I want all my Thanksgiving materials in one post, for next year, so decided to recap what we did the last couple of weeks!
For Mr. Ben, I constructed a few fun turkeys for different practice. Both ideas are from My Montessori Journey--one is a foam turkey with clothespin feathers, the other is a felt turkey with button on feathers. I would like to point out that I handsewed the entire turkey and all his flipping feathers. As a side note, as cute as he is, I was also reminded why I do not make it a practice to sew things! ;o)
During the week, we of course read a ton of books. Faith & Ben had their own lists, though he also listened to some of her easier ones and she listened in to almost all of his. :o) She also read several of them out loud to him which is such great practice for her and a nice break for me.
One of her assignments was learning to write a simple book review (summarize the plot to make your reader interested, then give your own opinion). We decided to use two of her Thanksgiving books for the assignment, I Am the Turkey and Silly Tilly's Thanksgiving Dinner. When she was done, we submitted them to a learning blog I really like and they published them! She was quite excited to see them on the site.
Silly Tilly's Thanksgiving DinnerThis book was about a mole who does not remember what she does. When Mr. Bunny came to visit, she did not remember that it was Thanksgiving .When she bumped into a tree, she could not see. She had fog on her glasses! She has trouble remembering everything. I thought that this book was fun for children to read.
I Am the Turkey
There were a couple of days until the school play. There were pilgrims and a rock and tree. The boy was the turkey. He felt happy at first, but then he didn’t. He thought the play would be ruined, but he saves the day. This book made me feel like I could laugh all day.
Faith & Ben also made some mini Thanksgiving books. I had grandiose ideas of making Thanksgiving lapbooks, but honestly, I didn't feel like it and neither did they. We took advantage of the wonderful world of the internet and printed already made ones. Faith made two--one on Pilgrims and one on the first Thanksgiving. Ben made one on Thanksgiving about food he likes. ;o) It was the perfect topic for him.
Faith & I also downloaded a few worksheets on turkey & corn, for a little Thanksgiving-related science reading. I love Enchanted Learning for those kinds of materials. We didn't want to do a whole turkey or corn unit, a little background reading was perfect!
Thanksgiving Day, we spent the day with our friends Jen & Mark and their kids. Jen is a former teacher too, but she taught little ones and is full of great ideas.
The kids made turkey decorations with feathers ...
And cookie turkeys with handprints and M&Ms ...
Both crafts were a huge hit and I have two adorable turkeys on my fridge (the cookie turkeys did make it home but didn't last a whole lot longer!). Ben also made a cute Pilgrim at preschool and a turkey out of his footprint at church. Apparently, he even let them put paint on his foot, but made Miss Kim wash it all off immediately afterwards! Again, a very Ben moment.
I'm getting really excited to start our Christmas units soon too! I have millions of ideas, just trying to figure out how to do it all. :o)
For Mr. Ben, I constructed a few fun turkeys for different practice. Both ideas are from My Montessori Journey--one is a foam turkey with clothespin feathers, the other is a felt turkey with button on feathers. I would like to point out that I handsewed the entire turkey and all his flipping feathers. As a side note, as cute as he is, I was also reminded why I do not make it a practice to sew things! ;o)
During the week, we of course read a ton of books. Faith & Ben had their own lists, though he also listened to some of her easier ones and she listened in to almost all of his. :o) She also read several of them out loud to him which is such great practice for her and a nice break for me.
One of her assignments was learning to write a simple book review (summarize the plot to make your reader interested, then give your own opinion). We decided to use two of her Thanksgiving books for the assignment, I Am the Turkey and Silly Tilly's Thanksgiving Dinner. When she was done, we submitted them to a learning blog I really like and they published them! She was quite excited to see them on the site.
Silly Tilly's Thanksgiving DinnerThis book was about a mole who does not remember what she does. When Mr. Bunny came to visit, she did not remember that it was Thanksgiving .When she bumped into a tree, she could not see. She had fog on her glasses! She has trouble remembering everything. I thought that this book was fun for children to read.
I Am the Turkey
There were a couple of days until the school play. There were pilgrims and a rock and tree. The boy was the turkey. He felt happy at first, but then he didn’t. He thought the play would be ruined, but he saves the day. This book made me feel like I could laugh all day.
Faith & Ben also made some mini Thanksgiving books. I had grandiose ideas of making Thanksgiving lapbooks, but honestly, I didn't feel like it and neither did they. We took advantage of the wonderful world of the internet and printed already made ones. Faith made two--one on Pilgrims and one on the first Thanksgiving. Ben made one on Thanksgiving about food he likes. ;o) It was the perfect topic for him.
Faith & I also downloaded a few worksheets on turkey & corn, for a little Thanksgiving-related science reading. I love Enchanted Learning for those kinds of materials. We didn't want to do a whole turkey or corn unit, a little background reading was perfect!
Thanksgiving Day, we spent the day with our friends Jen & Mark and their kids. Jen is a former teacher too, but she taught little ones and is full of great ideas.
The kids made turkey decorations with feathers ...
And cookie turkeys with handprints and M&Ms ...
Both crafts were a huge hit and I have two adorable turkeys on my fridge (the cookie turkeys did make it home but didn't last a whole lot longer!). Ben also made a cute Pilgrim at preschool and a turkey out of his footprint at church. Apparently, he even let them put paint on his foot, but made Miss Kim wash it all off immediately afterwards! Again, a very Ben moment.
I'm getting really excited to start our Christmas units soon too! I have millions of ideas, just trying to figure out how to do it all. :o)
Wow I love those two turkey activities, I hadn't seen those before and both are great fine motor activities and could also be used for patterning. The felt one really is quite adorable in and of itself!
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