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Pumpkins make math lessons count
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor.Kindergartner MacKenzie Crohn (left) got help from her teacher, Krista Beard Oct. 21. Beard used pumpkins to make math fun for her students.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor.Watson Elementary School student Brandon Hoffman tried to count pumpkin seeds. Krista Beard's class used pumpkins during its math lesson Oct. 21.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor.Katelynn Freidhoff (center) plugged her nose as she scrape out the insides of a pumpkin Oct. 21. The kindergarten class of Krista Beard at Watson Elementary used pumpkins to learn math skills.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor.Watson Elementary School kindergartners checked to see if they guessed the weight of a pumpkin correctly. The students teacher, Krista Beard used pumkins as a way to promote math.
By SARAH FOOR
On Oct. 21, Watson kindergarten teacher Krista Beard provided quite the trick and treat for her students. The treat was a day of playing with pumpkins. The trick was using match to do it.
Beard is the first to admit, however, that this sneaky way to include a math lesson isn’t her original idea.
“Actually, when I was still student teaching six years ago, my supervising teacher thought of it for a fun fall activity. They’re exploring the pumpkin in a way that they might not if they carved with their parents — learning their weight, how many seeds are in a handful, or that pumpkins float. Most are surprised to learn that they do float,” she explained.
Six parents volunteered to help during Beard’s pumpkin day, and brought their own pumpkins for the event. Before they opened their pumpkins, the kindergartners guessed what they thought they weighed, the number of lines, circumference, if it floated and how many pumpkin seeds were in a handful.
Many were surprised to learn that they overestimated things like weight and circumference. Also surprising was the stink of newly-opened pumpkin.
After opening her’s, Katelynn Freidhoff couldn’t get over the smell.
“Ewwww! Why does it smell like this?” she kept repeating.