Pumpkin
Patch
Introduction
As cities continue to grow and suburban sprawl takes over the countryside, fewer children have opportunities to experience nature firsthand; to actually feel the earth in their hands; to grow plants from seed. Your school is going to give inner city children these very experiences. You will be creating a pumpkin patch that will give children opportunities to grow and learn as they become active participants in your project.
You have been assigned the task of creating a pumpkin patch in the acre field behind your school. This environmental science project will be visited by inner city elementary students at different times throughout the year. In order to carry out this task you must:
Research
how to plant a pumpkin patch. You may include other plant varieties in
this space. Use your imagination to create an interesting space for
children to visit and learn from. Be sure to account for the allotted
space and prepare a budget for this project.
Plan
activities for students to do when they visit the pumpkin patch.
Activities may include but are not limited to hands on projects, art or
craft activities, food and stories.
Using
suggested web sites, choose elementary schools you would like to invite to your
pumpkin patch. Create a brochure or power point presentation to provide
those schools with information about your project. Be sure to include a
map to your school.
Research
an environmental topic that is related to growing pumpkins. Prepare an
informational handout on this topic that will be given to children who visit
the pumpkin patch.
Prepare
additional materials about pumpkins for teachers to use in the classroom with
their students.
You will work with a group of students to complete this project. Decide as a group who will complete each task. Group members will need to work together in order to accomplish the tasks required. The following is a suggested plan for carrying out the project:
1. Research how to grow pumpkins. Keep in mind the amount of space pumpkins require to grow and how many seeds it takes to produce pumpkins. Create a plan for your patch, including any other plants you want to grow. Using the suggested web sites, calculate the projected cost of your seeds.
2. Sing your own creativity combined with information from the list of resources creates two or three activities for elementary students to do when they visit the pumpkin patch. Specify what time of year these activities can be done.
3. Choose elementary schools from an inner city area to invite to your pumpkin patch using the suggested resources. Create a power point presentation or a brochure to show those schools what the students will learn and do when they visit your pumpkin patch. Be sure to create a map to your school from each school you invite.
4. Research an environmental topic related to growing pumpkins, such as composting. Use this information to create a handout for the students who will visit. Be certain to keep the age of the students in mind. This handout should be creative, do not limit yourself to an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of paper.
5. Prepare extension activity information for teachers to take back to the classroom with them. This information need not be limited to print form.
Evaluation of your project will be done by your fellow students. Each group will evaluate another group’s project. You should assess points to each task using a scale of one to five. One will represent a poor effort and five will represent an excellent example of how this project should be completed. In this manner a perfect score would be a 25. Consideration should be given to the following:
1. Thoroughness.
2. Accuracy.
3. Creativity.
4. Use of technology.
Through this project you have given inner city children the opportunity to experience the thrill of being a part of your pumpkin patch. Along the way you have learned how to plan and carry out a project. Hopefully you have gained experience with technology as well. Above all, you have had the chance to learn by doing, which is the best education of all!
This was created by Rachel Bowen, July 1998. Last Updated February 2005 by Trisha Armstrong