Thanksgiving......A Little Science & A Literature Tie In

Some themes are easier than others to work in lessons from all the learning domains. We managed to work in a few Science lessons among the many Social Studies and Language experiences with our Thanksgiving theme.

Sink/Float
We did experiment with some of the Thanksgiving decorations we had to see what would sink or float.

Making Butter
One of the activities that I remember from childhood was making butter. I've tried it many ways, but find it is a really quick activity, with less individual frustration if we make it in one container as a class, rather than individually in separate jars for each student. I use a sealing plastic container, 1 container of heavy whipping cream and add a large marble to help agitate. The kids get to shake their their wiggles and/or frustrations all out and we have yummy butter for the feast. I like to open it several times throughout the process to show them how the cream goes from being a heavy (thick) liquid to separating into a thin liquid and a solid.

Painting With Berries
I love The Legend of The Indian Paintbrush retold and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. It tells how Indians began using the materials around them to create art.

 

We crushed cranberries and used them to paint with. Our cranberries were so firm that I had to really work to get the kids started crushing with a rock.

We used the crushed berries as paint and painted some beautiful pictures. It was a great experience, and certainly more about process than product, as the cranberry juice dries almost invisible.(So, no pictures :) Next year, I'm planning ahead and getting some blackberries and blueberries from my mother's farm to use as well.

Talkin' Turkey

In the South, we not only pride ourselves on our drawl, but also in some of the funny ways we say things. Our colloquialisms are fodder for humorists and comedians. Some may think it makes us seem uneducated ~  personally, I find our language beautiful and quirky. In addition to the Turkey Tips I do with the kids each year, I also give them a portion of a familiar idiom or colloquialism and ask them to complete the phrase. The answers are hilarious. Thanksgiving is perfect time of year to have the kids share their answers. I think it also gives a little insight into how a 4 year old brain thinks. Some of the phrases have been completed identically by different children over the years.

A tree is only as old as the squirrel!

After sunshine comes a ladybug!

All things must go to the house!

All work and no play makes Jack a frog!

Beauty is in the eye of the world!

Better late than time!

You can lead a horse to water, but he won't swim!

Too many cooks cook something!

The early bird gets turkey!

His bark is worse than his turkey!

All that glitters is Mommy!

Beggars can't be silly!

A bird in the hand is better than a cow!

A friend in need is jumping up and down!

Out of the frying pan and into the door!

A watched pot never gobbles!


When the cat's away, it stays away!


           ....and the same answers 2 years running......

It only takes two to make three!

What's good for the goose is water!

I display these in our school lobby (sorry, no pics this year--I'll add some next week :) with some of the turkeys they've made and the caption "TALKIN' TURKEY".

Thanksgiving.....Fun and Games in Pre-K

As I've mentioned before, our themes are just a vehicle to deliver content in a fun way. We play a lot of games and learn as as play. Some of the fun games we've played with our Thanksgiving theme reinforced our literacy skills, coordination and social skills.

Toss The Turkey
We made a turkey out of a paper lunch sack and clipped it to a chart stand. I would show a letter (or rhyming word, letter/sound recognition  ~which ever concept we were working on with that group) and ask the child to identify it. If they were able to identify the concept correctly, everyone chanted "Toss the Turkey!" and the student gets to try to toss a beanbag at the turkey. (This could also work by hanging the paper plate from The Great Turkey Chase from the chart stand as well!)

Great Turkey Chase
I saw this on a couple of websites~not really sure who came up with this first. I taped a picture of a turkey to one small paper plate, and pictures of Pilgrims to another. We started passing the Turkey plate like we would playing "Hot Potato", but after the Turkey plate made it halfway around the circle, I added the Pilgrim plate. Pretty soon the kids are all cheering for either the turkey or the Pilgrims.

 

Pilgrim Games

I try to impress upon the children that there wasn't a lot of toys (or time for fun) as a Pilgrim child. They made games with what they had. Sometimes it's hard for them to imagine a world without all the electronic devices and games they have access to. One of the games we play is rolling a hoop with a stick. this takes a lot of coordination, but it's always so much fun to watch them try!

Turkey, Turkey....Dinner!
We just love "Duck, Duck...Goose!" and change it up to fit most themes. "Turkey, Turkey....Dinner!" just seems appropriate, since you get put in the pot if you get caught!

Mayflower Syllable Sails

In Pre-K, our themes are simply a vehicle to deliver content. I try to work in phonological awareness activities to tie in with whatever theme we are learning about. We talk a lot about syllables, counting and clapping them as we are group reading, writing or learning new vocabulary.  I made this Mayflower ship and as we learned a new vocabulary word for our Thanksgiving theme, we clapped out the syllables and added the word to the sail number of the appropriate number of syllables.

This started as a large group activity, but after a few days, the kids really started to listen to stories, trying to add words to the list. This really got them thinking independently and they would often contribute words they thought of. I think this year, I'm going to try to make a tree for the holiday season that serves the same purpose!

Thanksgiving... Our Thanksgiving Book

When my youngest daughter was in kindergarten, her class frequently made Kinderlit books. I loved the idea, but things like this have never been in our budget. I decided a few years ago to make our own version, using some of the art projects we already do and tailor them for the book pages.

We traced our hands and colored them to resemble turkeys for the cover.

We made little Mayflower boats for the first page.

