Our Thanksgiving Feast

Our Thanksgiving Celebration:

Toys: Play Doh Gathering Activity with Alphabet Soup Shapes and play food, Lincoln Logs, and FP Barn and houses.

Snack: ( In the place of our snack, each student brought a part of our feast!  Thank you Moms for your support.)  "We all brought things for our class feast--that makes us friends!"

Craft Activity: American Indian headband, Pilgrim bonnets, and Pilgrim Hats.

Songs:
The Pilgrims and the Indians by Janeen Brady,
It's Autumn-Time,
"I'm a Turkey" by Jim Arnosky,
Over the River and Through the Woods.

We read the poem, On Thanksgiving Day, by Rochelle Nielsen-Barshun and talked about how they too could help their families at home in small ways.

On Thanksgiving Day
By Rochelle Nielsen-Barsuhn
I put rolls in a basket,
crisp and warm,
stirred the gravy,
buttered the corn.
I watched the turkey cook golden brown.
I mashed the potatoes while Mom sat down.
In fact,
I was such a big help today that before we bowed our heads to pray,
Mom whispered, "I'm thankful for you."

We reviewed the First Thanksgiving with these pictures (colored by my daughters). You can find and print them out them here (click on the purple link) or here: http://printables.scholastic.com/printables/detail/?id=28485

Indian Corn helped save the Pilgrims after their first crops did not grow. Samoset, Chief of the Massasoit Indians, and Squanto, an Indian who had traveled to England and spoke English well, taught the Pilgrims many things and helped them survive after the first harsh winter*. (Some credit him and the Indians for saving the Pilgrims and being sent by Heaven). Squanto taught them  how to tap the maple trees for sap, differentiate plants that were good to eat from those that were poisonous and which had medicinal powers, and how to plant the Indian corn by heaping the earth into low mounds with several corn kernels and fish in each mound. The decaying fish fertilized the corn. He also taught them to plant other crops with the corn.

*Over half of the 102 Pilgrims died the first Winter in America. There were four women alive in the spring and most of the fifty people remaining were the children.

Each child helped prepare for our Class Feast!

Today was a special preschool because we worked together to make a feast and remember the First Thanksgiving between the Pilgrims and the Indians (Native Americans--especially Chief Massasoit, Squanto, and Samoset ).

Trying new things:  We talked about trying "polite bites"of new things during our feast.  Lena tried cornbread muffins, Eva and Raegan tried yams, and Ben said he tried everything!

Our Blessings Game (where we passed around a glittery turkey and said one thing we are thankful for):  I'm Thankful for...
Tanner: Dad who flipped pancakes with my sister.
Ben: Cars
Zakai: Thanksgiving!
Harris: toys!
Maelo: My Mom and my Dad!
Lukas: movies
Lena: drinks
Raegan: Mommy and Daddy who make me feel better.
Eva: My Family and friends.
Anna: Lego Princesses








Some of our favorite Thanksgiving Books:
The Most Thankful Thing by Lisa McCourt, Ill. by Cyd Moore (Scholastic)
The Story of the Pilgrims by Katherine Ross, Ill. by Carolyn Croll
Arthur's Thanksgiving by Marc Brown
It's Thanksgiving by Jack Prelutsky, Ill. by Marilyn Hafner
Thanksgiving With Me by Margaret Willey, Ill. by Lloyd Bloom
The Night Before Thanksgiving by Natasha Wing, Ill. by Tammie Lyon
The First Thanksgiving Feast by Joan Anderson, Phots by George Anacona
The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George, Ill. by Thomas Locker
*Thanksgiving Day by Anne Rockwell, Ill. by Lizzy Rockwell
Sarah Morton's Day; A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl by Kate Waters, photos by Russ Kendall
The Pilgrims of Plymouth by Marica Sewall
Brother Eagle, Sister Sky Ill. by Susan Jeffers
I Am The Turkey (I Can Read! 2) by Michelle Sobel Sprin, Ill. by Joy Allen
10 Fat Turkey's by Tony Johnston, Ill. by Rich Deas
All the Places to Love by Patricia Maclachlan, Paintings by Mike Wimmer
Thank you, Grandpa by Lynn Ploude, Ill. by Jason Cockcroft
Grandad's Prayers of the Earth by Douglas Wood, Ill. by P.J. Lynch

Online fun--Thanksgiving Websites:

• Hubbard's Cupboard--The First Thanksgiving
• Scholastic page on The First Thanksgiving (great wealth of information and pictures)
• First School--Alphabet Printable Activities, "Turkey"

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Enjoy your turkey and counting your blessings this year.

