Olaf, Belle, Arthur, dinosaurs, and narwhals took on a new form as the 20 students in Ms. McCartney’s 1st grade class found ways to decorate pumpkins to look like these and other favorite characters for a recent book report project. The whimsical pumpkins have been on display in the hallway outside their classroom for several weeks in November.
The pumpkins came from the ACS pumpkin patch on Harvest Day, which students took home on October 28. For the book report project, McCartney asked each student to select a book to read at home, choose a favorite character from the book, and then decorate their pumpkin to look like that character.
“We’ve been learning about characters in stories and this project was a fun and creative way to reinforce the subject,” McCartney said. “They could paint or attach any decorations they wanted, but they were asked not to carve the pumpkin.” The students presented their book reports and pumpkins to their classmates on November 4.
“Everyone did a good job and put a lot of creative effort into their decorating,” McCartney said. Some of the books the students read included “The Three Little Pigs,” “Charlotte’s Web,” Berenstain Bear’s “Report Card Trouble,” “The Wonky Donkey,” “Froggy Picks a Pumpkin,” and “Olaf Waits for Spring.”