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2012 Th
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Champio
Read
Celebrating Book Week 2012
GROWING CHAMPIONS
People aren’t the only ones that can be champions. So can other living things: both animals and plants.
Plants are usually measured for their growth rate, yield and their produce size ... and the one that grows
to be the biggest of all, is the pumpkin!
In Half Moon Bay, California, an Art and Pumpkin Festival is held each year, attracting more than 250,000
visitors. It includes the World Champion Pumpkin Weigh-In. Last year’s winner, weighed a massive 826.59
kilograms. At its peak, this monster was increasing its weight by over 18 kilograms a day!
Australia’s champion pumpkin for 2011 competed at the Kootingal Pumpkin Festival (near Tamworth, NSW)
and weighed in at 518 kilograms. The Half Moon Bay and Kootingal Festivals are just two of the hundreds
of events that celebrate the pumpkin around the world every year. And each year, the champion pumpkins
get bigger.
Read the notes above and research on the internet to complete the following activities:
1. How much bigger than Australia’s largest pumpkin is the world’s champion? _______________________
2. If it takes 800 grams of pumpkin to make a pumpkin pie, how many pies could be made from Australia’s
largest pumpkin? _________________________
3. How many times bigger than you is the world’s largest pumpkin? ________________________________
4. What other things can you find that weigh close to the weight of the world’s champion pumpkin?
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5. Suggest reasons why champion pumpkins are getting bigger each year? ___________________________
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6. Below is a list of activities carried out by the grower of the world’s biggest pumpkin. Number them 1 to 7
to show their correct sequence.
Flowers hand pollinated.
Pumpkin measured growing at over
18 kgs per day.
Seeds wrapped in a wet towel for 30
hours until sprouting.
Plants moved to heated greenhouse to
develop further.
Seedlings grown in small pots under
grow lights for 10 days.
Greenhouse walls removed so vines
could spread throughout garden.
All but one flower removed so vine
could put all its energy into a single
pumpkin.
7. How many books featuring pumpkins can you find, either fiction or non-fiction? List them below.
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Book Week 2012 BLM #5 © Kookaburra Educational Resources 2012.