Thanksgiving School 2012–Day Seven

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!

Thanksgiving School 2012–Day Six

Today, we took a look modern Thanksgiving celebrations, but we also had a bit of review, as well.

We started with Pardon that Turkey. This is a cute book, which, in part, tells the origins of the annual turkey pardoning by the President. The book also reviews Thanksgiving in America, though, starting with the first Thanksgiving, but the bulk of the story focuses on Sarah Hale. This was a nice review after reading Sarah Gives Thanks on Friday, especially since this is the first year we learned about her.

Our other two books focused on that great American tradition: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Milly and the Macy’s Parade is one of my favorite stories to read every year, and blends fact and fiction to tell the story of how the parade got started. Balloons over Broadway tells the true story of how balloons were added to the Macy’s Parade, and how the balloons work. This was a new book to us this year (it was published in 2011), and we all really enjoyed it. The illustrations are fun, and it was another interesting glimpse into how the parade became what it is today.

Our craft for today was edible–Oreo cookie turkeys. These are adorable and so easy to make…the children loved them! It’s always fun to make an edible craft, too, because it doubles as snack time.

Tomorrow is a fun and silly story day, and then on Wednesday, we’ll re-read a few of our favorites, and make our annual hand-and-footprint turkeys. Thanksgiving is almost here!

2012-13 School Year–Week Eleven

This was a weird week of school. It’s always a little hard to get back to work after a week off. But, we started bright and early Monday morning (a little earlier than usual, since I didn’t have to take Moose to school), and got to work. We’re back to our regular religion lessons, after having used the whole month of October to learn about the Reformation…we spent this whole week going over the story of Joseph and his brothers.

While we got back on track with religion, we went a different direction in history. This week (and part of next) was our annual “Thanksgiving School,” which meant we took a break from our regular US history to learn about the history of Thanksgiving, from the first celebration at Plimoth, through it becoming an national holiday in the 1800s, and on to modern-day festivities. In addition to our special themed read-alouds, we made a few crafts, and even tried an ethnic food. If you haven’t seen what we’ve been up to, check out our Thanksgiving School activities throughout the week!

Our science lessons were a continuation of what we started before our vacation…learning about the respiratory system. We had fun doing a few experiments and adding on to our “Personal Persons.” I continue to be impressed with the Apologia curriculum, and the children must be, too, because they’re placing requests for which of the other topics we’ll be able to study someday!

In math, Turkey and Bunny have started multiplying double-digit numbers by double-digit numbers. The way the book explained it was very unclear to me, and I had to bring in Ryan to figure out how they wanted me to teach it. I ended up abandoning their examples altogether, in favor of teaching them the way I learned. So far, it seems to be going OK! Meanwhile, Ladybug has been counting pennies in her math lessons…she’s already almost finished her kindergarten workbook because she enjoys math so much!

Ladybug continues to read three-letter words, and to try to read everything else. Her handwriting is, I think, finally starting to improve…it’s funny how our girls have the bad handwriting in the family! Turkey and Bunny continued working on writing interesting, varied sentences in Writing Strands, and working on past, present, and future tense verbs in grammar. They also grudgingly redid the spelling lesson from two weeks ago that they both struggled with so greatly. I think maybe now they’ve got the whole “i before e” thing figured out!

Next week is a short week because of Thanksgiving, but I’ve still got a few special things planned!

Thanksgiving School 2012–Day Five

Today we learned about Thanksgiving in the 1800s, particularly the Civil War/Pioneer era.

One of our favorite books to read every year at Thanksgiving (maybe even one of our favorite books to read, period!) is An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, written by none other than the author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott. This is a sweet Thanksgiving story about a group of siblings determined to carry on with the holiday for their parents, after they were called away for a family emergency. There are funny moments as you might expect when children are attempting to prepare a large meal, but in the end, they all enjoy a festive dinner together.

We added a new book this year, as well…Sarah Gives Thanks. This story details how Thanksgiving became a national holiday, and focuses on Sarah Hale, who is famous for writing the poem “Mary had a Little Lamb,” as well as editing several popular magazines. This is a good book because in addition to providing the background of Thanksgiving as a national holiday, it also illustrates the struggle a widow had in the 1800s to support her family, at a time when there weren’t many options available to women.

