nthanksgiving

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}From Stormie:
My very favorite ideas for a Thanksgiving theme have been reserved for my "THANKSGIVING" booklet. You can go to the "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers" section of my website for details. I'm also adding more ideas/tips below as I get time:

Cheap Turkey Feathers: Using various sizes of cardboard "feather" patterns, cut oodles of feather shapes from the colorful advertisement and cartoon sections of your Sunday newspaper. Use them for "turkey feathers." They're wonderful for Thanksgiving-related art and pre-math projects of all kinds.

Language: Share-N-Tell: So that children can experience the "feel good" emotions that come from "sharing," send a note home to parents for children to bring something to school that they can share with all their classroom friends. Remind parents to allow their children to choose the item(s) they bring -- items the children themselves love and enjoy very much. Then, instead of the usual "show-n-tell," children take turns telling the others what they brought and then they go around and share it with each child individually (share-n-tell). (You may want to make a request with parents that "sharing items" be something non-messy. For example, pieces of cake could be a problem in a Group Time setting.)

Art Center: Turkey Project Using Pine Cone Pieces: Provide paper or posterboard turkey cut-outs in the Art Center. As each child comes to the center during Free Choice Play, give him/her a non-prickly pine cone and show them how to break off the layered pieces of the cone for gluing onto their turkeys.
Other Options: Real fall leaves, dried; dry corn kernels; sticks; or have children brush a layer of glue onto their cut-outs then pat down pine needles on it (a sometimes tricky challenge).

Fine Motor/Science:
* Provide ears of dried corn for children to "shell."
* Provide children with a magnifying glass to "inspect" where the kernel came off the cob.
* Cut a dried corn kernel in half and let children take turns looking at it with the magnifying glass.

}From Denice Morrison, Palm Bay, Florida:
"I use the book Stone Soup, Written by Marcia Brown for my November/Thanksgiving unit. It's a story about some townspeople who don't want to give travelers food or a place to stay, so the travelers start to make stone soup, which is made better with items the people start bringing for it. Being about sharing and helping each other, it fits right in with the Thanksgiving theme. I send home a note to my parents explaining what we'll be doing, and each child brings in a vegetable to add to the pot. We make our soup in a crockpot, and everyone has fun cutting and chopping the veggies, and of course, eating the soup."

}From Maggie:
Turkey Fencing: Art: Children paste/glue popsicle sticks together in the form of a split-rail fence on a large brown sheet of wrapping paper (or use brown grocery bag paper). We then glue "handprint" turkeys to the top of the fence.

}From Susan Wray, in Dyersburg, Tennessee:
Mini Pumpkins: This is great for fine motor: Have children wrap squares (approx 5") of orange tissue paper around large cotton balls or balls of old dried-up playdoh. Twist the tops and tie with green yarn leaving enough excess yarn to tie them to a vine (twisted string of green tissue paper). Some children may want to wear their pumpkin vines as bracelets.

}From Kristen Cook, Payson, Utah:
*Science: Sense of Smell Activity: Advance Preparation: On construction paper, trace around each child's hand (fingers spread apart), then cut them out. Later, have children spread glue on each of their paper fingers. They can then sprinkle spices on each one (pepper, sage or poultry seasoning, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc). Label the hands "The Scents of Thanksgiving Dinner!"
*Card for Parent/Guardian: (2-day project): Have children dip their hands in paint then make prints on both sides of a piece of construction paper folded into a card. Once dry, they can give their many turkeys eyes, beak, feet, and wattle (in their own way). Inside the care have them glue this letter:
Dear Mommy and Daddy,
These aren't just turkeys as anyone can see,
I made them with my hands, which are a part of me,
This card comes with lots of love, especially to say,
I hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving Day!
Love, (child's name printed or scribbled by the child)

}From Susan Kelly:
Post-Thanksgiving Day Soup: When I have turkey left over from Thanksgiving, we make a soup later in the classroom. Our school is located near a vegetable farm so we go on a walking field trip there to buy our vegetables. We scrub the vegetables and cut them up for the soup (plastic knives for the children). While the soup is cooking, I read "Stone Soup" and we talk about our Thanksgiving celebrations and what we are thankful for. Parents are invited to join us but if they can't, I try to provide them with a sample in a Styrofoam cup when they pick up their children.

}From Stormie:
*Clifford's Thanksgiving Visit, by Norman Bridwell: The ever-popular Clifford and Emily Elizabeth realize how much they have to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day.
*Gracias, the Thanksgiving Turkey, by Joy Cowley; Joe Cepeda, Illustrator: A little Puerto Rican boy, Miguel, is given a turkey by his father to fatten-up for Thanksgiving. Instead, Miguel names the turkey Gracias and becomes very attached to him.
*Thanksgiving at the Tappletons', by Eileen Spinelli, et al: In this delightful story, Mr. and Mrs. Tappleton are preparing for their great Thanksgiving dinner when everything goes wrong. But in the end, they learn what's really important.
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Reminder from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards." Click here to check them out.