Thanksgiving Fun!

This week we have spent a lot of time learning about Thanksgiving. We have made lots of crafts related to Thanksgiving (some educational and some just plain FUN), watched videos, and had discussions about what Thanksgiving is, where Thanksgiving comes from, who Pilgrims are, where Pilgrims came from, what traditions are, what it means to be thankful and MORE! It has been a busy week to say the least. It always is inspiring to see how engaged students are when it comes to learning - especially when linked to some really great learning activities and mentor texts. 

Here are some bits and pieces from what we did this week:

My math students solved addition and subtraction facts to create their very own math fact turkeys! It may not look like much, but these crafts had students solve 42 math facts before they were able to color and create their turkey. The final products looked great and it is always nice to find something that lets students take a "break" from math without actually taking a break! This was completed last Friday, which is usually a "math game day" to review previously learned skills and Everyday Math games, but last week I dedicated the day to math turkeys for a change of pace :)

 





















Two students used inside recess time to create a lego "Mayflower" in honor of Thanksgiving. What creative minds they have!

Students drew pilgrims (some drew boys and some drew girls) after spending some time learning about Pilgrims, the Mayflower, and the First Thanksgiving. Their drawings are all hanging up in the classroom!

Last week we read the book "Turkey Trouble" by Wendi Silvano. In this story a turkey disguises himself as all kinds of other farm animals so that he doesn't get eaten for Thanksgiving dinner.As a homework assignment this week students were asked to disguise their own turkey so that it doesn't get eaten for Thanksgiving dinner! The only instructions were...none! Each student got a turkey template and was told to use whatever crafts they had at home to decorate and disguise their turkey. Above are some of their creations. 

This week we learned about what it means to be thankful. This big turkey covers our classroom door and is filled with small hearts that share what we each are thankful for. What a great reminder each day as we enter our classroom :)

We made Thanksgiving placemats for at our dinner tables. Students each made their own placemat to take home.

Math students spent some time at the end of this week writing messages to each other in class about being thankful. Each student got at least one slip of paper that read "I am thankful for" and they all wrote a message to another student in the class with a reason for why they are thankful for them. Some students were so excited to write kind messages to classmates that they chose to write to more than one person. This was a great way to show support and kindness towards our fellow classmates and friends :) 

Math students also were able to complete "Turkey Patterns" this week after finishing up their Unit 4 pretest. This activity reinforced skills learned in Unit 3 by having students identify a pattern, or rule, for a set of numbers and complete any missing spaces. Some students finished by decorating the turkeys on the page. 

We LOVE our little turkeys :) Our first grade class and our Pre-K friends next door decorated this bulletin board with turkeys. Each turkey has a name on it, one for each of our students. 

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a healthy, restful, and relaxing Thanksgiving break filled with new memories with your families.