THANKSGIVING WEEK: PK-3

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Ana's Week

Well, after two weeks of break from school to travel, go to a wedding, and just catch back up upon arriving home, I can safely say that getting back in the groove this week was quite the struggle. Aria had no interest in buckling back down and I didn’t have enough patience to force too much on her, so Thanksgiving Week ended up being fairly mellow and lax, probably as it should be! Don’t know about you, but I always have a harder time getting things done as quickly when the hubby is around, since the kids would much rather play with him than focus. No news yet on the job hunt, but continuing to pray, hope and work on the house in the meantime!

So, Thanksgiving. When I was planning the unit, I realized that there are so many aspects of the holiday that I could focus on, so I tried to cover a few concepts while brushing over the idea of Thanksgiving being a time with lots of family around since we decided to stay home this year after all of the travel! When we got home from our trip, a surprise gift from my Step-grandparents arrived, a Native American teepee! While too big to keep up all year long in this house, we loved playing with it all week long, especially on the first day of the week when we focused on the Native Americans. We read The Story of the Pilgrims, by Katherine Ross, which covers the Native Americans in the last half of the book. We then made a Native American outfit, with a headband that Aria decorated and glued feathers onto; a belt of leather that I braided; and the pillowcase I used in the Castle unit was reused, colored with fabric markers, and cut along the bottom to make fringe. We then sat in our teepee and had a veggie snack while listening to Native American flute music from pandora and talking about how Native Americans were hunters and farmers. We also played drums like the Native Americans on her drum. We then watched Pocahontas, which I realize is not an accurate representation of Native Americans, but it did give her a basic idea of their culture. She wasn’t that into the movie, to be honest.

On the second day, we focused on the Pilgrims, so we once again read The Story of the Pilgrims and talked about the Pilgrims coming across to America. We rewatched the Mayflower song on the Schoolhouse Rocks America video. Then, we made a boy and girl pilgrim hat (the girls hat I made up how to do based on pictures that I saw on Pinterest) and scrounged Aria’s closet for clothes that somewhat matched what we saw in the book. Aria had a blast playing dress up, though she preferred the girl outfit. She even pretended to farm like the Pilgrims in our mulch bed.

On Wednesday, a friend came over to join the fun, so we made turkey outfits based off of a picture one of my friends had taken and I had seen on Facebook of her daughter at school. It required a lot of work from me up front, but I was able to make outfits for Aria, her friend, and Skylar and take a few cute pictures, so it was a win. Aria helped me make her outfit by gluing, while I made Skylar’s, who absolutely hated it and thought I was torturing her! After her friend left, Aria and I made thankful turkey hands based off of the turkey hands in the Happy Thanksgiving Curious George book (my favorite of all of the books that we read). We traced Aria’s hands, she drew “feathers” on the hands, we glued a beak and wattle on the face, and then Aria told me things she loved about her grandparents and Dad so that we could make each a thankful hand. I will laminate each and put them in a book I plan to make for Christmas for each of the grandparents!

On Thanksgiving, we read Pippa at the Parade and watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. She loved the balloons, especially Thomas the Train. We then reread Curious a George, focusing on the parts about setting the table and helping in the kitchen. I had Aria help set the table and make deviled eggs and green bean casserole with me. Both kids loved the food, and even though the day was not as exciting as usual without family around, the day was still special!

We topped the week off with a Pack the Pantry through our church, which I think is just the best way to really convey how blessed we are to have so much after a holiday based around gorging ourselves! The week was so much fun and hands-on that I already can’t wait for next year!
 
 
Jessica's Week

I am thankful to be a stay at home mom! This was a month of reflection on how a grateful heart changes a longing mind. I have so many hopes for my daughter, family, and the future I often forget how blessed I am right here and now. But when I focus on thanking God for all I have right here and now I realized I have more than I could ever wish for! And certainly, so much more than I deserve! My only “hope” this week is that Taegan feels the same joy and contentment I experience from doing homeschool with her. God is clearly teaching us both through this journey. Now on to the less important lessons 😉

It was a short and chaotic week where a single trip to Michaels saved the day! “Toob” brand figurine tubes are my newest favorite learning resource. These can be found in 30+ great preschool themes at any Michaels store…Google “Michael’s Coupon” and you can always buy for at least 40% off (reg $10). I purchased the Native American and Jamestown theme toob for our sensory bin and added Jake pirate ships (not exactly the mayflower but I doubt T noticed 😉). Michaels is a great place to buy all sorts of cheap homeschool holiday supplies (especially if you don’t have hobby lobby nearby). We got a couple wood turkey and Indian masks to color, and a bead necklace which T loved threading and (proud mama) completed without assistance! We also read The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh to learn the history of this holiday, watched Pocahontas, did lots more cooking, and had several theme classes at the local library and kid’s art studio.

Addendum: Felt pottery barn thankful pockets-
Found a great felt pocket chart at a yard sale and we filled out one card for each day in November. I asked Taegan what she was most thankful for, I wrote down the answer and then she drew a picture to match. We went back through all the cards on Thanksgiving Day and I think she really started to grasp counting our blessings instead of always wanting more. Highly recommend this activity, you could even copy this photo to make your own chart if you don’t want to pay pottery barn prices.
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Happy Thanksgiving!