The Kindergarten Teacher: Turkey talk!

This will be a busy, packed week for us! We haven't been in school for a Monday or a Tuesday for a few weeks (Hurricane Sandy then staff development and election day) so my kids have missed being in art for a few weeks. We also do our handwriting without tears on Mondays (I had to squish it in another day last week). We had essence of Fall last week. Five day weeks feel so long, don't they?

It is also American Education week this week. Our parents are encouraged to visit us on Wednesday. I had a parent ask if she was supposed to visit for an hour or all day (please! An hour is plenty for most people!). I don't do anything special on the day they visit. They get to see a normal day (well, as normal as we can make it with so many extra adults in the room!).

So, like most of America, we are going to learn about Thanksgiving this week. I have many, many Thanksgiving books. I love explaining the Pilgrims to the kids. Pilgrim children did not have an easy life! Most of the original Pilgrim women (and there were less women to begin with) did not survive the first winter. The small children had to do many household tasks. It is hard for us to imagine, I think. I show the kids the books Sarah Morton and Samuel Eaton, which shows a little of their lives.

We will also discuss the feasting with the Native Americans. It is hard to explain much without getting political but they can understand how grateful the Pilgrims were to have food and shelter after their hard first winter.

We also do some fun crafts. We have always made turkey handprints but this year I am kicking it up a notch with turkey handprints on burlap (I found it on pinterest and it came from this blog, Share and Remember). Very cute! The burlap was only about $1.30 per class. We are dying noodles for necklaces anyway, so we will use them for the top of this as well. We dye our ziti with liquid watercolors in a ziplock bag and they come out in brilliant colors.

We will be making a turkey hat and doing the Turkey Tango (by Silly Sally). The kids love it. We also learn a There are Many Things I am Thankful For (by Hap Palmer).

We started out making hand turkeys in our math journals and counting by fives. Each child make a turkey family that matches their own family (same number of family members). They are adorable!

We gather around our carpet when we are ready and share our work (we do this every day! I love it-the kids get to share their thinking and are using the math vocabulary from the lesson. I also get to be sure everyone understands the concepts and can quickly reteach and correct any misconceptions. It is fabulous!)