Here’s how I made the frog:

1. I drew (or to be honest, my husband drew) a frog on green foam sheet and cut him out. I also cut out the frog’s mouth.
2. I took a piece of red foam sheet and cut it so that the rectangle fitted on the back of the frog.
3. I cut out squares on all four corners of the rectangle and folded them up to form a box.
4. I hot-glued halfway up the corner edges to secure the corners.
5. I bent over the remaining sides to form a “lip” for the outer edges. (It kind of looks like a cake pan.)
6. I hot-glued the red “cake pan” to the back of the frog and trimmed the “lip” where it wasn’t attached to the frog.

Here’s how I made the bugs:

1. I found a clip-art bug that I liked.
2. Using a computer drawing program, I put each basic sight word on a separate bug so that I had 25 bugs.
3. I printed out the bugs on sheets of paper and laminated the sheets.
4. I cut out each bug by hand. (Yes, it was a bit of a pain, but when I saw how much fun my kids had with them, it was worth it!)

There are many ways to use this game. My children would pick a bug out of a bag (see image below), say the word, and “feed the frog” the word. If the child did not know the word, another child or an adult could help, or the child could put the word back into the bag until help was available.

It was a lot of fun to watch children play this game. I would pair them up: one child who was struggling with the words, and another who knew all of the words. These teams knew my rules well and knew that they were never allowed to criticize each other. If their partner did not know a word, they would be a team helper and tell the struggling child the word.

Some children made “ribbit” sounds as the frog ate, or made the frog burp after it ate all the bugs. I was okay with that because I knew if the frog was full, the children’s minds were growing and filling up also (burp!).

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1. Fun pumpkin facts
2. Pumpkin reading and comprehension
3. Pumpkin creative writing (with child-drawn pictures)
4. Pumpkin recipes
5. Pumpkin arts/crafts (child-made)

The following Web sites will be used:

• Child-Made Pumpkin Fact Books
• Wanted…Someone is Stealing all of the Pumpkins!
• Farm Bureau Kids: Pumpkin Fun Facts
• Halloween Online: Unusual Pumpkin Facts
• Halloween Online: Pumpkin Recipes
• Merced County Office of Education: Pumpkins (PDF file) (I love this Web site…it has info on pumpkins plus all kinds of neat ideas!)
• Kids’ Turn Central: 101 Things to do with a Pumpkin

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Science:

• Apple Fun Facts (New York Apple Country)
• Apple Parts (University of Illinois Extension)
• Life Cycle of Apple Trees (University of Illinois Extension)
• How to Grow Apple Seeds (eHow)
• Apple Trees (throughout the seasons) (Enchanted Learning)
• Apple Varieties (University of Illinois Extension)

Language/Reading:

• Apple Sayings/References (scroll down to bottom) (DLTK’s Crafts for Kids)
• Apples in Many Languages (Enchanted Learning)
• About Johnny Appleseed (DLTK’s Crafts for Kids)
• Happy Birthday, Johnny Appleseed! (Education World)
• Johnny Appleseed Grace (song) (DLTK’s Crafts for Kids)

Math:

• Apple Baskets Division (division game) (KidsNumbers.com)
• Apple Pie Recipe (Adult supervision is required!) (DLTK’s Crafts for Kids)

Child-made Crafts:

• Apple Magnet (DLTK’s Crafts for Kids)
• Fingerprint Apple Tree (DLTK’s Crafts for Kids)
• Johnny Appleseed TP Roll Craft (very cute!) (DLTK’s Crafts for Kids)
• October Bulletin Board Project (DLTK’s Educational Activities)

Writing:

• Apple-shaped Paper (DLTK’s Crafts for Kids)

Here is a hand-made cover for my son’s book called Apples

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I am also planning an apple theme unit, a Halloween theme unit and a Thanksgiving unit. More info to come!

1. Define autumn.
2. Why do leaves change colors? (edHelper.com)
3. Maine.gov: Kids’ Page: Fall Foliage Video
4. What makes an Indian Summer? (Teacher Created Resources)
5. Go for a “pretty leaf hunt” and keep the prettiest ones in our Autumn book.
6. Autumn tree finger print (TeacherVision)
7. Understand how the four seasons relate to the rotation of the earth around the sun (Prentice Hall Geoscience Animations: Earth-Sun Relations)
8. KidsGeo.com: Geography For Kids – The Revolution of the Earth
9. Write an autumn poem.
10. Read fall poem: Apples4theteacher.com: “A Fall Song”
11. Read fall poem: Apples4theteacher.com: “Down to Sleep”
12. Learn about autumn leaves: KidZone: Autumn Leaves
13. Autumn crafts: Activity Village: Autumn Activities for Kids
14. CDC: Parents: Autumn Tips to Help Keep Your Kids Safe and Healthy
15. Autumn Fall Crafts: FamilyFun.com: Festive Fall Crafts
16. Creative Writing Activities from edHelper.com and Enchanted Learning

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• My children titled their books, “All About Pumpkins” and created their own nonfiction books about pumpkins.
• Sometimes we made pop-up books (see Simple Pop-Ups You Can Make!) or pumpkin-shaped books (see Shapebook: Halloween – Pumpkin) for the covers.
• If I wanted all of the covers to look the same, and the covers were elaborate and time-consuming, I asked one of my volunteer moms or dads to put together the book covers for me. I would provide the parents with the necessary materials and they were glad to glue on googly eyes or cut out shapes while they watched TV. God bless parent helpers!!
• You may want to brainstorm other titles with your children and let them pick the title they like the best for their book.
• Make a book with your children on “How Pumpkins Grow”.
• List ways that people use pumpkins.
• Here are a few Web sites to help children find pumpkin facts:
  • The Pumpkin Patch
  • Merced County Office of Education: Pumpkins (PDF file)
  • BBC – Pumpkintastic Facts

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