A printable flannel board story set for the popular Thanksgiving book, I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie. Download: Old Lady Story Set More
This week's storytime post comes as both a sharing to fellow librarians and an instructional tutorial to families. Never have I sent a craft...
This November we are thankful for books and libraries. Be sure to check out our new Reading Posters and Fall library displays.
Want to know the secret to navigating that challenging transition between Halloween and Christmas!? One of our favorite ways to increase student engagement is with STEM, and one of our favorite STEM activities is building a turkey trap . Follow these step-by-step instructions to engage your stude
Hello Everyone! I hope you're having a great weekend! I wanted to share a couple of quick but very special things. First off, we will be doing so many wonderful Thanksgiving related learning activities this coming week. One of my favs is our Thanksgiving Retelling Story Bracelet. As the kids are reading a poem about the first Thanksgiving, they are creating a bracelet with beads on a fuzzystick. You've probably seen this idea floating around for a while. I think it originated with the infamous Dr. Jean. I just love it so much. I updated the poem a tiny bit and can't wait to share it with my kids this coming week. You can get your copy of the poem and directions HERE! Oh...My...Goodness...I am so thankful for these kids and the gifts they give me every day!! Thankful for you, as well!! Your encouragement has kept me on this joyful journey!! Nancy
As we turn our minds towards Thanksgiving, we often think of food, so we created this display to show off all of the books that have food on their covers. We kept to mostly fiction, since we’…
Getting tweens into the library to do library activities and explore books takes some creative thinking. Activities that are interactive, fun, challenging, and hands-on are the best way to get started. We need curiosity and mystery in library activities that will keep them on the edge of their seats for more.
Teach your students the history behind Thanksgiving day with these Thanksgiving lapbook printables. Learn all about the pilgrims and the help provided to them by the Native Americans.
Need to keep your 6th, 7th, or 8th grade ELA students engaged those last few days before Thanksgiving Break? Yes! Keep them busy with something meaningful, academic, and related to the themes that go with this time of year: gratitude, thankfulness, autumn, etc. In this Thanksgiving-themed lesson pack, you will guide students through quick reviews
Howdy! I am Mr. Greg from The Kindergarten Smorgasboard. My real name is Greg Smedley-Warren. I have been teaching for 11 years. I spent a year teaching fifth grade, two years in second grade and am now in my 9th year in Kindergarten. Kindergarten is my passion and my calling but honestly, that wasn’t how it started. When I was moved to Kindergarten (not voluntarily!) I called my mommy and cried. But on the first day, I fell in love and knew that Kindergarten is where I belonged. I have remained in Kindergarten ever since. I plan to never leave the classroom as the kids are what drive me to continue my growth as a teacher and person.
Learn and have fun with pumpkins, pie, cranberries, and more with this fun collection of Thanksgiving STEM activities for kids.
Wowza! It’s been a wild and crazy week and it’s only Wednesday! I have been so incredibly busy with school, home, and classes. My daughter danced with the Moscow Ballet last week in a performance of The Nutcracker, I had my final project due for my grad class, AND I had to get my topic proposal in so that I can graduate in May! PLUS – both girls have dance recitals this weekend! Do I even have my Christmas tree up? Nope. Soon…this weekend. Yes, it WILL happen!! Last week, we had so much fun studying owls! Because of the shortened week from Thanksgiving, it meant that we had 2 extra days of centers to make up – plus one day that school was delayed because of a storm. So…it worked out perfectly not to start “Christmas” until this week. Deanna has an amazing unit on Owls at Teacher’s Pay Teachers. The children loved putting the All About book together! Here are some snapshots of what we did: We started off the week reading Owls by Christine Butterworth. The children were immediately fascinated! We created a brace map to show the parts of the owl. The labels are on velcro and when we talked about each part the children showed that part with their bodies and one child attached the label. The children then practiced labeling the parts of an owl independently. My daughter let me borrow her Webkinz owl for the week. My practicum student made the velcro versio so the children could explore with it at the science center. On Tuesday we read: This is a great book for teaching about mental images. The children created a page for their Reader’s Workshop Journals about their mental images when they listened to the story. (forgot the picture!) On Wednesday we read: We discussed the characteristics of fiction and non-fiction and why this book is a fiction book. After we read this book, we created a page in our owl about owl books about owls being nocturnal – in the story they go to sleep at night. On Thursday we read: Again, we discussed fiction and non-fiction books, but we also discovered that even though a book is fiction, it can sometimes tell us true facts. In this case, the owl eats a rat – this led to us completing the page about owls what owls eat. We created a title page for our all about books. On Friday we wrapped up our unit and read this book: Before we read, we brainstormed words that might be in this book. I was so pleased with the words that they came up with! We also created this tree map about owls. I forgot to take a picture of the work mats for this activity – but you can find them in Deanna’s packet. I modified it so we made number combination up to 6. The kids really enjoy doing this, and I really think they are starting to get a sense of number and addition doing these whole group. The next pictures are photos from our math problem solving that we did with owls. I am SO exciting that the children are really starting to think about math and numbers on a higher level. We always do the problem whole group with leading questions to guide the children towards the answer.The children complete it independently when they go back to their tables. I love to see the thinking that some of them do – some were even wondering about multiplication! holy moly! One of the most incredible, amazing experiences of my teaching career happened during the owl unit. I had a parent volunteer in my room, and I had mentioned to her when I was reading that I would have LOVED to let the children explore with owl pellets, but they were just too expensive. Later, when she came back to eat lunch with her daughter, she told me that she ordered a set of owl pellets for the class! I couldn’t believe it! It was such a kind, selfless act, and it just made my day! I can’t wait until they get here to explore even more!!
