STEAM Lab Pumpkin Patch 2014

I've always loved using pumpkins in the classroom. This year I again bought 40 pumpkin from my local Walmart for the STEAM Lab pumpkin patch. This year, in an attempt to add a little more math and science, we created a "baseball card" for each pumpkin.

Using Google Drive, these pages were printed and posted in the hallway. They have been a big hit! I'm already thinking about how to improve them for next year.

I have a Pinterest board I use for inspiration. Several of the push-ins were bought last year on clearance. Instead of paining, we used colored tissue paper and a glue/water mixture. I find it stays nicer than the paint and it makes it easier to have 18-22 students participate in the decorating process.

So, here are our pumpkin creations.

The pumpkins were auctioned off during the Halloween Howl. I am still waiting to hear the total raised, but it was a big hit!

The S.T.E.A.M. Lab Pumpkin Patch

I submitted a proposal to the PTO a few weeks ago for Pumpkin Week in the S.T.E.A.M. Lab. 

They provided the funding to allow me to purchase two pumpkins for each of my 18 classes. (I wrote about my wonderful husband’s buying adventures here.)

Thanks to a few additional pumpkin donations, we decorated about 45 pumpkins in three days. Each class had one 50 minute class period to complete two pumpkins. I’m still recovering from the craziness of it all!

I’d planned to do a little more on the math and science components, but because I was at the math conference last week and my pumpkin deadline, it didn’t happen to the extent that I’d hoped for this year. That aside, I’m calling it a success! I’ll make changes for next year.

We auctioned off the pumpkins at the school Halloween Howl Friday night. I haven’t seen the final figures, but two of the live auction pumpkins went for $50 each, so it should be a nice ending figure. The rest of the pumpkins were part of a silent auction.

I’m really proud of my students. I figured out that tissue paper was the best way to “paint” the pumpkins. I coated the pumpkin with a glue/water mix using a foam brush and then the students all got to place and flatten a piece of tissue paper on the pumpkin. This way everyone got to take part and the end result was a pumpkin that looked (nearly) perfectly painted.

I took pictures of most of the pumpkins. My own two little ones arrived for the carnival at about the same time I got my pumpkins put out, so I missed a few.

 

 

  

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

I let the 4th and 5th grade carve pumpkins with varying degrees of independence. 

So there you have it! Pumpkin Week in the S.T.E.A.M. Lab. Enjoy!