Today’s Thanksgiving school was pretty low-key. We didn’t have any special crafts or projects, just three new books to read. These were some particularly entertaining books, though, because today was “fun and silly stories” day, which was a nice change after spending so many days learning about the history of the holiday!

First, we read Over the River and Through the Wood. I had considered using this book on the day we learned about Thanksgiving in the nineteenth century, as the poem was written in the 1840s. I decided to just save it for our fun day, though, because it’s been known as a fun Thanksgiving song, and best known by our children for being sung in the Peanuts Thanksgiving special.

We read another of my favorite books, as well: The Night Before Thanksgiving. It’s written in the same style as The Night Before Christmas, and tells the story of a typical family celebrating Thanksgiving in America, from food preparation to leftovers, and everything in between. The children’s favorite part of the story is when the dad loses control of the turkey…it’s rather comical, and something I could see actually happening!

Our last book was new to us this year (thankfully, no one else had checked it out of the library!), and was a huge hit with all of the children: A Turkey for Thanksgiving. This book tells the story of a group of animals getting together for a Thanksgiving meal, and a misunderstanding regarding the “guest of honor.” Of course, when Mrs. Moose tells me Mr. Moose that she “wants a turkey for thanksgiving” because that’s what everyone does, and she’s never had one, she means she wants a turkey to be their guest at Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, the turkey in question doesn’t understand that, and resists the whole way…at least he’s pleasantly surprised in the end!

Tomorrow will be a very light day of school…one craft, a few Thanksgiving books, and no other school work. We will be busy getting ready for the big day, though!