The document is a writing prompt asking students to write a paragraph about winning a tractor-trailer load of whole pumpkins delivered to their front yard as a prize for a national contest. Students are prompted to brainstorm answers to questions about how they feel about winning, their feelings about the pumpkin prize, what prize they would have preferred, what they would do with the pumpkins first, and what they would do with any pumpkins left over.

1. Name: _________________ # ____
Date: ___________
Pumpkin Contest
For this week's writing, you are to write about a plan you might make. Think about the
following situation:
You have won third prize in a national contest and your prize is a tractor-trailer load of
whole pumpkins. These are delivered to you 5 days before Halloween and are just dumped
onto your lawn, covering the entire front yard. Use the back of this paper to brainstorm
your answers to the questions given.
Try hard to have your sentences begin with capital letters and end with the correct
punctuation marks. Have a parent edit your work after you answer the questions, then type
on the computer, or rewrite the paragraph in your neatest handwriting.
REMEMBER:
1. Sentences should start with a capital and end with a period, question mark, or
exclamation point.
2. A sentence should be a complete thought or idea. Your paragraph should have at
least 5 sentences.
3. Strong sentences have vivid details.
4. Your paragraph should stay on topic and have a topic sentence, detail sentences,
and a concluding sentence. Don’t forget to indent!
5. All words should be spelled correctly. Have an adult proofread your paragraph
before turning it in.
Here’s an example of my paragraph:
I just won a truck-load of pumpkins in a national contest and they are dropping them off in my
front yard today. I’m excited to have won the contest, but I wish I would have won something else besides a
bunch of pumpkins. Maybe a trip to Disneyland or a great party for me and my friends would have been
a better prize. My family isn’t going to want all of those pumpkins in the front yard so I will need to get rid
of them. I think I will turn some of them into pumpkin pie and roast the seeds as well. I might give some of
the other ones to my neighbors so that everyone will have something to carve for the big night. With all
of the other ones that were left over I would probably donate them to a local charity or children’s group
so that they will have something to carve or decorate as well. My third-place prize will definitely go to
good use!

2. How do you feel about winning the contest?
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How do you feel about your prize of a trailer-tractor load of whole pumpkins?
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What do you wish your prize would have been?
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What would you do with all of those pumpkins first? Will you give them away or make
something out of them?
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What is something else you do with the pumpkins or the ones left over?
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