Marlana from Lil' Country Kindergarten created an awesome group of freebies for the story I Know and Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie . If you...
This post contains affiliate links to products I recommend. Read my full disclosure statement. Did you survive Halloween in your classroom? I hope you did! All the parties and costumes and candy can make for some very excited kiddos...and one very exhausted teacher. :) Hot off the heels of one holiday, it's time to get
This is such a sweet story about Mini, a little pilgrim girl that just wants to help. She asks everyone around her if she can help them with their chores and they all either ignore her or tell her she is too small to help. Mini is so sad she takes a walk into the woods where she hears some movement further in the woods. Mini goes to see what it is and discovers an Indian girl the same size as her. Mini finally finds something she is not too small to do, make a friend. If you plan on using this book as one of your Thanksgiving read alouds, use the below information to help make a great little lesson for your students. Reading level: 2.2 Theme/Subject: Thanksgiving, friendship Genre: fiction Reading skills and strategies: asking questions - {possible questions before} I wonder what the story is about? I wonder what the Littlest Pilgrim is going to do? {possible questions during} I wonder why everyone thinks she is too little to help? {possible questions after} I wonder if Mini and her new friend will be able to stay friends? **Remember to have your students answer/reflect their questions. author's point of view - 3rd person. Be sure to find 3 pieces of evidence to support this. author's purpose - entertain {evidence} Mini is trying to help but nobody will let her. The illustrations are adorable. These make an entertaining story. beginning, middle, end - {most important event from beginning} Nobody will let Mini help. {most important event from middle} Mini goes to collect berries. {most important event from end} Mini meets a new friend. cause and effect - Why did Mini's brother not notice her? because he was too busy stacking wood. How come Mini's mother didn't hear her? because she was too busy making bread. Why did Mini's father tell her to go pick some berries? because she was too little to help him with the hunting. Why was Mini sad? because nobody would let her help. character analysis - describe Mini {looks like, feelings, thoughts, character} character changes - Mini was sad at the beginning of the story. At the end of the story Mini was happy. What happened to make Mini's mood change? classify & categorize - Jobs Mini could do and jobs she couldn't do. compare & contrast - you and Mini connections - {possible text-to-self connections} Wanting to help but people won't let you. Meeting a new friend. Being told you are too little to do something. drawing conclusions & inferencing - Why do you think Mini's new friend didn't say anything to her? {text clues} Mini's new friend looks like an Indian. {what I know} sometimes Indians did not speak English. {my conclusion} I think Mini's new friend did not know how to speak English so she couldn't talk to her. main idea & details - {main idea} Mini wants to help but nobody will let her because she is too little. {details} Her brother doesn't see her. Her mother doesn't hear her. Her neighbor says the job is too big. plot - the turning point or climax in the story is when Mini hears a noise in the woods. This is when she finds her new friend. predict - What do you think this story is going to be about? What do you think Mini will do to help? Will Mini's brother let her help? Will her sister let her help? What do you think Mini could do? What do you think Mini is going to do after seeing the girl? problem & solution - {problem} Mini is too little to help. {solution} While she is picking berries she sees a girl in the woods and they become friends. sequencing - Mini tries to help stack wood. She asks her sister to help sew. Mini gets sent to her mother to help bake. She finds her father and asks if she could help hunt. Her father tells her to go collect berries. On her way she asks a neighbor if she could help fix his door. She asks the boys from town if she could help them fish. Mini is very sad and thinks there must be something special she could do. Mini hears something in the woods. Mini sees a girls and says "Hi". Mini offers the girl some of the berries she picked. Mini and the girl become friends. Mini is happy. story elements - list title, author, character's, setting, beginning, middle, end, or problem & solution. strong thought - Do you think Mini is too small to help? summarize - {someone} Mini really {wanted} wanted to help {but} but everyone thought she was too small {so} so she went to the woods to collect berries. She {then} then met a girl in the woods and was {finally} finally not too small to do something, make a friend. theme - You are never too small to make a friend. IT'S FREE!! Happy reading!
