Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time for reconnecting with family and friends and thinking about all that we have to be grateful for in our lives.  In our preschool classroom, students were immersed in activities that reflected familiar Thanksgiving icons- turkeys, corn, pilgrims, and Native Americans, however our conversations were not limited to the first Thanksgiving, but included what being thankful means. We discussed that when someone does something nice for you, we often reply "Thank you" or "Thanks" to show that their kindness made us happy.  The students thought about what makes them happy in their own lives (See below.).  We then connected this idea to the Pilgrims and their bravery as they traveled across the ocean on the Mayflower and the kindness of their friends the Wampanoag who showed them how to plant corn and hunt.  It is sometimes hard for children at this age to understand history, but they can understand human emotions and connections to their own experiences.

What We are Thankful for:
Leo: turkey
Tess: pasta and snuggles with mom
Ben: watching TV
Lily: getting people toys and giving people toys
Brandon: playing with toys and the sun
Ollie: playing baseball with my brother and football with my brother
Jacob: turkey
Bri: my sisters and my brother and getting presents
Nikolas: my dog
Olivia: food
Ronny: kisses

Welcome!
We were also thankful to welcome a new student to our class, Brianna.  She joined us over a week ago and has settled in nicely.  The children were very kind asking her to play, showing her our routines and making her feel comfortable.  It is as if she's been with us all year- a testament to the kind and caring children in our group.

Learning About Thanksgiving
After reading The Best Thanksgiving Book by Patricia Whitehead, several of the students acted out the story of the Pilgrims and their journey to the New World and meeting the Wampanoag.  This served as an example of what the students would be able to do in the dramatic play area.

There were two dramatic play areas these past weeks.  The first was the Mayflower ship and a Pilgrim home.  Students were able to pretend to be Pilgrims sailing across the ocean.  They also cooked over an open fire, gardened and served a pretend meal to one another.

The second dramatic play area included a Wampanoag wetu.  This was the traditional home for the Native Americans in the Plimoth area.

Photo credit: https://www.plimoth.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg-images/wetu2!.jpg

The children pretended to be the Wampanoag teaching the Pilgrims how to plant corn.  They also played a traditional Wampanoag game which required them to try to catch a looped rope on a stick. Since the wetu was in our reading area, the children naturally settled inside to read books as well.

Continuing with our Thanksgiving theme, the block area contained a ship that served as the Mayflower, and the children were asked to use their imagination to build a Pilgrim settlement with blocks.  Photographs from Plimoth Plantation were available for the students to use as models.

Students practiced fine motor skills as they laced turkeys and pumpkins, similar to how the Pilgrim children learned to sew.  

 They also built hand strength by blowing feathers across the table using turkey basters,

and made play-doh turkeys or turkey feathers.

The children also practiced AB and ABC patterns while making their Native American headband.

Throughout the week we also practiced counting turkeys and number recognition through turkey games.  The children also built Pilgrims, Native Americans, the Mayflower and turkeys with pattern blocks.

We recited "Five Little Turkeys" daily and sang a Thankful Song.

Five Little Turkeys

Five little turkeys by the barn door,

One waddled off, then there were four.

Four little turkeys out under the tree,

One waddled off, then there were three.

Three little turkeys with nothing to do.

One waddled off, then there were two.

Two little turkeys in the noonday sun,

One waddled off, then there was one.

One little turkey - better run away!

Soon will come Thanksgiving Day.

Thankful Song (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star- American sign language movements)

Let’s be thankful for this day (thankful- hand on chin and then out)

For our friends and for our play (friends- interlock pointers and then switch)

Let’s be thankful; let’s be glad (glad- circular hand on chest)

For the food and things we have (closed hand to mouth)

Let’s give thanks for you and me (thankful, you and me)

And our home and family (roof and ok sign out)

The students continued to practice recognizing their names and identifying the first letter in their name as well.

We read several stories and focused on answering who and what questions while also identifying characters.

Guests

We welcomed another mystery reader during library time.  It was quite a surprise when one student's mom surprised him!

We also welcomed Ms. Forrester, the school psychologist, to our classroom this past week.  She talked with the children about expected and unexpected behaviors and how they make others feel. The students listened to a story and then identified expected and unexpected behaviors in pictures. We have since been using the language of "expected and unexpected" behaviors in the classroom to describe our own behaviors and how they make us feel about each other.

Friendship Feast

Our study of Thanksgiving ended with a class feast.  In preparation for our Friendship Feast, the students worked together to make cornbread or "Johnny Cake" just as the Pilgrims might have once made.  First, they tried their hands at mashing corn using a mortar and pestle.  Next, they measured, poured and mixed the corn bread batter.  

On the day of the feast, the children each dressed as a Pilgrim or Native American.  All of the students helped make a delicious fruit salad (thank you for the contributions).  Each child also helped prepare the table by setting out plates, napkins, flatware or serving food.  The children ate together using the placemats they made and enjoyed a meal prepared by all.