Published: Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 / Updated: Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 07:40 PM
‘Pumpkin babies' teach life's lessons
FORT MILL --
Early Monday morning, Emmanuel Watts searched a patch until he found his pumpkin “son,” Jadine.
“It's beautiful,” Emmanuel, 6, said as he looked at his pumpkin with pride. “He has a long stem.”
Caleb Page, 7, also found a perfect pumpkin. He named his son “Cabo.”
“Now, I have a real baby,” Caleb, said.
But Jadine and Cabo aren't for honoring Halloween festivities. Instead, Emmanuel and Caleb, both first graders at Riverview Elementary School, must keep up with Jadine and Cabo for five days.
“I don't want to leave him at home by himself because he's a little baby,” Emmanuel said of Jadine. “You've got to take care of your baby.”
Emmanuel and Caleb were among 80 first graders tasked this week with keeping up with their “pumpkin babies,” one of several hands-on lessons. The third annual pumpkin baby unit, a five-day feat where students explore learning through pumpkin care, is sponsored by Rock Hill Farm Market's Calvin and Tina Gargiulo.
Students usually take a field trip to Rock Hill to pick their pumpkins, but not this year.
“There were budget cuts, and the children could not come to us,” Tina Gargiulo said. “We thought that it was important to continue the baby pumpkin unit so we brought the pumpkins to the students.”
The intention is less about babysitting and more about learning life's lessons, said Nikki Page, a Riverview first grade teacher.
“I want them to learn about the responsibility of caring for something,” Page said. “This is the easiest way to relate it to their age group.”
Students must be careful not to leave their charges at water fountains, atop lunch tables or on the school buses. Instead, the students are full-time pumpkin parents, Erin Owens said.
“They bring it school everyday,” Owens said of the pumpkins. “They fill out a little baby book.”
Doing so helps teachers reinforce classroom concepts, Owens said.
“This is basically getting them excited about writing,” Owens said. “They weigh their pumpkin baby. They spend money.”
Grasping those concepts and more means students must take their “babies” everywhere they go. But on Monday, the babies didn't go to the playground during recess.
“They were very worried about what their pumpkins would be doing while they were at recess, so Ms. Owens and I were babysitters,” Page said of the students. “They didn't want to turn the lights out because the babies are afraid of the dark.”
So the students left their teachers “in charge” of the pumpkins, and the lights stayed on. After recess, the students returned to their charges, including one named Lilly.
“She's the best one,” Brooke Stewart said as she admired Lilly.
And the 6-year-old was serious about her obligation. Leaving Lilly in a bedroom while grocery shopping or eating dinner is taboo, Brooke said.
“Because she will get mad in there alone,” Brooke said.
And cry.
But Lilly and her pumpkin siblings are helping students understand challenges their parents face, first grade teacher Sunni Walters said.
“I want the children to learn the difference between needs and wants so that they understand the responsibility their parents have to provide the necessary items for them,” Walters said.
Monday's sudden parenthood was a wakeup call for Caleb. That means when Caleb plays baseball games this week, his son, Cabo, will be there too.
“He's easy to carry,” Caleb said of Cabo.
Not withstanding parental duties, there are other lessons to learn from the pumpkin babies, Walters said.
“We are going to use our pumpkins to graph how many girl and boy pumpkins we have,” Walters said about a planned math lesson. “We are going to carve the pumpkins and observe and explore what's inside because we will talk about the sequence of a pumpkin's growth.”
Playing mommy or daddy to the pumpkins also allows the students to perfect their writing and public speaking skills, Page said.
“The kids will keep up with their babies' activities,” Page said. “They will journal what their babies do at home with them and then they will share.
Classrooms away, Dreme Hutchison fingered her baby and stared down its stem.
“She's sweet,” Dreme said. “I don't want to break her, and I don't want anybody to steal her.”
But Dreme wanted to honor a family tradition so she named her pumpkin “Mary.”
“Named after my mommy because I love her,” Dreme said. “My mommy takes care of me.”
Like mother, so too will a daughter take care of her baby.
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