Counting Our Blessings

Our Blessing Turkeys

Do you know why we celebrate Thanksgiving?

Toys: Rose Petal Cottage, play food, kitchen, Mr. Potato Head, and Lincoln Logs.

Snack: cheese crackers, carrots, dried apple slices, and craisins.

What is a blessing? (Students may say prayer.) A blessing is a favor or gift given to us by God.  We are blessed by protection, safety, food to eat, families, etc.

We read The Most Thankful Thing by Lisa McCourt.  What is your “most thankful thing?”  I think for your parents—it’s YOU!  What things are you thankful for?

Next Thursday we celebrate a holiday.  Do you know what it is? We learned the story of the first Thanksgiving and did actions along with it.

The First Thanksgiving—

At this cold time of year, we remember the Pilgrims.  The Pilgrims were people who wanted to worship God in their own Church and not be forced by the King to go to His Church of England.  They boarded a ship, the Mayflower, and sailed across the sea to a “new world” where they would make their home and be free from the laws and rules of the King.

On board ship, the people ate hard bread, crackers, dried meat (beef jerky?), and hard cheese.  The people were on board ship for around two months!  When they spotted land, it was November and cold in America! 

They needed to explore the new land which did not have houses, buildings, and streets already built like in England!  They found a place (Plymouth) which had plenty of fish and remains of an old Indian Village and they decided to build a Common House where they could all live together and be warm and get the ground ready to plant seeds and grow food.

By the time the Common House was ready, it was December and freezing!  They had little food left from their ship. This winter was cold with more snow than they had in England.  Many became sick and died.  By Spring, less than half of the Pilgrims were alive.

An Indian (Samoset) and another from a different tribe, Squanto, came to help the Pilgrims to find food in America.  The Indians taught the Pilgrims how to stamp eels out of the mud and gather clams.  They taught the children to gather nuts, berried, herbs, and roots from the forest.  They also taught the Pilgrims about new vegetables like corn, squash, and pumpkins.  The Pilgrims worked hard and by the Fall, they had built more houses and harvested food for the coming Winter.  They met with the Indians for a three day Feast and said many prayers of Thanksgiving.   They ate popcorn, deer meat, vegetables, berries, and sea food and also wild turkeys and birds.  We celebrate the Pilgrims and Native American Indians for being so courageous and brave in a new country.  We gather together, eat food, and thank Heavenly Father for the many blessings that we have!

See On The Mayflower, Samuel Eaton’s Day, Sarah Morton’s Day, and the Story of the Pilgrims.

Our Blessing Turkeys:  See the things we are thankful for written on the turkey feathers, including legos, Elsa, family, turkeys, pumpkins, and the Magic School bus! 

“I” the Itchy Insect Activity:  We cut out and pasted our “I”s today and reviewed Insects. (3 things make an insect: 1) antennae, 2) 3 body sections, 3) 6 legs) and we talked about our favorite things from our Bean Museum Field Trip.

Show N’ Teach: only our boys remembered today!

Ben: Ninjago coloring page
Maelo: picture of "I Love Her" (his Grandma?)
Zakai: candy cane
Lukas: a penny
Tanner: ninja turtle costume
Harris: Bluey


Don’t forget your Feast item for next class!

