Bright orange pumpkins sat on desks in David Reilly’s first-grade classroom at the Charles A. Reinhard Early Childhood Center in the Bellmore School District as students used their mathematical and writing skills to perform a number of autumn-themed tasks.

After reading various fiction and nonfiction books about pumpkins, the students wrote down adjectives to describe their gourds to reflect on their size, shape and color. They also wrote down estimates on how many seeds Mr. Reilly’s  pumpkin contained, carving open the top and digging out the seeds with their hands.