This pumpkin has a face.
But no one carved it. How did it get a face? It grew that way!
When the pumpkin was small, the farmer put a mold over it.
It grew into the shape of the mold. It is a new kind of jack-o’-lantern!
Fruitmold/Slingfisher.com (1, 3); MONICA ALMEIDA/The New York Times/Redux (2)
Grow a Jack-o’-Lantern!
From the October/November 2025 Issue
Learning Objective: Students will get information about the “Pumpkinstein” jack-o’-lantern through text and images.
1. The pumpkin grows in a mold.
2. The mold comes off!
The “Pumpkinstein” was invented by farmer Tony Dighera.
3. Now the pumpkin has a face.
video
(1)
Activities
(3)
Skills Activities
Answer Key
(1)
About the Article
English Language Arts Focus
Nonfiction Text Features: Photographs & Labels
Science Focus
Characteristics of plants
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Implementation
- Whole group
- Small group
Pairings and Text Connections
- From the Storyworks 1 archive: “Picture This: Making Funny Faces” (October/November 2022); “Poetry Kit: Pumpkins Grin” (October/November 2023)
- Suggested books: The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano
Before-Reading Resources
- Video: A Pumpkin Grows (5 minutes) Build background knowledge on pumpkins
Suggested Reading Focus
Getting information from text and images/labels (20 minutes)
- Ask students what they know about jack-o’-lanterns. Have they ever made one before? How did they do it? Say that they will be learning about a different kind of way to make a jack-o’-lantern called Pumpkinstein.
- Have students take a close look at the photo of Pumpkinstein on page 3. Ask children to share what they notice about it. How is it different from other jack-o’-lanterns they’ve seen?
- Read the mini article. Then have children put a finger on the first label. Read the label aloud. Then do the same for labels 2 and 3.
- Finally, have children turn and talk to a partner to tell something they learned from the words and something they learned from the words and something they learned from the pictures.
After-Reading Skills Practice
Skills: ending punctuation; key details; labeling (15 minutes)
Text-to-Speech