Fall Mentor Text-Pumpkin Town!

Happy Fall!  Fall is my absolute favorite season!  I love everything about it....the cool Ohio temperature, the various fall smells that range from apple pie to pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks.  I love driving around to see the yellow, orange, and red leaves....and don't forget about all the PUMPKINS! There is nothing better than heading out to the pumpkin patch with your family and searching for the plumpest, most colorful pumpkins for the front porch.

Speaking of pumpkins....have you ever read the book about a small town that was overtaken by an abundance of pumpkins?  One of my favorite books in my fall collection is called Pumpkin Town! which is written by Katie McKy.  Pumpkin Town! is about a few brothers that accidentally scatter pumpkin seeds over a small town.  In turn, the small town is filled with pumpkins of all sizes.  The brothers secretly make their wrong right and is then rewarded in return.  I love that this book teaches about taking responsibility and having a strong worth ethic.  This is a great message for kids of all ages!

Pumpkin Town! can be used for so many activities when it comes to reading and writing. It is also perfect to discuss adjectives.  Especially comparative and superlative adjectives.  Before reading this book, I have found it helpful to review adjectives.  Review what an adjective is, what it does, and how it can enhance your writing.  There are so many awesome adjective activities out there.  My students created an adjective flip chart to add to their writer's notebooks.  This flip chart is a tool that the students can use any time during the year when they need to make their writing more descriptive.  The activity has helped the students compile a sea of adjectives that they will be able to refer back to throughout the year.  And of course, it's always helpful to watch quick videos to review adjectives (BrainPop Jr. and Flocabulary).  Here is an example of the flip chart I created for my students.

First, I read the book Pumpkin Town! to my students for enjoyment.  The students thought the story was really funny.  Of course, after the text, we discussed the message and a few character traits we

could give the characters in the text.  Next, I read through the text a second time with the purpose of students listening for adjectives.  Students would stop me when they would hear a describing word. My students came up with the idea of telling me where the adjective would go on our flip book.   So, I quickly made an anchor chart so that we could make a list throughout the story.  The students had their flip books out on their desks as well.  This was a good time for to me to observe who had an understanding for adjectives and who still needed more time.

FREEBIE

Once the students found some adjectives in Pumpkin Town!, I thought it would be helpful to dig a little deeper into the language standard. A Common Core standard for third grade is for students to form and use comparative and superlative adjectives; and to choose between them depending on what is to be modified.  I have included a freebie of an adjective flip book that introduces and teaches comparative and superlative adjectives.  My students enjoyed completing this flip book.  We glued it down into our writer's notebooks so we can refer back to it when needed.  






I hope you enjoy this book as much as my students did!  Enter the giveaway below and good luck!

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