Wild About Watermelon!

Wild About Watermelon

:Books:

:Poems & Songs:

Watermelon Song [tune: "Are You Sleeping?"] Watermelon, watermelon See how it drips, see how it drips Up and down my elbow, up and down my elbow Spit out the pits (POOEY!), Spit out the pits (POOEY!)	Watermelon ABC's A-B-CDE Watermelon is good for me. F-G-HIJ I can eat it everyday. K-L-MNO Plant a seed and watch it grow. P-Q-RST Ripe and very juicy U-V-WXY You will like it if you give it a try. Z-Z ZZZ Watermelon is good for me!
Who Took the Melon From the Melon Patch? [tune: "Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?"] Who took the melon from the melon patch? _________ took the melon from the melon patch. Who me? Yes you! Couldn't be! Then who? ___________ took the melon from the melon patch! Repeat until all have a turn	The Watermelon Patch Song [tune: "Are You Sleeping?"] Watermelon, watermelon On the vine, on the vine, Sweet and red and juicy, Sweet and red and juicy, Please be mine! Please be mine! Watermelon, watermelon Thump, thump, thump, Thump, thump, thump, I think you are ready - I think you are ready - Big and plump! Big and plump!
	Watermelon Shakes [tune: "Clementine"] Watermelon, watermelon Such a juicy summer treat! Seeds for spitting, What a fitting snack to take outside to eat!

:Reading:

What Am I? Flanneboard Story

Cut a large circle out of green felt, a slightly smaller circle out of white felt, a still smaller circle out of red felt and several seed shapes out of black felt. Place the felt shapes in front of a flannelboard. As you read the poem below, put the appropriate shapes on the flannelboard.

Great big green ball Sitting in the sun. Inside, a white ball Just for fun.
Next comes a red ball Just for me, Filled with black spots. What can it be?
Black spots, black spots, Spit 'em at the sun. Spitting black spots Is lots of fun.
Red ball, red ball Juicy and sweet. Watch out now While I eat and eat.
White ball, white ball. Green ball, too. I throw them away When I'm through.
Can you guess What I'm tellin'? My great big ball
It's a watermelon!!

Watermelon Playdoh Stamping Use the watermelon playdoh recipe (see below) and some alphabet playdoh stamps to allow children alphabet practice. Add some laminated letter cards to a basket containing the stamps and the playdoh. Students roll out their playdoh and practice finding the correct stamp and then stamping it in the playdoh.

The Enormous Watermelon - Brenda Parkes After reading the story, make a list of all the characters from the story. Try putting the characters in the correct order too. Discuss what the word enormous means. What other things can be enormous?

Down by the Bay - Raffi This story is excellent for practicing recognizing rhyming words. After re-reading this fun story, have children come up with their own new characters and rhyming words!

Mini Down by the Bay Booklets Students can create their own mini booklets with the words and illustrations to the popular song.

Watermelon Names Give each child a large oval watermelon shape. On the shape, write their name in large, well-spaced print. Have them trace over the letters using q-tips and glue. After the glue is on all the letters, sprinkle with watermelon jello or koolaid. They smell so good when finished!

Watermelon Rhymes Program the large watermelon cutouts from Carson Dellosa with rhyming pictures for the students to match. [Carson Dellosa-CD9273 -Watermelon Notes]

Just "Ripe" Review Copy a large supply of watermelon slice patterns on green construction paper. Label each slice with a letter, a shape, and a numeral. Spread the cutouts on the floor, facedown, to make a watermelon patch. Choose a few students to get to walk in the watermelon patch while the rest of the class sings the chant. When the rhyme ends, each volunteer picks a melon and tells what is found on the "inside."

Watermelon Chant: Watermelon, watermelon, watermelon rind. Pick one up and tell us what you find!

Watermelon, Watermelon Using the pattern from the book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, write a watermelon book.

Cover - [color to look like the inside of a watermelon] -"Watermelon, Watermelon"

Page 2 - Brown dirt, brown dirt what do you see? [add real dirt!]

Page 3 - I see black seeds looking at me. [glue real seeds] Black seeds, black seeds what do you see?

Page 4 - I see blue water looking at me. Blue water, blue water what do you see?

Page 5 - I see a green vine looking at me. Green vine, green vine what do you see?

Page 6 - I see a flower looking at me. Flower, flower what do you see?

Page 7 - I see a watermelon looking at me. Watermelon, watermelon what do you see?

I see Mrs. Andersons' class looking at me!

GREAT idea from Leha Joiiner - submitted to Addie Gaines

:Math:

Watermelon Math.
Make 11 watermelon slices from red and green construction paper. Make a bagful of black construction paper "seeds" or use real watermelon seeds. Program the rind portion of the watermelon slice with a numeral and a number word. Students will add the correct number of seeds onto the slice to match the number on the rind.

