Pumpkin Inspiration

     To practice persuasive writing, I had my kids create Pumpkin RAFTS, a great idea I got from Caffeinated Conclusions. I use RAFTS a lot throughout the year. They are such a fun, creative way to have the kids look at something (usually historical for me - not this time though) from a different point of view.
See also my Revolutionary War Tea RAFT post for a more integrated idea.

R (role) = Pumpkin

A (audience) = little kids 

F (format) = letter 

T (topic) = 1. NO! Please do NOT carve me! 

                  2. YES! Please DO carve me! 

S (strong words) = 1. Annihilate 

                               2. Creation

These turned out AMAZING this year - I was very impressed with their creativity! 

We talked about how we need to give good, strong reasons (minimum of 3) and how we want to try and hook our readers attention to something "serious." We also discussed Point of View and how we are looking at the activity of "carving" from another "person's" Point of View and how that will change our writing as authors. The kids really enjoyed "getting inside a pumpkins head."
Here are some of our Pumpkin letters:

We have now brought FALL into the room :)