Every October kids around the world visit pumpkin patches to choose their favorite pumpkin for Halloween. Kids choose their favorite pumpkin based on their preference for a short round pumpkin or a tall oblong pumpkin. Some may even choose the oddly shaped pumpkin in the corner!
However, how many kids choose a pumpkin based on the stem? It may not seem like the likely focus but Stumpkin the Pumpkin can tell us otherwise!
Stumpkin Read Aloud
Stumpkin’s story of not being picked because of his missing stem is a classic Halloween story. Moreover, it’s a story that kids of all ages can enjoy. From preschool to second grade, and beyond, Stumpkin’s story is entertaining and educational for all who read it.
While this delightful picture book can certainly be read just for enjoyment, it is also a wonderful book to use for education. Therefore, we created a Stumpkin read aloud that pairs enjoyment and education – for several grade levels!
Keep reading to see how to engage students in literacy development while reading STumpkin. Whether you teach preschool, kindergarten, first grade, or second grade, your students will benefit from the reading activities in this Stumpkin read aloud.
Stumpkin summary
While we mentioned a little bit about what Stumpkin is about, this book may be new for some teachers. Therefore, we want to provide a summary of this wonderful picture book to help you better understand how it might fit into your classroom.
If you have already read this fun book though, please feel free to jump below to begin exploring the reading activities for Stumpkin.
Stumpkin by Lucy Ruth Cummins is about a pumpkin without a stem. While not having a stem may not seem like a big deal, to Stumpkin it is devastating because he longs to be chosen to become a jack-o’-lantern.
Every day, Stumpkin sits in a shop window with other pumpkins. And, every day, the other pumpkins get taken home to become Halloween decorations. Since Stumpkin is perfectly round and orange, he worries that his lack of a stem makes him less appealing.
As Halloween night approaches and he’s the last pumpkin left, Stumpkin feels discouraged. However, in the end, he finds that he is special just as he is, and his uniqueness makes him the perfect choice for a different kind of happy ending!
This heartwarming story is a beautiful addition to any Halloween theme unit, especially alongside other delightful Halloween themed read alouds. This book is not only a good choice based on its theme, but also on its ability to enrich students’ reading and literacy skills. Let’s explore how the story of Stumpkin can be enriched for learning through the various reading activities below.
Stumpkin Comprehension Questions
At the heart of any great book is the ability to provide students with opportunities to recount what they read through comprehension questions. These introductory comprehension questions are important because they demonstrate what students understand about the story.
Beyond demonstrating comprehension of the characters and plots, comprehension questions and activities can engage the students in higher order thinking. Both types of questions are important!
Let’s explore the various levels of comprehension questions your students will encounter in this Stumpkin read aloud.
Day 1 Comprehension Questions and Activities
Day 2 Comprehension Questions and Activities
Day 3 Comprehension Questions and Activities
You may have noticed that the comprehension questions and activities span the course of three days. This is intended to support students with practice in returning to a text. Moreover, it provides teachers with several days of instruction!
Where you go with Stumpkin beyond the three primary days of instruction is up to you. If you feel that three days was enough, then you can simply move on to the next read aloud. On the other hand, if you want to extend the study of Stumpkin we have you covered!
Below you will find additional reading activities for Stumpkin. These activities can be used to extend the exploration of this book to four or five days. In addition, if you want to use these activities but don’t have time for an extra one or two days you can just add them to the first three days. There is no right or wrong way – just whatever works best for you.
Before we dive into these additional reading activities for Stumpkin though, a quick note on how all of these reading activities are available as printables.
Stumpkin Printable
As you can see above, all of our read aloud experiences – including this Stumpkin Read aloud – are designed to be interactive. This means that students get to demonstrate their learning in various ways, such as matching and sequencing.
Since we live in a digital world, all of these learning experiences can be completed in a digital way. However, we recognize that even in a digital world there is still a need (and desire) to have students practice learning offline! That’s why all of these learning activities are also available as printables !
Here is a quick look at the Stumpkin Printable options from this read aloud. As you can see, students will engage in the same rigorous learning as shown above but just in a different mode.
