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Summary: Ellie Morgan was just an average teen. She just wanted to loose weight, better her relationship with her father, get a boyfriend, and grow the world's biggest pumpkin! However, reaching her goals may be harder than she realizes. With barriers at every corner, Ellie's future doesn't look promising, but the lessons she'll learn along the way might just be more important.
Level: RL: 6 IL: 6-8
Themes:
Agriculture
Farming
Competition
Parent/child relationships
Activities:
1.. At the beginning of the book Ellie is preparing a booster solution to make her "pet" pumpkin Max a prize winner.
A. Have the students experiment with their own growth formula. Buy soils of different pH levels (4, 5, 6). Plant pumpkin seeds in the different soils. Have two samples of soil from each level of pH, and water one soil sample with regular tap water, the other with fertilized water. Compare the samples against each other to determine which combination of soil and water works best.
B. Around harvest time invite the students to plan a pumpkin party for a younger grade. Brainstorm related ideas:
- Make pumpkin pie or pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
- Weigh pumpkins and determine their average
weight.
- Determine the average number of seeds per
pound.
- Write their own math problems and ask a
friend to solve them.
- Carve jack-o-lanterns (or with younger class,
research the origin).
- Read pumpkin picture books.
- Using Guinness Book of World Records, find the current record for the
largest pumpkin.
2. Ellie's friend Wes is a champion corn grower. Corn grows best in soil enriched with nitrogen. The nitrogen and other nutrients found in fertilizer helps the growing process, but there are also certain downfalls. Have the students brainstorm some of the problems that can accompany fertilization (e.g. ground water contamination, over nitrogization of soil). Then have the students decide on ways these problems are being solved (planting oats in soil that is over processed, building cement barriers to contain manure) and ways they could be solved. Talk with farmers about how they deal with these situations. Also talk with the Department of Soil and Water Conservation and the Department of Agriculture to see what things are being done through laws and other forms of legislation. How do these laws effect farmers? Examine both favorable and adverse affects.
3. Wes is also the President of the Agriculture Club. Take a look into the history of the Grange, an American farming club. The Grange was started shortly after the Civil War, in 1867, in an effort to unite the American farmers against monopolies and unfair laws regulating farming. Explore the Grange's beginnings and its goals.*
How were the goals met?
- Are they the same as today's? If not, how have they changed?
- What effects has the organization had on the farming community?
- What legislation, laws, and resolutions have been passed as a result of Grange activities?
- What part does it still play in many communities? (Does it continue to provide for farmers? the community? the family? How?).
*For further information, call State Grange Master Clyde Berry at
1-800-464-3421.
4. Ellie felt alone as a grower, not just because of the crop she grew but because of being a women interested in agriculture. 4-H, started by Dora Stockman, is an agriculture based group designed to meet the needs of the farming youth. Dora is one of the many women who have made a tremendous impact on the farming community throughout history. All these farming women were hardworking and many, including Dora, were well-educated, far from the stereotypical ideal of the "good farm wife" cooking, cleaning, and tending to children all day. Enrich the students' knowledge of such women through books like One Woman's Work by Jennie Buell, People, Pride, and Progress by David H. Howard, and Sisters of the Grange by Marti Donald. From this knowledge create a bulletin board, accessible to the entire school, with background information on two or three different farming women. (Include pictures if possible.) Include information pertaining to who they were, where they were from, the impact they had on their communities, etc.*
*Refer to resource section for more books on women and farming.
5. This story is set in Iowa, which is known for its corn growing as Maine is known for its potato producing. Certain crops grow best in specific areas. The type of soil found in those areas and the specific crops' needs are interrelated. For example, Maine is also famous for its pine trees which produce acidic needles; potatoes grow best in acidic soil.
