Friendsgiving

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time to celebrate friends and family. My husband and I decided to have a freindsgiving because we were not going to be having a traditional Thanksgiving since we are going to the 49er game on Thanksgiving. It was the first time that I had ever made a turkey. My husband brined the turkey for me, and it was my job to put the rub on the turkey and cook it. I bought the brine and rub at Cost Plus Word Market. It came in a nice kit that was very reasonably priced. I woke up really early thinking that it was going to take me a long time to cook the turkey. I watch the Reynolds Wrap video for how to cook a turkey and decided that it seemed easier then other ways. I basically placed Reynolds Wrap at the bottom of the pan, put the turkey directly on top of the wrap and created a tent for the turkey. It made for a beautiful turkey and quick and easy clean up.

I used our new roasting pan that is beautifully initialed. I loved the look. I felt so domestic. 

I also wanted to create decorations for the party. I went on Pinterest and found a sign that I felt like I could recreate. We had an old mirror that I painted with chalkboard paint to create a framed chalkboard. I used chalk board markers to write on the sign. This is what came from my efforts.

This is the sign that greeted our guests as they arrived. 

I also went to Papersource and bought crafts that I could DIY. I made photo props and a "Give Thanks" sign. The table clothes were purchased at Cost Plus World Market at the same time that I bought the brine and rub package. I used fall flowers in mason jars to create the rustic feel that I was going for. 

We had such a wonderful time with our friends. Thank you to all that came and enjoyed feasting with us! We wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving that is blessed with family, friends, and really good food...

Thanksgiving Stations

Before our 1st grade Thanksgiving feast, I run Thanksgiving stations. There are four stations that the students rotate through.

1. A Voyage Map
2. Pilgram Hats/Native American Hats
3. Thankful Writing
4. Pumpkin Dessert

The four stations are designed to support our feast. The students learn about the pilgrims voyage. They create hats in order to dress up for the feast. It is their choice whether they want to be a pilgrim or a Native American. They write sentences about what they are thankful for. This is used for a placemat at the feast. During the feast, we send a microphone around the table. Each first grader has to give one sentence about what they are thankful for. My students' writing help them to remember what they are thankful for. The pumpkin dessert is eaten by all first graders on the day of the feast.

First grader writing about what she is thankful for.

Students decorating their Native American hat bands with symbols.

Students measuring, cracking eggs, and mixing their pumpkin bread.

Working on a Scholastic News about the pilgrim voyage.

The day was so much fun! 

Pilgrim Boys and Girls

Thanksgiving is a time to remember the pilgrims who came to this land to escape a life of persecution. I want my students to learn about the lives of the pilgrims in Plymouth. We study Samuel Eaton and Sarah Morton who were children in Plymouth. I ask each child to imagine what their life would have been like. Then, we brainstorm how their lives are the same and different from the pilgrim children. Each child writes a paragraph about what their life would be like if they were a child at Plymouth. Then they turn themselves into pilgrims. 

Here are two of my students with their craftivity and below is a close-up of their writing. 

For November, I think that my students are already talented writers.

Fall Leaf Poem

Fall brings many wonderful things like cooler nights, warm flickering fires, and cashmere sweaters, but we also leave behind long, warm summer days. The students and I brainstormed about what we say hello to and what we say goodbye to with the coming of fall. After we brainstormed, the students wrote poems. They are so talented, and the poems turned out beautifully.

They are each so individual! The colors are a mixture of bright summer days and cool fall night.

Scarecrows

Scarecrows are one of favorite things about November. My students make these large scarecrow puppets and write a "how to" about making a scarecrow. 

I hang them up around the classroom. They look so cute, and they make my classroom look so festive!

Author Visit

I had met an author at the Fall Festival in Los Altos and invited her to visit my class and read her book to my students. Her name is Jenny Hurwick. She wrote the book "The Adventures of Frazzle and Twitch". He reading was entertaining, and the students had a great time!

Find her at @frazzlesbooks.com, and explore and buy the book here.

Pumpkin Stations

Every Halloween my class does pumpkin stations. There are about 4 to 5 wonderful parents that volunteer to lead a group in different activities involving a pumpkin. It gets gooey and sticky, but it is so much fun! I absolutely love pumpkin station day.

This is the first year that I have used Tangled Up In Teaching's "It's All About Pumpkins" unit. For the most part, I think that it was a success. I typed up my own instructions for the parents. If you want them, you can email me, and I will send them to you. There were portions of the papers that were a bit small for first grade writing, but it was adorable and got the students estimating and doing more activities than I usually have them do. I did not have any time to spare in the end, which sometimes happens during stations. Students were asked to do different things with their groups pumpkin. Many started off by measuring the circumference. This required them to wrap a string around their pumpkin, take it off, and measure it using a ruler or yard stick.

When the students were done, they would bring up their string and I would place it on a poster. This shows how large all of our pumpkins were. I have had this poster for 4 years. I made one, laminated it, and I keep using it year after year. Next year might be time for a new one, but it has held up really well. 

Students also had to see if their pumpkin floated or sank. First, they guessed what would happen. Then, they took their pumpkin out to one of two bins filled with water and put their pumpkin inside. This might have been one of the more exciting activities. Some students could not believe that a pumpkin as big as theirs floated. 

They also had to guess and weigh their pumpkin. I was s busy running around that I forgot to take a picture of this. I had to weigh the pumpkins to make sure that my scale would work. I had brought my scale from home and each pumpkin had to be placed in a certain spot or it would read error. I let the parents know ahead of time and there did not seem to be any issues with it. The one issue I had was finding my counting cubes to measure the height. The students just used their ruler. I later found them in an unusual place. :)

The best part of the stations is the cutting open and carving of the pumpkins. For some, this is the first time feeling the inside of a pumpkin. I had some parents that brought fabulous knives and just got right in there. Of course, only parents were able to use the knives. The students got carving sets. 

Counting seeds is great practice. The students counted by 2, 5, and 10's until 100. The worksheet was small, so many just started to put them down in piles on the table tops. Most groups counted up all of their seeds, which was cool to see because these pumpkins had a lot of seeds. 

After all of the literacy and math activities comes the carving. We ends up with some very different pumpkins this year. They students shows team work and creativity when choosing how to carve their pumpkin. I think my favorite was the half cat, half bat pumpkin.