Happy Thanksgiving!

Top Left is by ED, Middle Top is by DD, Top Right says (from bottom to top Time To et Me -- Time to eat me -- by DD). Bottom cards are by LD.

This past week we've been singing this lovely Thanksgiving song together called "Thanksgiving Day" by L. Maria Child during our collection time:

Over the river and through the wood

To grandfather's house we go;

The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh

Through the white and drifted snow.

Over the river and through the wood--

Oh, how the wind does blow!

It stings the toes and bites the nose,

As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the wood,

To have a first-rate play.

Hear the rings, "ting-a-ling-ding!"

Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!

So, we're off to Great Uncle J and Great Aunt M's house -- to join Great Great Uncle L and the rest of the family for a Thanksgiving feast!  

Off we go!  And a Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Our Thankful Tree

We've been reading, learning and doing activities related
to (American) Thanksgiving this week. I found a tree that
lights up at the discount store (Mad Harry's, which sounds
like it's like the "Dollar Tree" I always hear about online).

Anyway, this week I printed out some leaves on different
colored paper. The kids had to think about what they
were thankful for. Each day I wrote down one or two of
their ideas on a leaf and they hung it on the tree. When
we celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend we'll read all
the leaves. (We're celebrating early because we'll be away
on Thanksgiving.)

I just want to add -- this actually comes quite
easily to the kids because before (or during!) dinner
we hold hands and "are thankful" with a few moments
of silence. We end with a gentle squeeze that goes
around the table and breaks the silence.  Then we usually
talk about what we're thankful for that day (our family, friends,
health, and things like that).  Now the kids are great about
saying "let's be thankful" and even little ED will reach out
her hand (over and over and over!) to be thankful.

Thanksgiving Activities -- Learning about Native Americans

Living where we do, our kids really don't hear or
learn much about Native Americans. (On the other
hand, we have learned a lot on Aboriginal culture.)
Anyway, this week I introduced them to some of
the Native American tribes (in a VERY basic way).

We read The Magic Tree House: Buffalo Before
Breakfast. We watched the buffalo hunting scene
in the movie, Dances With Wolves. And we pulled
out some of the Native American items we have.
Some of the items I have from my childhood (like
the sand paintings), some are from a close friend
who collects Native American artifacts professionally,
some are from relatives who traveled to Alaska and
elsewhere, and some are from a continent-box swap
we did with another family earlier this year.

The kids loved looking at all the items and that
quickly led to another project... scroll on to the next
post for more on that!

Turkey Math Game

The kids have really enjoyed this game this week. I got
the turkey print outs from mathwire.com . I used some
craft cubes and wrote numbers on the dice 0-5 on two
and 6-11 on the others. It was good practice counting
for my preschooler. I made the spinner using a template
online which I printed on cardstock and glued on cardboard.
I put a brad through (it's sticking up a bit) and used one of
the laminated turkey feathers which I cut down to size and
put a hole punch as the spinner's arrow. I wrote in "odd, even,
less and more."

The kids have played this daily. It was a big hit!

Here are some other related posts that might be of interest:

Thanksgiving Preschool Printables (free)

FREE  CVC Words -at -it -ot -ut File Folder Game and Word Cards

Free Fall Sight Word Games

• Free Fall Math Game Board – Use this game board for any type of math fact practice. Players move around the board until one person lands on the WIN space. My oldest used this to add positive and negative numbers… but you can use this for number recognition, easy addition, subtraction or multiplication problems.

• Free Thanksgiving Addition and Subtraction Pages

• Free Fall and Thanksgiving Math Games and Printables – Which has links to over a half-dozen free math activities (grades K-4th roughly)
• I also made some Thanksgiving themed Number Family Sheets and basic addition matching (turkey to feather)

• Fill in the Missing Numbers – Fall Theme Printable

And these posts have links to lots of other freebies (most for the 3-6 year old crowd!)

• Free Fall and Thanksgiving Packets and Printables
• Fall and Thanksgiving Math Packs and Games (Free)

• Fall and Thanksgiving Themed Printable Activities (Free)
• Free Fall-Themed Packets for Ages 3-6 (PreK-Gr. 1)
• Free Fall Themed Activity Packs for 3-6 Year Olds

FREE Coin Counting File Folder Game
sh th ch Sound Sort and Worksheet Activities

You might also be interested in this FREE Resource Guide:
How to Create Your Own Homeschool Curriculum: K, Gr. 1

 

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Dino Blast Game

The other game we played this week was an odd-even
game called Dino Math Blast also from mathwire.com.
The dice were craft cubes. I used blue, green and yellow
cubes and wrote the numbers 0-5, 6-11 and 12-17. The
first player rolled the die of the color space they were
currently on. If the number was odd the odd dinosaur
moved ahead one space, if the number was even the
even dinosaur moved ahead. Then it was the next
player's turn to roll the die (of the color they were
currently on).

The kids also really enjoyed this game this week!

Thanksgiving Patterns

This is a little Thanksgiving pattern activity that DD worked
on last week. It's from mathwire.com.

Baking

I put a recipe for DD in her workbox this
week. It was an easy recipe to make "acorn
cookies." DD had other ideas, though, and
wanted to make gingerbread men. We did
that instead (though I have no picture of
the actual gingerbread men because they
were the first to get eaten!). Then I had a
late night call from my sister and made the
acorn cookies myself. It was lovely kicking
back and having a tea and cookies while catching
up with my Sis!! (Yes, it was a long, lovely chat--
I both made AND ate the cookies!)

This week we also made wheat bread using a new
recipe. All of us really loved the consistency and
flavor of that bread. Yum!

Pictured below is the Dilly Bread I made for
Thanksgiving. This is a recipe that has been in
my family for 50+ years. We make it every
year at Thanksgiving and Christmas (and have
ever since I was a child). I'm pretty sure my
grandmother made this as well at the holidays. I'll
share the recipe below.























Dilly Bread:

2 med onions sauteed in butter til clear
2 pkg yeast in 1 cup warm water
1 1/3 c. scalded milk, cooled
1/2 c. oil (or shortening)
1/4 c. sugar
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp dill seed
2 eggs
6 - 6 1/2 c flour

Knead for 10 minutes let it rise for 45 mins.
Punch down, knead for 5-8 minutes.
place in buttered baking tin. Flip (to butter
both sides).
Let it rise for 1/2 hour.

Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes.