National Watermelon Day

August 3

 

When our school year begins in the middle of a week, this two or three day unit gets us off to a great start.  Here is a great resource for your watermelon unit-"Wild About Watermelons" from Lasting Lessons.

 

Watermelon Books

 

Songs and Poems

The Watermelon Song
(tune: Frere Jacques)

Watermelon, watermelon,
Tastes so yummy, tastes so yummy,
Green on the outside,
Red on the inside,
With black seeds, with black seeds.

Watermelon

(tune: Are You Sleeping?)


Watermelon, watermelon,
On the vine, on the vine,
Green and ripe and juicy,
Green and ripe and juicy
Please be mine,
Please be mine.
 

The Watermelon Chant

 

First you plant a seed and it grows. It grows.

It really, really grows.

 

Then you pick the melon. You pick it. You pick it.

You really, really pick it.

 

Now it's time to slice it, to slice it.

You really, really slice it.

 

Then it's time to eat it, to eat it.

You really, really eat it.

 

Watermelon Time

by Leland B. Jacobs

 

Now watermelon time

is here.

And when the day

Is warm and clear,

Our uncle thumps

The green balloon

And says it's ripe

And very soon

A splash of pink

Comes into view.

We know exactly

What to do.

We take a bit.

We take a bite.

We eat and eat

And taste the summer,

Pink and sweet.

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 seeds (POOEY!), Spit out the seeds (POOEY!)

This version from The Virtual Vine.

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

Who Took the Melon From the Melon Patch

(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 the rhyme until each student has had a chance to be named.)

Down By The Bay

 

Down by the bay

Where the watermelons grow

Back to my home

I dare not go

For if I do

My mother will say,

"Did you ever see a bear

Combing his hair?"

Down by the bay.

 

Down by the bay

Where the watermelons grow

Back to my home

I dare not go

For if I do

My mother will say,

"Did you ever see a bee

With a sunburned knee?"

Down by the bay.

 

Down by the bay

Where the watermelons grow

Back to my home

I dare not go

For if I do

My mother will say,

"Did you ever see a moose

Kissing a goose?"

Down by the bay.

 

Down by the bay

Where the watermelons grow

Back to my home

I dare not go

For if I do

My mother will say,

"Did you ever see a whale

With a polka dot tail?"

Down by the bay.

 

 

Opening Activities

 

Watermelon KWL

It's very interesting to find out what kids already know about watermelons.  Then ask them what they want to learn and then finally, chart what they learned at the end of your unit.

 

Fun Facts About Watermelons

These facts taken from the National Watermelon Promotion Board

 

Throughout the years, watermelon has found itself in many pickles, jams, and other interesting situations. Here is a list of fun facts you many not have known about watermelons:


Watermelon is grown in over 96 countries worldwide.

In China and Japan watermelon is a popular gift to bring a host.

In Israel and Egypt, the sweet taste of watermelon is often paired with the salty taste of feta cheese.

Watermelon is 92% water.

Watermelon's official name is Citrullus lanatus of the botanical family Curcurbitacae and it is a vegetable! It is related to cucumbers, pumpkins and squash.

By weight, watermelon is the most-consumed melon in the U.S., followed by cantaloupe and honeydew.

Early explorers used watermelons as canteens.

The first cookbook published in the United States in 1796 contained a recipe for watermelon rind pickles.

Food Historian John Martin Taylor says that early Greek settlers brought the method of pickling watermelon with them to Charleston, South Carolina.

A watermelon was once thrown at Roman Governor Demosthenes during a political debate. Placing the watermelon upon his head, he thanked the thrower for providing him with a helmet to wear as he fought Philip of Macedonia.

In 1990, Bill Carson, of Arrington, Tennessee, grew the largest watermelon at 262 pounds that is still on the record books according to the 1998 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

In 1999 over 4 billion pounds of watermelon were produced in the United States.

Watermelon is an ideal health food because it doesn't contain any fat or cholesterol, is an excellent source of vitamins A, B6 and C, and contains fiber and potassium.

Contrary to popular belief eating watermelon seeds does not cause a watermelon to grow in your stomach. Actually, in some cultures it is popular to bake the seeds and then eat them.

Over 1,200 varieties of watermelon are grown worldwide.

Every part of a watermelon is edible, even the seeds and rinds.

The first recorded watermelon harvest occurred nearly 5,000 years ago in Egypt.

The word "watermelon" first appeared in the English dictionary in 1615.

 

More Watermelon Facts

Wild About Watermelons from Lasting Lessons has great watermelon facts that can be blown up and put on poster board.

