Orange,
golden, yellow, sunny, round, fat, tall, short, glossy, dull, skinny, lumpy,
bumpy, dumpy…how many words to describe pumpkins can you and your child
think of? Play with language and use words you brainstorm to write fun fall
pumpkin poems.
Collecting words:
• Ask your child to close his or her eyes and imagine different kinds of
pumpkins. Work together to brainstorm and write down a list of words to
describe these pumpkins.
• Go to the store or a pumpkin patch to observe real pumpkins and write down
more words.
• Read books about pumpkins and write down even more words!
Writing an acrostic:
• An acrostic is a poem where the first letter of each line spells out the
word that is the subject of the poem. You can share the book
Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Scharf with your child to look at examples of
fall-themed acrostic.
• Help your child use your trove of descriptive pumpkin words to write an
acrostic with you. You might use PUMPKIN as your subject, or perhaps PUMPKIN
PIE or PUMPKIN PATCH. Or you could use a more general theme like AUTUMN and
just refer to pumpkins in the lines of your poem.
Writing a cinquain:
A cinquain is a five-line poem in which each line has a specific number of
syllables: 2-4-6-8-2. A common way to organize the lines is as follows:
• one word to title the poem
• a two-word phrase to describe the poem’s subject
• a three-word phrase (or three verbs) that describes an action the poem’s
subject can take
• a four-word phrase expressing the poet’s feelings about the subject
• one word (or two syllables) that relates back to the title and sums up the
subject
Writing a haiku:
Haiku can also follow several different forms, but a common form for haiku
is three lines with 5-7-5 syllables. Do help your child choose simple words
to use and try to paint with words a mental picture of one image or feeling
relating to his or her subject.
What you can talk about:
• Whatever your pumpkin-related topic, have your child take a moment to
think about what is most important about this topic and what you should tell
an audience about it in a limited amount of space.
• Discuss the difficulty of expressing complex thoughts in a set poetic form
and identify any benefits to writing in a poetic form, such as how it might
help you focus and develop your ideas.