We even learned about a Canadian Thanksgiving in A Pioneer Thanksgiving. The celebration in this story is very similar to American Thanksgivings at that time (and even today!)…if you hadn’t read A Pioneer Sampler, you might even miss the setting of this story, and just assume it takes place in the US. The family is gathered for a meal, everyone has a job to do to get ready, and there is a sense of urgency as they work to get everything prepared. Many of the foods are the same, and, of course, the feeling of thankfulness and family love are just as present in Canada in the 1800s as they are today!

We also did our first turkey craft of this Thanksgiving season. I finally broke down and ordered some craft kits from Oriental Trading…these cute turkey coasters, as well as a few things for Christmas. This was a fun project, and will come in handy when we set our Thanksgiving table…I love a craft that is both fun and useful!

We only have two more days of Thanksgiving School. Next week we’ll be learning about more modern Thanksgiving traditions, as well as reading some “just for fun” stories, and doing a few more fun activities.

Thanksgiving School 2012–Day Four

Today, we turned our attention to the actual celebration of the first Thanksgiving (which wasn’t even called Thanksgiving at all!).

Our books did overlap with some of our other readings, particularly the ones having to do with the Mayflower voyage. The focus of each, however, was why the Pilgrims were so thankful, and what their celebration looked like. We started with The Thanksgiving Story, which focuses on the Hopkins family, who are known for having the first baby (Oceanus) born upon the Mayflower (and the only baby born at sea). We then read If You Were At…The First Thanksgiving, which is always a favorite because of the question and answer format. Our third selection for the day was Thanksgiving: A Harvest Celebration, which focuses on Who the Pilgrims (and we) were thankful to!

Tomorrow we’re moving on to Thanksgiving celebrations in the 1800s, including a look at a Canadian pioneer Thanksgiving, and how Thanksgiving became a national holiday. We also have another fun craft project…this one from a kit I got from Oriental Trading. I can’t believe our Thanksgiving school is winding down already, but we still have two days next week to look forward to, in addition to tomorrow!

Thanksgiving School 2012–Day Three

Today we learned all about Pilgrims and early American colonists!

Our main focus was the Pilgrims, so we read two of my favorite Pilgrim books: Sarah Morton’s Day and Samuel Eaton’s Day. I can’t say enough good things about these books from Kate Waters! I love the photos, which really show what things were like at that time, and we all loved the Old English dialect that the books are written in. Both stories are set in 1627, so after the first Thanksgiving, but when the colony is still fairly new. Samuel is an original Plimoth settler, having come to the settlement with his family on the Mayflower. Sarah came a few years later on a ship named The Anne. Like On the Mayflower and Tapenum’s Day, these have become a staple in our Thanksgiving School every year!

We added Mary Geddy’s Day to our lessons today, as well. This book focuses on colonists in Williamsburg, shortly before the American Revolution. It was interesting to compare and contrast the lifestyles that were represented in the books, and to see just how much things changed from 1627 to the mid-to-late 1700s. We decided that Mary had things a lot easier than Sarah and Samuel, although all of the children agreed that there were things about life at Plimoth Plantation (after that first horrendous winter) that sounded fun…even the chores!

We’ve also been enjoying using some of Scholastic’s Thanksgiving resources, especially Letters from the New World. This is a cool e-mail offering that you can sign up for. Each week, for three weeks, the teacher is e-mailed two “letters,” one from a colonial child, and one from a Wampanoag Indian child. These letters, like the books above, give an idea of what life was like for these two very different groups of people. There’s even an option to listen to the letters (helpful with some of the Indian pronunciations!), as well as additional activities.

Today was also craft day again. This year, we tried something new for the Pilgrims: paper plate pilgrims. It was a fun and fairly easy craft (the boy pilgrim was more difficult to assemble than the girl), and the children enjoyed decorating their pilgrims’ faces. I just love finding a new paper plate craft!