 

 

Pocket Chart Story

 

Watermelon Happy

This is watermelon happy.

This is watermelon sad.

Now you see him sleepy.

Now you see him mad.

This is watermelon in pieces small.

But in my tummy, he's best of all.

 

 

 

 

Predictable Readers

 

Print and cut this watermelon shape for your shape book.

http://www.abcteach.com/shapebooks/general/watermelon.htm

 

Watermelon Seeds

http://www.teachersbookbag.com/watermelons.html

 

 

Listening Activity

 

Watermelon Glyph

http://k2printables.com/watermelon_glyph.pdf

 

 

Language Activities

 

Watermelon Word Find

http://www.watermelon.org/index.asp?a=dsp&htype=kids&pid=13

 

Watermelon Bookmarks

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/2221/wbookmrk.html

 

Make a Class Book

http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Meadow/2370/page40.html

 

Letter Match

Use watermelon novel notes to match capital and lowercase letters.

 

Watermelon Word Web

Draw a watermelon on chart paper and write descriptive words around the watermelon.

 

"W" Words

Brainstorm words that begin with "W."  Chart them on paper.

 

Watermelon Poem from Lasting Lessons

 

 

Wild About Watermelons Book from Lasting Lessons.  I enlarged the book on our poster machine and glued the pages on poster board.  Then I bound it into a book.

 

 

 

Math Activities

 

Estimate How Much a Watermelon Weighs

 

Estimate the Seeds in a Slice of Watermelon

 

 

Estimate the Circumference of a Watermelon

 

File Folder Game: Watermelon Numbers

http://www.preschoolprintables.com/filefolder/watermelon/filefolderwatermelon.shtml

 

 

 

Graphing

Graph whether you like watermelon or not.

 

Science Activities

 

 

Sink or Float

Make a predication if your watermelon will sink or float.  Then put your watermelon in a tub of water to see.

 

Grow a Watermelon

http://www.watermelon.org/index.asp?a=dsp&htype=kids&pid=9

 

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/veggies/watermelon1.html

 

Sequence Growing a Watermelon

http://www.ncagr.com/markets/kidstuff/backporch/watermelon.pdf

Use these pictures to sequence growing a watermelon.

 

Art Activities

 

Watermelon Slice

Last year I did not have the TLC Spring and Summer book, so I made up my own directions.

8 1/2 x 5 1/2 green construction paper

5 x 7 red construction paper

cut off bottom corners on each piece and the round

glue red piece onto green piece

glue on black watermelon seeds

(I didn't have watermelon seeds so I spray painted pinto beans black)

 

 

 3-D Fruit Craft

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/plants/fruit/index.shtml

 

TLC Watermelon Slice

www.tlclessons.com

This can be found in the Spring and Summer Book

 

 

 

TLC Down by the Bay

www.tlclessons.com

This was the June 2003 online lesson.

 

Watermelon Art

Borrowed from Mrs. Fischer's Kinder Themes

http://www.kinderthemes.com/Watermelon.html


Materials:
Paper plates
watercolors
watermelon seeds

1.  Cut paper plates in half--enough for each child to have a half.

2.  Let students paint the rim of the paper plate green.

3.  Paint the center of the plate red.

4.  Glue real watermelon seeds on the paper plate.

 

Sponge Painted Watermelons

Cut white paper plates in half.  Let students sponge paint their paper plate with red and then green paint.  Glue on real watermelon seeds when paint dries.

 

Watermelon Art and Crafts

http://www.preschooleducation.com/awatermelon.shtml

 

 

Eating

 

 

 

How to Choose a Watermelon to Eat

http://www.watermelon.org/index.asp?a=dsp&htype=recipes&pid=18

 

Just For Fun

Have a Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest

 

Make Watermelon Playdough

Borrowed from Mrs. Sirois' Country Kindergarten

http://myschoolonline.com/page/0,1871,24742-146190-27-2095,00.html

 

 

2 1/2 cups of Flour
1 Tbl. Alum
1/2 cup Salt
3Tbl. Vegetable Oil
2 cups boiling Water
1 pkg. Watermelon Jell-O

Combine flour, alum, and salt. Add oil and boiling water. Stir or kneed to mix. Add a package of Jell-O powder and mix until it feels right.

Bulletin Board Ideas

 

Wahoo for Watermelons

 

 

Anyway You Slice It, Kindergarten is a Real Treat!

 

Look Who's Growing in Kindergarten

 

Take a Bite Out of Kindergarten

 

 

More Watermelon Units

 

 

 

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Last Updated  07/28/2006