Whether you run a digital classroom, stick to pencils and paper, or do a bit of both, these printable activities for Stumpkin can be a great way to further enrich your students’ reading skills and enjoyment of Stumpkin.
Stumpkin Retell
A while back, we updated all of our read alouds to include a few new reading comprehension activities. One of our favorite new additions to these read alouds was our retelling puppets!
These puppets are not only fun for kids, but also an excellent way to provide differentiation in the classroom. With these retelling puppets, students can verbally explain the events in the story or take on the role of a character.
If you have never used puppets in your classroom we highly recommend giving them a try with Stumpkin. Students can use them to complete a retelling of Stumpkin in small groups or with partners. They can even take them home to share what they have learned with their families.
When it comes to retelling puppets, there are endless possibilities for expression and comprehension! Whether it is with Stumpkin or another of our favorite read alouds.
Stumpkin Writing Prompt
As a teacher you already know that writing is an integral part of literacy development. Therefore, all of our read alouds include a writing activity. However, as mentioned above, this is included as an extra activity. So, if you don’t have time for an extra day with the read aloud you can skip this or simply add it to the end of day three!
The writing prompt for Stumpkin helps kids connect with the overall theme of the story. This allows students to see how what they read in school is related to what they do outside of school.
Stumpkin Writing Prompt: Like Stumpkin, I am proud of…
As with all of the literacy activities in this read aloud, students can complete this writing prompt digitally or on paper. You can even pair this writing prompt with the retelling puppets to allow students to demonstrate their speaking and listening skills.
Stumpkin Vocabulary
Another addition to our read alouds was vocabulary. While many teachers like to include explicit vocabulary practice with their read alouds, it is not always a primary learning goal. This is why we added it as an optional selection.
As you can see in the picture below, these Stumpkin vocabulary activities are designed to support early readers by providing images alongside the word.
Since many teachers prefer to teach vocabulary up front, this is one of the optional activities you may prefer to teach alongside the first three days of reading. Then, you can use the vocabulary quiz on day four. You can even pair it with the comprehension quiz for a day of assessments.
Stumpkin Quiz
Assessment is an important part of reading. It allows teachers to see how well students are doing with basic comprehension and also allows students to see their growth.
However, at the early stages of learning, assessments look quite different than the assessments students will encounter later on. So, we created a Stumpkin Quiz that includes pictures with the questions to support early readers.
Stumpkin Craft
As fellow elementary educators, we love the opportunity to engage students in creative outlets. This is why we always include a craftivity in our read alouds!
Like the retelling puppets, each craft is another creative way for students to connect with the story. This once again makes the story personal for students which further enriches comprehension AND enjoyment!
In this Stumpkin craft, kids draw a pumpkin. Furthermore, they describe their pumpkin which adds another element of writing practice to this Stumpkin read aloud.
Whether you choose to display the students’ pumpkins in the classroom for Halloween or send them home, you will love seeing the variety of pumpkins your kids create. You may even find an opportunity to show students how unique each pumpkin is – to further reflect on the theme of Stumpkin.
Stumpkin Preschool Activities
At the beginning of this blog post we shared how this book can be used at several different grade levels, specifically from preschool through second grade. While the story of Stumpkin won’t vary from grade to grade, how you implement the read aloud may vary depending on which grade you teach. Therefore, we created two different read aloud resources.
The read aloud examples described above are designed to support first and second grade students. However, all of those reading activities have been adapted to also support preschool and kindergarten students in this PreK Stumpkin Read Aloud.
Just like the read aloud activities above, this PreK and Kindergarten read aloud can be used over the course of three to five days. It can also be used digitally or printed. All the same amazing activities and choices just specific for younger readers!
Halloween Picture Books
Stumpkin is not the only Halloween picture book that can be read across grade levels! Here are several of our favorite Halloween books that can be read from preschool to second grade – as demonstrated in the read aloud for each one!
Bonaparte Falls Apart PreK Read Aloud
Bonaparte Falls Apart Halloween STEM Read Aloud
Vlad the Fabulous Vampire PreK Read Aloud
Vlad the Fabulous Vampire 1st Grade Read Aloud