Tomorrow, we learn about the first Thanksgiving itself!

Thanksgiving School 2012–Day Two

Today in school it was Mayflower Day! We started by reading the actual Mayflower Compact from the History of US Sourcebook. No craft this year, although I did consider making paper plate Mayflowers again. Instead of a craft, I had Turkey and Bunny write letters “home” from on board the ship, detailing their journey (unpleasant, according to both of them!), and wondering what their lives in the New World would be like. Ladybug drew a picture of what her Mayflower voyage was like, since letter writing is beyond her…she also agreed that the journey was no fun!

We read a few favorite Mayflower books, including one I remember from my own childhood, …If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. Turkey and Bunny giggle every year looking at the ship schematic in the book, because the “poop deck” is clearly labeled, and to be honest, I remember doing the exact same thing! They also enjoy the question about troublemakers on the ship, especially the “Boom! You wouldn’t be reading this book” part. Another humorous book we read was You Wouldn’t Want to Sail on the Mayflower. This whole series is very popular because of the lighthearted tone, and yet, the books always manage to impart a lot of knowledge. We also read On the Mayflower, a book in my favorite Pilgrim-era series (yesterday’s book about Tapenum is another book from that line).

Tomorrow we move on to pilgrims/colonists…another three books, plus a craft!

Thanksgiving School 2012–Day One

Every year that we have Thanksgiving School, I organize it a little differently. This year, I decided to do seven days’ worth of themes, since we’ll be learning about Thanksgiving this week, plus two days next week. The themes are:

Native Americans
The Mayflower Voyage
Pilgrims
The First Thanksgiving
Civil War/Pioneer Era Thanksgiving Celebrations
Modern Day Thanksgiving Celebrations
Thanksgiving Fun

I’ve selected three read-alouds for each day, and some days we’ll also have additional activities, such as crafts, games, and movies. Our first day was very busy, as we had a craft, a game, a movie, and a special food incorporated into our theme…I wanted to have a wide variety of activities since Moose had the day off of school and was able to join in the fun.

Before our read-alouds, we refreshed our memories about Native American in general by looking at two books: North American Indians and Native Homes. These books reminded us of some of the different North American Indian tribes, where in the country they lived, and what kind of homes they built. After we discussed these basics, we read about three different Indians, two real (Pocahontas and Squanto), and one fictional (Tapenum).

We used the book More than Moccasins for both our game (a game of chance played with sticks), and our ethnic food of the day (Indian fry bread). This is an excellent book that I’ve used for different ideas over the course of the last several years. There are tons of great suggestions for games, foods, and craft projects, usually with a little history thrown in. There are also many other books in this series, looking at different periods of history and different groups of people…they’re great resources to have when you’re in search of something to make a lesson extra-memorable!

For our craft, we made Indian corn decorations. We made two-dimensional Indian corn using a paper tearing technique, but you could also make three-dimensional Indian corn using toilet paper tubes. The paper tearing is optional either way…you could always cut neat squares instead!

We watched the Peanuts Mayflower Voyages special as well. This could have waited until our Mayflower Day (tomorrow), but I wanted to make sure we watched it with Moose, and a decent part of the movie focuses on Squanto, so it still fit with the theme for the day. I’m always surprised by how accurate a children’s show can be, but it is very true to the story of the first Thanksgiving, with a little creative license in the way of characters (especially one well-known beagle!).

What We’re Reading–Thanksgiving 2012

Last year, I shared a list of books that we were reading in our Thanksgiving studies. That list has been updated, to include four additional books I’ve added for this year:

P is for Pilgrim: A Thanksgiving Alphabet
Balloons over Broadway–A true story about a puppeteer in the Macy’s Parade.
Sarah Gives Thanks–Based on the story of Sarah Josepha Hale (author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”), who petitioned President Lincoln to proclaim a National Day of Thanksgiving.
Over the River and Through the Wood

Plus a few craft books that we’ve used the last several years, and a few others that I’d like to try, but I never thought to include:

I’m looking forward to this year’s “Thanksgiving School”…it’s one of my favorite units every year!