 

We made wigwams from construction paper and paper towels for the second page. This was great fine motor practice using our cutting and tearing skills.

Log cabins are fun to make using construction paper shapes and craft sticks.

We made indian corn by painting with bubble wrap. This was a lot of fun for the kids to do and even more fun for me to watch. Some of the kids painted each bubble separately, some painted sections with different fall colors and others just slathered on the paint. No matter which process they used, the corn looked great and was a wonderful tactile experience! We added a little "vanilla" (manilla) paper fringe for the husk.

Since the last page talked about the feast, we cut out pictures of scrumptious meals from magazines.

We made our books over a period of about 2 weeks and read them as a class at circle time. Our last reading was shortly before our big Thanksgiving feast with our families, then sent them home to enjoy for the holiday!

Thanksgiving......Early Homes

With the typical study of the First Thanksgiving, we have talked a lot about what life was like when the Pilgrims first arrived. The idea of a world vastly different from our own is hard for the friends to comprehend and some of the comments really had us (the teachers) cracking up. "You mean they had to potty OUTSIDE???!!!"  


Although the Wampanoags did not live in teepees, the kids already knew that many of the Native Americans (mostly Plains tribes) did live in these structures. We made teepees from tortillas and bamboo skewers and decorated with Indian symbols.

 

The Wampanoags actually lived in wigwams, which were better suited to protect them in the harsh climates of Massachusetts. We made a wigwam as a class from mud and grass. We compared the teepees to the wigwams and talked about how the wigwams offered more protection from the snow and cold than a teepee could.

 

We also talked about how the Wampanoags helped the Pilgrims build houses of their own. We used Lincoln Logs to make a Common House. I love that the Lincoln Logs have been sitting on the shelf untouched so far this year, but as soon as we made the Common House in Large Group, the Lincoln Logs were utilized independently every day at center time!

Thanksgiving.....Fun with food!

Last week, we made a few special snacks to celebrate the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

We made cornucopias with Bugles and Trix cereal. I was so disappointed to find the the Trix cereal no longer comes in fruit shapes. We went with it anyway and made some tasty snacks.

I saw these cute turkey cupcakes online and thought they would be fun to make. I posted a sign up sheet for ingredients (decorations), but on the day we were to make them, most of the decorations had not come in yet. I scrambled to see what I had that we could use to make them work.

We started with pre-made cupcakes with chocolate frosting, since we don't have access to an oven to bake them ourselves. We added a Whopper malted milk ball for the head, upside down candy corns for feathers, a candy corn tip for the beak, mini chocolate chips for eyes and a red M&M for a wattle.

Voila! A turkey!

Turkey Tips

Every year, one of my favorite Thanksgiving activities is to ask my students (individually) how their family prepares the turkey. The responses always tickle my funny bone! Here are this year's responses:

• We catch it and bake it. You bake it for 20 minutes. Then we take it out and put a little butter on it. Put it in a pot and put in a little water. Put it back in the oven. When it beeps it's done!
• You roast it on a stove for a long time.
• You have to kill it first. You hide and kill it. Then you cook it and have it for Thanksgiving.
• Mommy picks the turkey out of the garden. Than she bakes it.
• Daddy gets a turkey from the store. He makes it with water, milk and ice cream.
• We don't make turkey. We only eat cranberries.
• Mom gets the turkey from the store.She cooks it in the oven for 20 minutes, then we eat it.
• Mom gets the turkey from the store. She pays money for it. We put it in the oven for just a couple of minutes. We don't cook it not that long then we eat it!
• We try to find a turkey some where in the woods. I kill it sometimes, but sometimes the Indians kill it. You bring it home and eat it.  you take the feathers off and put stuffing in it.Then you eat it, but you don't have to cook it.
• You run fast and catch him. He tries to run away again. People catch him again. Then you cook him. You flip him over when it's dark outside, then you eat him and go to bed.
• Eat cheese!
• Daddy's going to hunt a turkey. daddy cooks the turkey on the grill. Then we eat salad.
• We get a turkey from my home. Mommy cooks the legs and eyes and chicken wings for a little bit long. Then he is finished. Me and Daddy eats him!
• We shoot a turkey. Then you put it in eggs. You bake it for 12 minutes in the oven. You can eat it then!
• You get a turkey at the water. You take it out and eat it. You don't cook it at all.
• Mommy gets the turkey at the Fresh Market. it costs $5.00. We cook it and burn it and spray stuff on it. It cooks for 80 minutes.
• We make it in the kitchen. I cook them and say the blessing. you can taste it after.
• Mom gets a turkey from the store. She cooks it. Dad puts the shot in it. It's the same shot as Santa. Then we put it in my oven. mommy cooks it like my Daddy. It doesn't cook long, only a little bit---like only 20 hours. Then it's done and we can eat it for Thanksgiving.
• I didn't bake a turkey yet. I'm not sure if we have one at Thanksgiving, but I sure like it. I really like turkeys, 'cause they are really nice. Mommy puts it in the oven for 8 minutes and bakes it.Then we eat it!
• Daddy and me catch the turkey from outside in my yard. We get him when he's running away. I bake him in the big oven and cook for the number it's going to take to cook the turkey. Then, we can eat him.

    (Note: I know we live in Georgia, but we're in a fairly suburban area. I'm pretty sure none of my students has a turkey in their yard!)

Be sure to let me know if you try any of these recipes. I'd love to know how they turn out!