Conduct an area specific soil sample study on soil samples students bring in from home. Mail or hand deliver the soil samples to the Department of Soil and Water Conservation at the University of Maine. (Write to the Department prior to conducting this experiment to insure their willingness to help.) Have the nutrient and mineral content tested. Once the samples are returned, you can begin studying the properties of various crops to find what crop would benefit most from specific soils. What other factors would have an effect on crop production? (e.g. Aroostook County sits on ledge which helps the soil to retain moisture; potatoes need moisture.)
Also contact the Cooperative Extension Office at 1-800-287-0274, and ask about the Master Gardener and Master Composter
programs. Students in these programs will come into your school and teach kids about gardening and composting.
6. Throughout the book you can see and feel the concerns that Ellie, Wes, and the other farmers have about the falling interest and decline of farming. Look at the plight of the American farmer. What has happened to the small farms? Have students explore laws, regulations, and other factors that have had adverse effects on the small farms. (e.g. In the late sixties it became illegal to sell raw milk. This forced the farmers to sell to Creameries, causing the farms to fall under public regulations that restricted how they operated as a whole. Chicken farming in Waldo County collapsed as it became cheaper to grow and ship chicken from the South.)
7. Towards the end of the book there is a debate over Cyril's pumpkin and whether it was ethical for him to enter it in the competition. Farmers are faced with many ethical choices daily. These include whether to use hormones to increase milk production or steroids to produce more beef.
A. Have the students collect articles and other information of farm-related issues.
B. Have the students debate one of these issues
Resources:
Buell, Jennie. One Woman's Work. Whitcomb and Barrows, 1908.
Goldreich, Gloria. What Can She Be? : A Farmer. Lee & Shepard Co., 1976.
Howard, David H. People, Pride, and Progress. National Grange, 1992.
Jensen, Joan. With These Hands: Women Working on the Land. McGraw-Hill, 1981.
Kalbacher, Judith. Women Farmers in America. U.S. Dept. of Agr., 1982.
Marti, Donald B. Sisters of the Grange. Agricultural History #58, 1984.
Marti, Donald B. Women of the Grange. Greenwood Press, 1991.
McCabe, James. History of the Grange Movement. Franklin, 1967.
Patterson, Geoffrey. Dairy Farming. Deutsch, 1983.
Further Sources on Grange:
Buck, Solon. The Granger Movement. Harvard University Press, 1913.
Gardner, Charles. The Grange, Friend of the Farmer. Washington National Grange, 1949.
Niles, Mary A. History of Spragueville. Presque Isle, Me., 1983.
Sherman, Rexford. The Grange in Maine and New Hampshire, Thesis, 1972.
Woods, Thomas. Knights of the Plow. Iowa State University Press, 1991.
Further Sources on Women in Farming:
Jellison, Katherine. Entitled to Power. University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
Harland, Elizabeth. Farmer's Girl. Stephen Daye Press, 1942.
Rosenfeld, Rachel. Farm Women. University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
Pumpkin Picture books:
Kellogg, Steven. The Mystery of the Flying Orange Pumpkin. Dial, 1980.
Kroll, Steven. The Biggest Pumpkin Ever. Holiday House, 1984.
Martin, Bill. The Magic Pumpkin. Holt, 1989.
Miller, Edna. Mousekin's Golden House. Prentice Hall, 1964.
Plasmati, Valdine. The Magnificent Pumpkin. Viking, 1959.
Rockwell, Anne. Apples and Pumpkins. Macmillan, 1988.
Silverman, Erica. Big Pumpkin. Macmillan, 1992.
Tudor, Tasha. Pumpkin Moonshine. Walck, 1962.
Williams, Linda. The Little Old Lady who was not Afraid of Anything. Crowell, 1986.
Yezback, Steven. A. Pumpkinseeds. Bobbs, 1969.
Prepared by Melinda Clements, UM student of Children's Literature, Fall 1993 (with Abigail Garthwait, Asa Adams School, Orono)
*Special thanks to Glendon Muheron II, dedicated farmer and faithful "Granger," for his information and help with this project.
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