Enjoy making brightly colored or patterned paper feathers for an eye-catching craft that kids and adults can make with the free craft template.
This November, we are thankful for the ability to share our free reading posters with our librarian community. Download November's posters and share pictures of them in your library with us!
As we all venture into crowded airports, packed train stations, and traffic-riddled highways on the biggest travel days of the year, it's helpful to have a good book at our sides for the journey. And as traveling for Thanksgiving evokes memories of…
Keep students writing in November with Thanksgiving-themed creative writing prompts. These topics can be used as journal free writes or paragraph-writing practice. Free Creative Writing Activity – Pie, Please! In this... #creativewritingactivity #creativewritingprompts #holidaywritingprompts
Our kids are learning about Thanksgiving customs and traditions and we’ve REALLY gotten into learning all about the pilgrims. The kids are FASCINATED!! They just can’t imagine that little pilgrim boys and girls didn’t have DSI’s & American Girl dolls 😉 We started learning about pilgrims reading a few realistic fiction & non-fiction books from …
Despite our rocky start, our Mayflower day was still fun. My goal was to give the kids a small, prek/k friendly, taste of life aboard a boat… Families tacked up blankets to give themselves a little privacy aboard the Mayflower. Although we couldn’t mimic the crowded conditions aboard, we did decide to set up some […]
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays to incorporate into the classroom. I have compiled my favorite Thanksgiving activities for upper elementary grades in this post.
Are you teaching your students about how life long ago? Comparing the past to the present day? Use these cards for class discussion and sorting whole group. Perfect for a pocket chart or add magnets and use on a magnetic surface like a dry erase board. Includes: past and present (header card) 18 sort cards If you like this resource check my TPT store for my Today and the Past: Today and the Past Poster Set Today and the Past Picture Sort Page
Want to host an epic Grinch Day celebration in December? These free printables and fun ideas will help you have the best Grinch Day ever!
\"Share a joke or a dream. Make someone feel good. We need laughter, hugs, and to be understood . . . Though we seem different, inside we're the same. Our hearts are for caring, no matter our name.\" Arlene Maguire's delightful rhymes combine with Sheila Bailey's rich watercolor illustrations to take the reader on a journey of discovery. Each page portrays positive images of children with various disabilities. Winner of an iParenting Media Award and 2009 Preferred Choice Award by Creative Child Magazine, this book illustrates that beyond our physical limitations is a world of unique gifts for each of us to share. Teachers and parents love to read this book aloud to promote understanding and tolerance at school and at home. The detailed artwork attracts children of all ages.
Today is a day which is marked by remembering all we have for which we are thankful. Sometimes this can be difficult, particularly when many of us are increasingly being forced to tighten our belts. Yesterday I used a traditional Jewish folktale as part of our Thanksgiving storytime. This story, commonly called “Joseph the Tailor,” has been retold in picture book format by a variety of authors. Each story retains the same basic plot outline. A beloved article of clothing is worn and worn and worn… until it’s all worn out. Sadly, it seems like the item must be thrown out, but then the tailor realizes that with just a bit of sewing, a new, beautiful item can be created. Coat… jacket…. vest… tie… cap… button… and finally, the tailor realizes that there’s just enough good material left to make a story. With its lyrical verse and large format pictures,...
7 free activities to go with your gingerbread unit! Includes: 100s chart picture, estimation activity, color by coins, color by number, emergent reader, patterns, and count & graph
Check out these fun medieval crafts! Learn about the middle ages for kids with these fun crafts. These medieval crafts are great for kids of all ages. Try
LOW Prep Fall and Thanksgiving STEM Challenges for Elementary Students
Try this fun autumn science and sensory activity ~ comparing squash with Mrs. McNosh. Have a blast learning and eating!
Free printable K-8 teacher worksheets & lesson plans. Educational resources, plans & activities for math, vocabulary, history, science, art & more.
Organizing a book club is a great way to build community and strong friendships. Keep your group chatting with these general questions for any book selection.
Looking for fun Thanksgiving games for your little ones? Try this creative twist on pickup sticks!
