Thoughts on Thanksgiving

I'm so excited to start doing Thankgiving activities with my class. It's my absolute favorite time of year!! Luckily, our social studies curriculum has us starting native Americans and early settlers now, so that fits right in.  Here are a few of the activities I'm planning for the upcoming month...

• Making applesauce - It's so easy to do in the crock pot and the kids get to taste the results at the end of the day.  We practice some measurement skills when we measure out the sugar and water. We also talk about how writing clear directions is important with a recipe or any other kind of how-to expository writing.



So, how to make it?  Super easy... 12 apples (peeled, cored, and sliced), 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of water, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Put it all in the crock pot and let it cook on low all day. I add a little cinnamon at the end for the kids who want it. Some don't like it.  You also might have to drain a little water out before serving depending on the type of apple you use.

• Thanksgiving Writing - I made up a little writing packet where the kids try to convince Farmer Brown not to eat turkey for Thanksgiving. They think it's really fun and it's an easy introduction to our persuasive writing unit. I've adapted it for lower level writers too (I have a few ESE munchkins that are barely writing sentences). This pack also includes a bunch of fun Thanksgiving writing prompts that I use in centers.



• Thanksgiving Word Wall - This goes along with our writing too. Sometimes the kids get so hung up on trying to spell a word that I've made holiday word walls.  This is what my Thanksgiving ones look  like...

(That's really tiny...sorry!)

We also start a big Native Americans and Plymouth Colony project but I'll save the details for another post. It's based on Evan Moor's History Pockets.  If you've never seen them, check them out...