Five for Friday ~ Turkey Fun!

Now don't fall out of your seat, I am actually linking up with Kacy at Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday and it is FRIDAY! A miracle I know...lol.  That's what being off 2 days will get ya I guess.  

This week was a total whirl wind.  We had 2 1/2 days of school and we packed every bit of learning and fun in that we could. 

So with the short week we had nothing new on our focus wall.  We had enough going on with out adding new core concepts into the mix.  This week was all about the first thanksgiving and the pilgrims.  We started off with some great books, of course.

We then went to the scholastic website to learn even more about the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving.

Then we made an anchor chart all about who was on the Mayflower, why they went and what were the conditions like. The inspiration for this anchor chart is from the fabulous Deanna Jump. 

By the way, I was not trying to be all "artistic" with the two different shades of blue on our chart.  That is what happens when you go to the teacher resource room and there is NO blue paper left.  There were a few scraps and I taped them together to make it work...lol.

After learning all about the first thanksgiving we made these fantastic First Thanksgiving retell bracelets and books.  Each bead represents a different part of the story.

These are a freebie from Fran Kramer at Kindergarten Crayons. You can get your own here. The kiddos loved their new bracelets and could now go home and share the story of the first Thanksgiving with their families. 

Once we had learned all about the pilgrims we completed a sort about people then and people now.

After we completed the sort on our pocket chart together the students completed their own sort with pictures on their papers.

Next we came up with statements to put on our venn diagram.  We decided if it should be in the category of people then, people now or both.  They did such a great job.

Both of these activities can be found here from Jeannie Partin of Kindergarten Lifestyle.

We had to have some fun with all of our learning too. We made these super cute hand print turkey's with a special Thanksgiving poem for all the parents.  I first saw this idea on Pinterest several years ago, pre-blogging, so sorry I don't have the pin for the original idea. The kiddos love it anytime we use paint. My wonderful aide painted all the kiddos hands for this project, while I ran guided reading. I don't know what I would do without her.

They came out just adorable and they make a great keepsake. 

If you like mine you can get it for free HERE. I used clipart from the wonderful Krista Wallden at Creative  Clips and the font is from KG Fonts. I didn't put the year on the copy you download so you can use it from year to year.

Next we made these super cute turkey hats.  What would a holiday be without a silly hat.

To make your own cute turkey hats each student will need the following:  

• 1-brown piece 4" X  12" (headband)
• 1-orange square 2 1/2" X  2 1/2" (fold in half on diagonal for the beak)
• 2-white squares 3" X  3" (eyes)
• 1-red rectange 2" X  4" (glottal) 
• 1 ea-red, yellow & orange rectangles 3" X  9" for the feathers
• 2 gold brads and 1 rubber band to hook the hat together in the back

I gave each student the pieces and told them to just cut it in the shapes the best they could.  I did make an example for them to see.  This allowed them to each be totally different and unique. It was also a fantastic fine motor skill activity.

I love cooking with my kiddos and try to do so at least once a month.  This time we made no bake pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. They had a blast and thought it tasted great too.  I used the recipe I found here from Corrina at Surfin' Through Second. It is super simple.

First we measured all our ingredients and put them into the mixer. While it was being mixed the kiddos got to make their graham cracker crust. 

You put two graham cracker squares into a zip lock and the kiddos pound on them to crush them up. Some of them really got into it...lol.

Next you dump the crushed graham cracker into a cup, add your pumpkin mixture and top with whip cream. The finished product! It was soo good!

Our last activity of the week was to watch the movie about an Elf on the Shelf.  Do you use the Elf in your room? I did for the first time last year and the kiddos loved it.  I knew I would have to make it a yearly tradition.

After the movie we talked about what happened in the video and we decided we would write letters to Santa to ask if he would send us our own Elf on the Shelf for our classroom.  We used these great letter starters from Kreative in Kinder.  Then added our own sentence telling "why" Santa should send us our own elf. I told them all I would get them in the mail to Santa ASAP!

I have a feeling that we may get a "special delivery" Monday that is really cold. (I usually wrap the boxed book and elf in brown packing paper and address it to the class.  I put it in the freezer overnight and that way, when the office calls us to come get our package, it is cold, as if it was just delivered from the North Pole)  Shhh! Don't tell!

It was an an exhausting 2 1/2 days but it was a ton of fun. Yesterday I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful Thanksgiving, spent with family and friends and hope that you did as well.

Be sure to check out the other posts in the linky to see what 's been happenin'. I wold love to hear your thoughts and comments.  Enjoy the rest of your break! 

~Laura