 Our "Blessings" Game:
We found ourselves with a few extra minutes this morning and so we passed around a glittery turkey

Turkey and Thanksgiving Books:
The Most Thankful Thing by Lisa McCourt, Ill. by Cyd Moore (Scholastic)
The First Thanksgiving Feast by Joan Anderson, Photos by George Anacona
Thanksgiving Day by Anne Rockwell, Ill. by Lizzy Rockwell
I Am The Turkey (I Can Read! 2) by Michelle Sobel Sprin, Ill. by Joy Allen
10 Fat Turkey's by Tony Johnston, Ill. by Rich Deas

The Story of the Pilgrims by Katherine Ross, Ill. by Carolyn Croll

 

Insects and Spiders

Do you like insects and spiders?

Toys: Insects Math Game, Cooties, Rose Cottage, Bug Stamps and card making.


Snacks: Ginger snaps and apple slices, veggie chips and banana wheels, and fruit leather.

We also learned that I the Insect flew into some (poison) ivy and got very itchy. "I-i-i" (short i sound) is what she says while itching her arms with her fingers.

Coloring, tracing around hands, scissor and cutting out practice are all part of pre-Kindergarten Curriculum.


We enjoyed reading about The Eensy-Weensy Spider and The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.


We read It's a Good Thing There are Insects and talked about the benefit of having insects in the world. The children were really interested in how bees help us!

Our Original "I" insects!

Number 6--Six blessing feathers on our Blessing Turkey!  New Thanksgiving Book read aloud.

Thanksgiving Craft--Leaves for Leaf/shape Turkey to go home Thursday!



Insect and Spider Books:
The Eensy-Weensy Spider by Mary Ann Hoberman, Ill. by Nadine Bernard Westcott
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (Jumbo, Child's Play book) by Pam Adams *Also, Scholastic Books DVD.
The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
Dairy of a Worm by Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss
Dairy of a Spider by Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss
Little Miss Muffet (nursery rhyme)

Today we learned how vowels are the glue that sticks words together. Miss Jessica writes words with the vowels in red ink and so students can see and read early on what vowels are. Today we reviewed in class that vowels are: Aa, Ee, Ii, Oo, Uu, and sometimes Yy. 

Animal Discovery at the Bean Museum

Our Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum Field Trip 

on BYU Campus

This morning we met with Josh at the museum and he gave us an "Animal Discovery" Presentation in the East Classroom (by the big hippo).
Josh had us find clues and try and guess what animals he had brought to show us.
1) What animals have claws? Polar bears, cats, dogs, ...
2) What animals have hair/fur?  Dogs, kitty cats, cheetahs, polar bears, bears, people!
What animal has claws and fur? Cats, big cats, bears, etc.
3) Our third clue was a snow flake? What animal has claws, fur, and likes to live where it snows? A polar bear!  We saw a stuffed polar bear head and learned: Polar bears like to eat seals and swim in ice cold water. His fur keeps him warm. Why white fur?  To blend in with ice and snow.
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Our next three clues:
1) Snail shell?
What animal has a shell? Crab, turtles, snails,
2) Street Light on "yellow"
What does yellow light mean?  Slow down.
What animals have a shell and move slowly?  
3) Scales? Piece of skin from an animal.
Snail?! No scales. Crab?  No scales. Turtles?!  YES!  
We met Oatis, an African Spur Turtle
Why shell? Protection!
Moves slow.
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1) Fur 
2) Stripes 
3)bad smell?
Skunk!
Why smell? Because it farts! Raegan says. He smells gross so other animals won't eat him.
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Animal that lays eggs? Turkey ostrich chicken fish frogs turtles snakes
Crocodiles lots of egg layers.

Skin alligator a scales

Weebell wobble toy. No arms or legs? Snakes!
Victor the rosy boa snake. No arms or legs.
Why tongue out?  He's smelling!
Cold blooded. Ectothermic. Has to lay in sun. Doesn't produce his own heat.

Last animal.
Grasshopper in a sucker!

Fuzzy

Web

Fuzzy spider
Is it a tarantula.
Charlotte rose haired tarantula.
Why so many hairs?  Protection!  She can throw hairs like darts and it gets in skin and eyes and itches!  Charlotte is poisonous. Uses it to eat meat.
Moves slow except when getting bugs and then she is fast.