English, science, and math took the form of bright orange pumpkins Thursday afternoon in Decas teacher Anna Rego’s room.

Rego, a second grade teacher at John W. Decas Elementary School, had the class of 22 second-graders busy decorating pumpkins that, just a day before, they had used for mathematical and scientific purposes. The students recorded everything in a small booklet.

“They weigh the pumpkin, they measure the stem, they observe the pumpkin with a magnifying glass – a lot of different things with science and math,” Rego said. “And then the second day … they decorate their pumpkin, and on the last page of the booklet, they name their pumpkin.”

Rego said the students also write cinquain poetry about their pumpkin. Cinquain poetry is a five-line poem with 17 syllables, whose lines’ syllabic measurements are, in order, one-two-three-four-one.

“They come up with some pretty cool poetry,” Rego said.

Rego said she has been leading pumpkin decorating for the last several years. She said she got the idea from fellow first grade teacher Marie Jacinto, and modified the tradition for second-graders. For the last five years, Rego said, her landscaper Joe Mare, of Dartmouth’s Mare Landscaping and Plowing, has donated the pumpkins to the class.

There are no hard-and-fast rules, regarding pumpkin decoration, Rego said. Rego said she has seen all sorts of pumpkin decorations, from spooky to silly.

“We’ve had vampires, we’ve had princesses, we’ve had ghosts, we’ve had … mummies and zombies,” Rego said. “I’m amazed every year at what I see.”

Rego see the project as an easy way to help the kids have fun with English, science, and math, the three Common Core components. But perhaps the best part for Rego is to see how inclusive this particular project is for the students.

“For the kids who have a hard time organizing themselves for academics, I really feel they become very organized for this,” Rego said. “They are calm, they’re organized, they have a plan.”