to her door, that pumpkin just sat.

'Hurray for the bat!'

shouted the witch.

And she hurried inside to make pumpkin pie."

So what a coincidence that it rolled all the way to her front door.

So what are they enjoying now, some pumpkin pie.

"'Hmm,' said the ghost.

'Have some more,' said the witch.

'Couldn't eat another bite,' said the vampire.

'Fun party,' said the mummy.

'Time to go,' said the bat.

'Drat!'

said the witch as she watched them all leave.

Then she went right out and planted another pumpkin seed."

The end.

What did you think of a story, "Big Pumpkin?"

It reminds me of another story that we're gonna read when it's spring time, called "Big Turnip".

And it's all about teamwork, just like this.

So a little bat is the one that made it happen with an idea.

We're gonna practice our foundational skill now of sequencing the story.

Now, here's our big pumpkin, and we're gonna retell it using some pictures.

So let me see.

First, the pumpkin started off as a tiny seed.

That's right.

So we're gonna put the seed right on the pumpkin, right here.

So then what happened?

The witch saw that the pumpkin grew and grew and grew, and she was the first one to try to take it off the vine, wasn't she?

So I'll put her right there.

Was she successful?

Was she able to take it off the vine?

No, it was too big.

So then along came somebody.

Was it the bat?

Hmm.

Sometimes I have trouble remembering.

I can always go back to my text, or my book to figure it out and look at the pictures.

Who was the first character that came back?

The ghost.

He was very proud.

He's like, "Hey, I'm bigger.

That means I'm stronger.

I can pull it out."

No luck there.

And who came next?

It was the vampire.

Let's put him right there.

Vampire.

Then which one came next?

It was the mummy.

Again, thinking, "I'm so big.

I can pull that big pumpkin out."

Nope, no luck.

And along came something small with an idea.

It was the bat.

And the bat said, "Hey, have you tried teamwork?

If we put all of our brains and bodies together, we can get this pumpkin off the vine."

And that's exactly what they did.

And they ended up with delicious, wonderful, creamy pumpkin pie.

Yum.

Now I want some.

I'm gonna go buy some pumpkin pie.

But before I do that, let's go over to our project place because we're gonna make some toys to retell the story.

Let's walk over there together.

So I thought to myself, I want us to practice sequencing this story, and I love to play games.

So we're going to be making our story characters, using simple, recycled materials.

So for this activity, you're going to need cardboard, some paper, crayons, tape, glue, and maybe one marker if you'd like.

And we're gonna end up with little toys that look like this, that you can use to sequence the story.

And you can make this with any book that you have.

Let's say that you have a favorite book at home.

You can make little story characters that you can pretend with.

All right.

Let me show you how I made my first character.

Let's make the mummy.

Do you remember, the mummy was one of the characters that said, "I'm super strong.

I can pull this pumpkin off the vine."

Still no luck.

So I'm gonna make a mummy here.

I'm gonna do it this way.

I'm gonna start with a mummy head and a mummy body.

Now again, these are just pretend characters, and you can draw them however you like.

Maybe you want to make different characters from the story or make up your own story.

That'd be so much fun.

What other characters might help the witch pull out the pumpkin?

Hmm, maybe you can do a spooky pig?

Hmm, I don't know.

Maybe a spooky spider?

Yeah.

Maybe that's more like it.

So here's my outline of my mummy.

Now, I know that mummies are wrapped up.

They are wrapped up in gauze or like that.

Or if you make a mummy at home wrapped up in toilet paper, that's a fun costume, if you celebrate Halloween and get dressed up.

If you don't have anything else, just wrap yourself up in toilet paper.

Walk around saying you're a mummy from the book, "The Big Pumpkin".

All right.

Here's what our mummy is looking like so far.

Let me put a little bit of maybe loose gauze here, make him even scarier here.

Here he is with loose gauze.

Looks like a ninja almost, with his eyes barely poking out.

The next thing we're gonna do is cut out our mummy.

I'm gonna use my scissors here and cut him out.

Now, you'll notice I'm using a little bit heavier of a paper, but you can use any paper that you have to create your characters at home.

So if you have just regular printer paper, if you have cardboard, anything that you have, what I like to do is use cereal boxes.

And actually, my family gets quite upset because they'll buy cereal, and all of a sudden, the box is missing.

We used it for one of my projects.

