Turkey Time Traditions {with Amber from The Sunny Side of Second Grade}

Hey y'all!! Welcome back for another selection of our Turkey Time Traditions. Here you are hearing all of our favorite Thanksgiving ideas, lessons, crafts, and more! I hope you are enjoying yourself just as much as we are enjoying sharing with you.

We have been spending our time talking about everything Thanksgiving the last several days, and we will continue into next week. One of the second grade social studies standards we like to focus on for this theme is comparing various interpretations of the same time period. Perspective can be very difficult for our little sweeties to grasp. This year, my team and I took a different approach to help with this.

We found these books to help us:

We started out by introducing the theme with the book The First Thanksgiving and exploring the Scholastic's The First Thanksgiving. After a needed brain break on Go Noodle, we delved into day one of the lesson plan: The Pilgrim perspective. We read through the book, Giving Thanks, but we only read the perspective of the Pilgrim, Resolved White. (Day two consists of re-reading the story but this time from the Indian, Dancing Moccasin, perspective)  We held partnered discussions on what it was like to be an English Colonist in 1621, mapping out our thoughts on chart paper.

We then used the anchor chart as our graphic organizer for our writing activity:

The kiddos really loved writing a story about what it would be like to live as a pilgrim in 1621. The story can then be attached to construction paper. They can color pilgrim shoes to glue to the bottom of their story when they are finished.

If you are like me, you like crafts around the holidays. These are just a few of the crafts we completed this week. It was so much fun having a Pilgrim day and an Indian day. Monday we plan to take what we have learned and bring it all together using a Venn Diagram and some compare and contrast fun!

The Indian fact headband was created by me, but you can find these sweet Pilgrims and Indians here.

If you are looking to add some free writing fun to your Thanksgiving plans this week, look no further. Download my free Walk Like a Pilgrim activity! I know your sweeties will love it as much as mine did.

{Click on the image above to get your copy}

An InLinkz Link-up

Celebrating America! [ with Stephanie from Mrs. D's Corner ]

It's no secret that I am an Air Force Sister and Daughter. My dad served in the AF and my brother recently just finished up his 4 years, so when the additional opportunity (I say additional because our troops should be celebrated and praised EVERY day) comes for us to give our thanks and remember, I go all out.

When my brother went through Basic, I had my students create cards and write letters for me to send to him. I have always taught 2- or 3-week units about our past, present, and future soldiers on Veteran's Day and Memorial Day. These days are so much more important than an extra weekend day or a BBQ, and it's important to me that I share this with my students. So much so that we started our remembrance celebrations this week.

I saw this pin on Pinterest and decided that this was how we would start off our unit. First, let me show you what we made, and then I'll show you how!

Isn't it just the most adorable poppy craft you've ever seen? And it's super simple! All you need to make these adorable poppies is paper plates, black construction paper, and red paint. It's the simplest craftivity, so let me know you how:

Obviously, you start with a paper plate.

Then (and it's hard to see the pencil lines), you draw lines on the paper plate to create the petals.

Once your student cuts on the lines, it will look something like this. It's okay if it's a little off-sided (unless you have OCD like me... but I keep telling myself it's okay!).

I cut random sized rectangles of black construction paper out for my students ahead of time.

Have your students rip the black construction paper into pieces. It doesn't matter how big or small the pieces are.

Time to paint!

Have your friends paint the entire plate red.

I used our special glitter glue to put some glue in the center of each plate. Students then add their ripped up black construction paper pieces.

Once it dries, you end up with this :) I used them to create a mini bulletin display outside of our classroom, that way the entire school can enjoy what we made for Memorial Day.

How do you celebrate Memorial Day?