Apples may be used in an autumn-themed math lesson with fractional concepts. The teacher should be the only person allowed to use a knife to cut apples into sections. Challenge students to figure out what the fractional equivalent of the piece of apple is when the teacher cuts the apple into halves, quarters and eighths. Bring enough apples to class for each child to have a celebratory math snack.
Students may use a ruler or tape measure to measure dimensions of a pumpkin. If possible, bring to school various sizes of pumpkins for students to measure. Height, width, length of stem and circumference are a few ways to measure the pumpkins. Put students in groups and rotate the different-sized pumpkins to each group.
Corn is available in many colors, including yellow, brown and blue. Encourage students to make a pattern using different-colored corn kernels. The activity will teach sequences, patterns and increase fine motor development among the children in the second grade class. Pair students to devise more complex patterns of six-to-eight kernel sets as an additional activity.
Students can use pumpkin seeds to practice addition, subtraction and multiplication. Remove and clean the seeds from a pumpkin and allow them to dry. Students may group seeds coinciding with the addends, then push the groups together to count to discover the total. When subtracting, count a group of seeds and take away the number you wish to subtract; count the seeds to find the answer.