Remember to save those cereal boxes, you use them to make toys from things that you would throw away.

Great way to recycle and to keep the learning going.

So you're not just learning when you're with me, but when you're at home as well.

Okay, here we go.

All right, let me finish cutting out my mummy.

He has lots of curves, great scissor practice.

And of course, I'm going pretty quickly because I've been doing this cutting a long time, but you take your time.

Like I said, make your characters however you want.

They do not have to look like my characters.

Okay.

So here, let me cut out another little piece here.

So he doesn't look strange.

So we're gonna use our cardboard now.

Now what I did was take pieces from a box that I had, that I was going to throw away, and now we're gonna make the mummy stand up so it can be something that we can play with.

So to do that, I need to make kind of like a triangle.

So I'm gonna cut my cardboard in half like this.

And I'm gonna fold it into three parts, but this is actually another fun way that you can bring in science and prediction and engineering, right?

Instead of following my directions, what's another way you might make the mummy stand up?

This is a way that I found right here.

So see how I'm putting it into a triangle?

I'm gonna take some tape and put some tape on the ends here to make kind of like a tube.

This is what it's looking like so far.

And see this flat part?

This is where I'm gonna put my glue, right there.

And then I'm gonna glue my mummy on there.

Oh, okay.

Put some glue on.

Like I said, you can make up any kind of characters that you like.

This one just happened to be my favorite.

I love the mummy.

So mysterious in our book.

I think it was a she.

Let me glue that down.

There it is.

It's gonna stay up.

There we go.

And there is our first character.

I also want to show you how to make the big pumpkin, but let me show you some of the other characters I made just by using crayons and markers.

My witch doesn't want to stay up now.

This is our witch from our story.

And then I made the vampire.

So you can practice sequencing.

I already showed you the mummy.

Here is the ghost.

(chuckles) Super scary.

And here is the big pumpkin.

So you can see how you can pretend and say, here's the witch trying to pull out the big pumpkin.

And then have the other characters come join in.

All right, let me show you how to make the big pumpkin because I haven't shown you that part.

And then I'll show you my recommended books.

So for the big pumpkin, you can take a piece of orange paper, and just make this design.

I have some white paper, So I'm gonna show you how I do it.

I make an oval, that's first.

And then I just create more ovals, half circles, like this all the way around.

Like that, a little bit backwards.

And then there's the stem.

So this is what it's looking like so far.

That just adds a little bit of dimension.

Then you use your crayons to color it in, and cut it out.

For the pumpkin, I think I'm gonna use orange.

And use the same process to create your pieces for your story.

This would also be good for classrooms.

You know, have some of these out in the dramatic play area in the block center.

Students would love being able to play with these in the block center.

And if you're at home, you can just play with them.

So that's kind of what it's going to look like.

You cut it out, and then you put it on a piece of cardboard to make your piece, to retell and sequence your story.

And I'm gonna leave you with a few recommended books that I love, but I'm not gonna get to read you.

This one is really fun.

It's called "Hallo-Wiener" (laughs) And it's about this dog right here.

He's the main character.

And look at all the other dogs.

They're making fun of him.

He has a mom who loves him so much, she bought him a Halloween costume.

Guess what he has to be?

A hotdog.

And he gets made fun of by all of his friends.

But I won't give it away, but in the end, something wonderful happens.

Can you tell by the picture?

(laughs) So I hope that you check this one out.

It really is a fun book to read together with your family.

And the next book that I have for you that I hope that you check out, and if you don't want to check this one out, there's tons more about this day.

It's called, "Dia de Los Muertos", which in Spanish means Day of the Dead.

It's actually a cultural celebration that happens in the Hispanic culture.

And I'll show you some of the pictures inside.

It's in English and Spanish.

It's what's called a bilingual book.

Some of you might be bilingual too.

So it shows you the history, a little bit of the history of the Dia de Los Muertos.

People make sugar skulls and (speaking in foreign language).

So I hope that you Google it, or check out this picture, this book.

All right, boys and girls, looks like it's time for us to go.

Come back tomorrow for our very last day of studying spooky things.

Since we learned about the big pumpkin today, tomorrow, we're gonna learn about the ugly pumpkin.

Oh no, what makes the pumpkin ugly?

Hope you come back to find out.

Until then, a big squeeze from me to you.

Goodbye!

(bright music)