The First Thanksgiving Story

 This week we heard the story of the pilgrims, the Native Americans, and the First Thanksgiving. We practiced listening for "key" details from the book we read, "The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving" by Ann McGovern. We used the chart to retell/summarize each day before continuing the story.

We sorted through things that were from way back then and things we have/wear/use now. The students reached into the mystery box, pulled out a card, and posted it to the correct side of the chart.

 

Immediately after this whole group activity, the students sorted the same items themselves using brown and orange crayons. 

 

A few of the centers reflected our "First Thanksgiving" theme this week. In the number work center, students rolled two dice, added them up, and covered the corresponding ten frame with foam feathers. 

 

They built log cabins in the math games center. First they spun the spinner and had to solve the addition problem. They added that many logs to their cabin. 

 In the fine motor center, the students arranged feathers on a basket.

 

The students put CVC word puzzles together in the word work center. 

 

Our theme inspired a couple of our journal writings this week. We compared the pilgrims' pioneer life to camping. The students told whether they'd been camping before and if they liked it.  We also talked about the chores the pilgrim children had and the students wrote about chores they had to do at home. 

 They got a chance to share their work with the rest of the class. They loved this!

 We wrapped up our unit on Fun Friday by watching "The Mayflower Voyagers" (the Charlie Brown movie) and making our own Native American stories using pictograms. They got to use markers- always a big deal!

 

When their stories were finished, I had them wad their papers into balls. They were very confused. 

But then I explained how we were making the paper less stiff and making it look worn like the material the Native Americans would have used.  Then they were very into it. 

 

 We also did another "Write the Room" activity (unrelated to the theme).  The students have only done this one other time, but it's one of their favorite activities. 

 

 For the students who are working on letter recognition and aren't quite ready to write word lists, they searched the room for each letter of the alphabet, turning down the letter flap once they found it.

 Now that we're in the month of November, our calendar activities have changed. The students guess then extend an ABC pattern of yummy Thanksgiving foods. 

  Next, they work on recognizing and decomposing teen numbers in the "Who's Coming to Dinner?" page. Each child gets a turn to spin the spinner and then set out that many plates for their Thanksgiving dinner.  The top ten frame is the grown-ups' table and the bottom ten frame is the kids' table. Once a number is spun, I always ask, "How many will be at the grown up table? How many will be at the kids' table?"Then we record each child's number and review the highest numbers and lowest number so far.

 

On the next page, the students go against the other class to build the best turkey.  They look forward to seeing what piece the other class has gotten each day. This activity builds up our addition skills. We either add using our fingers or by drawing little dots beside each number.   In a few weeks, we will use a number line to add. And then in a month or so, we will begin using the "Smash" method. More on that in December....

 

The final page of the November calendar is for tracking our days in school. This activity teaches us about place value and it also gives us a movement break.  However many days we've been in school, we do that many exercises. 

 To make up for not posting last week (and to help me remember what I did for the sake of planning next year) here is an all photos recap. It was fairy tale week.

We identified characters, setting, and sequenced each story.

Students retold their favorite fairy tale in their journals.

We used the "draw a picture" method to solve addition problems to 5. 

They built the 3rd little pig's house in the math games center.

They rolled dice, added them, and then graphed the sums in the number work center.

They wrote colorful sight words in the word work center.

They worked on their cutting skills in the fine motor center, then later used the pieces to create a fun math-focused craft.

We had two students receive the award for responsibility: Amelie and Tommy

 I'll leave you with this sweet pic of Afton and his dad, who we honored at our Veteran's Day program this week. Thank you, veterans!