Instructions
Read the passage about the amazing journey of a pumpkin. Once you have finished reading, use the information from the text to answer the 12 questions that follow.
The Amazing Journey of a Pumpkin
Have you ever wondered how a big, orange pumpkin grows? It all starts with a tiny seed! The pumpkin life cycle is a fascinating journey that begins in the spring.
1. The Seed: First, a small, flat pumpkin seed is planted in warm soil. With water and sunshine, the seed starts to wake up.
2. The Sprout: After a week or two, a tiny green sprout pokes out of the ground. This little plant is just the beginning. It will grow its first leaves, which help it soak up sunlight to make food.
3. The Vine: The sprout grows into a long, crawling vine. This vine spreads out across the ground and grows big, green leaves. The leaves are like solar panels, collecting lots of energy from the sun.
4. The Flower: Soon, bright yellow flowers bloom all over the vine. These flowers are very important. Bees and other insects visit the flowers to drink nectar, and while they do, they carry pollen from one flower to another. This is called pollination, and it's needed to grow a pumpkin.
5. The Green Pumpkin: After a flower is pollinated, it shrivels up, and a tiny, hard green pumpkin begins to grow where the flower used to be. This baby pumpkin is still very small.
6. The Orange Pumpkin: Throughout the summer, the green pumpkin gets bigger and bigger. As autumn arrives, it slowly changes color from green to bright orange. Now it is a mature pumpkin! Inside this pumpkin are hundreds of new seeds, ready to start the life cycle all over again.
Questions
Circle the best answer for the multiple-choice questions.
- What is the very first stage of the pumpkin life cycle mentioned in the text?
- A) The vine
- B) The sprout
- C) The seed
- D) The flower
- What color is a pumpkin before it turns orange?
- A) Yellow
- B) Green
- C) White
- D) Red
- What important job do bees do for the pumpkin plant?
- A) They eat the leaves.
- B) They help with pollination.
- C) They water the plant.
- D) They protect the pumpkin from birds.
- In which season are pumpkin seeds usually planted?
- A) Autumn
- B) Winter
- C) Summer
- D) Spring
Read each sentence and write "True" or "False" on the line.
- A pumpkin starts as a small yellow fruit. __________
- The sprout is the part of the plant that grows big leaves and crawls on the ground. __________
- A pumpkin can grow without flowers. __________
- Inside a big orange pumpkin, you can find new seeds. __________
Use the words in the box to fill in the blanks.
sprout leaves
- The tiny green plant that first pokes out of the soil is called a __________.
- The vine grows big, green __________ that act like solar panels to collect sunlight.
Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
- What does a pumpkin seed need to start growing?
- ____________________________________________________________________
- Why is the pumpkin's journey called a "life cycle"?
- ____________________________________________________________________
Answer Key
- C) The seed
- B) Green
- B) They help with pollination.
- D) Spring
- False
- False (That is the vine.)
- False
- True
- sprout
- leaves
- A pumpkin seed needs warm soil, water, and sunshine to start growing.
- It is called a life cycle because it is a process that repeats over and over again (a seed grows a pumpkin, which makes more seeds).