| Volume 5, Issue 19
November 5, 2007
A WORD ABOUT THIS ISSUE'S THEME
Share this poem with children as part of your Thanksgiving theme unit.
 Family, friends, and turkey
Is what we think of,
When Thanksgiving rolls around
As it always does.
Pumpkin pie and cranberries,
Stuffing piled up high.
Pass the mashed potatoes, please…
The special day flies by!
When our guests have gone back home
And nighttime is here,
We give thanks for all we have
And people we hold dear.
Everyone at Education World wishes you and your students a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Susan LaBella
Editor, Early Childhood Education Newsletter
ACTIVITY IDEAS
PILGRIM CHILDREN
Read to students Sarah Morton's Day and Samuel Eaton's Day by Kate Waters. Read aloud and give children time to examine each page. Point out the many jobs these children of long ago had to complete each day. Then let children compare items from today with items of long ago. Provide a box with the following items: box of cornbread mix, spoon, plate, glass cup, soap, small lamp, storybook, baseball cap, and electronic game. Help children compare these things to items of long ago. List in order the things from long ago that they saw in the books that compare to the items familiar to students: box of cornbread mix (corn meal from Indian corn), spoon (shells), plate (wooden trencher), glass cup (wooden mug), soap (home-made soap), small lamp (candle), storybook (Bible and hornbook), baseball cap (girl's coif, boy's hat), and electronic game (outside games). Then invite students to choose a job from long ago that they find most interesting. Let them draw pictures -- using picture books as references -- to show the job.
THE WAMPANOAGS
Read to children The Wampanoags by Alice Flanagan or Tapanum's Day by Kate Waters. Lead children to understand the vital role Native Americans (Squanto) played in helping the Pilgrims survive in their new home. Then create a class book of what children have learned about the Wampanoags. Record children's words in a sentence frame to appear on each page: "Did you know that ___________? It's true!"
COOKIN' UP WORDS
Write Thanksgiving-related words on two sets of cards. Place them all in a cooking pot. Tell students to cook up some words by finding matching cards, reading the word, and placing the cards on a dinner plate for a Thanksgiving dinner full of words.
PINECONES AND LEAVES
Take children on an outdoor walk to gather lots of fall leaves and pinecones. Help children glue leaves onto a piece of paper to make a fan shape of leaves. That is the turkey's feathers. At the bottom center of the leaf fan, use lots of glue to paste a pinecone (vertically). That is the turkey's body. Use bits of colored felt to glue eyes, an orange beak, and a red wobbler onto the turkey. Let dry well and display.
A HARVEST SNACK
Let children help assemble this snack mix as you talk about the meaning of each ingredient. Mix together bugle-shaped corn snacks (cornucopias of plenty), pretzel twists (arms folded in thanks), candy corn (kernels of corn the Pilgrims used), dried fruit (the harvest), and sunflower seeds (the seeds to be planted for a harvest next year).
Distribute some of the mix to each child as a snack to enjoy while you talk about all the things each child is thankful for.
ON THE WEB
Check out the following Web sites for additional background and activities.
Plimoth Plantation
This site is the final word on everything Pilgrim and Thanksgiving.
http://www.plimoth.org
The First Thanksgiving
Get lesson plans, activities, and more--all about Thanksgiving.
http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/
The Pilgrim Story
You'll find loads of good information here.
http://www.pilgrimhall.org/museum.htm
Sail 1620
Use these printables for kids to color.
http://www.sail1620.org/teaching_games.shtml#ColoringBook
Thanksgiving Story Starters
Read aloud some of these story starters. Let your students have fun creating endings for them.
http://www.gigglepotz.com/storystarters.html
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