Shape Review

- oval and triangle

Watermelon Estimation

1. Estimate how many watermelon jolly ranchers are in a bag. 2. Estimate how much red yarn it will take to go around (circumference) the watermelon.

Fruit or Vegetable?

Make quick yes/no graph for the kids to answer. Take a guess whether a watermelon is a fruit or a vegetable. Sing the Watermelon ABC song and have children listen to see what the answer to the question is. Discuss the graph and reveal the true answer!

More Watermelon Math

I made a worksheet for the children to practice creating a set of objects 1-5. Giving the students a green stamp pad, they will use their thumbs to create thumbprint "watermelons" to match each numeral in the box. For example, beside the numeral one, a student will stamp one green watermelon and so on.

Watermelon Math Printable

:Social Studies:

Watermelon Concept Attainment Lesson

This activity could really be categorized in any subject area, but since they are "organizing information" with their questions and guesses, I chose to put it in Social Studies area. I always begin my watermelon unit by putting the class watermelon in a pillowcase. I have each child come up and ask a question about what they have felt inside the case. We sometimes chart or orally go over the questions the children ask to steer future guesses. After everyone has had a chance to feel the bag - they take a case and see how close their predictions were. Many are so surprised, but a lot guess correctly!

:Science:

Color Review

- red, green, black

Weight Sort

Program some index cards with pictures of items that are heavy and items that are light. Have students experience the two weights using a whole watermelon and an apple to demonstrate the concept. Have students sort the pictured items according to their weight - heavy or light. Add the picture cards to a science center for later exploration.

Growing Watermelons

Talk about the 3 main necessities that watermelon seeds need in order to grow: water, soil, and sunlight. Afterwards, allow students a chance to watch seeds grow by planting a watermelon seed (or two) in a ziploc baggie with a wet paper napkin inside.

All About Watermelons

See how much information your students have learned about their watermelon experiences with this mini flip book. On the cover write "All About Watermelons." On each of the 3 pages students will dictate one thing that they know about watermelons after the unit of study. Have them illustrate their pictures.

Flip Book Header

Sink and Float

Have students predict whether or not the watermelon will float in a tub of water. Record each child's prediction and then check to find out the answer.

:Art:

One in a Melon Watermelons

Have students cut a traced semicircle from red construction paper and a little larger semicircle from green construction paper. Glue the red paper to the green paper to create a watermelon slice. Glue construction paper or real watermelon seeds to the rounded portion of the red paper leaving room for a student photo. When all are complete, add to a bulletin board entitled, "My Class is One in a Melon!"

Watermelon Playdoh

Angie Bonthuis has a wonderful watermelon playdoh recipe on her website. She adds watermelon koolaid or jello to a basic homemade playdoh recipe. Use other cookie cutters and craft stamps to add to the art center and playdoh fun!

Watermelon Slice

There is a very precious art craft in The Education Center / Trace & Lace, Color & Paste / TEC906 issue. You spongepaint a checkerboard "tablecloth" piece and then use their bitten watermelon slice patterns to create a piece of watermelon. Next you add black seeds with a q-tip and black tempera paint.

Watermelon Magnets

Use red styrofoam plates, dried watermelon seeds, green paint, and round magnets. Cut the plates into four triangles. Have the children paint the bottom of the plate green (rind) and then glue on the watermelon seeds. When it is dry, glue on the magnet. {*This is NOT my original idea, but I've lost the source!}

Paper Plate Watermelon

Cut a large paper plate in half. Have children color the outside edge/rim green and the rest red. Glue black beans on as the seeds - or of course, you can color them on!

:Writing:

An Enormous Watermelon

After reading The Enormous Watermelon, have students work on this cute response story. After they dictate their responses, students will draw a picture of their own enormous watermelon. I grew an enormous watermelon. It was as big as a ____________. It weighed __________ pounds. It took ____ people to carry it. Here is a picture of my watermelon!

Enormous Watermelon Printable

What is Enormous?

Students can create a book of enormous things by completing the following sentence. A ____________ is enormous! and drawing a picture to go with it. Compile all the pictures and create into a "What is Enormous" class book for students to enjoy reading.

:Snacks:

Watermelon Cookies.
Add red food coloring to sugar cookie dough. Form dough into watermelon "slices." Use mini chocolate chips for seeds. When cooled, add green frosting around the edges to create the watermelon rind.
[adapted idea from themailboxcompanion.com]

:Websites:

The Enormous Watermelon
Addie's Wonderful Watermelon Unit

Teachers.net One-Day Watermelon Unit

Preschool Printables - Watermelon Numbers Folder Game

Watermelon.org

Hubbard's Cubbard

Watermelon Pie

Watermelon Predictable Reader @ Teachers Bookbag

Mrs. Pohlmeyer's Watermelon Unit

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