1-2-3 Come Do Some Thanksgiving Writing Prompts With Me
The activities in the "Thanksful Packet", are a creative alternative to the ever popular “Thankful For…” writing prompt.
The THANKFUL word, is a quick, easy & fun little craftivity your students can do in 5-10 minutes.
Children fill in the letters with things that they are thankful for. Drawings, stickers, or even a little photograph adds pizzazz.
I used all caps so that students had more room. Take a teachable moment to discuss why they think that most signage that they read is a “rule breaker” and uses all capital letters.
The packet also includes a class-made booklet, which includes several page options and covers.
It’s formatted on a full-page for a large booklet, as well as 2-on-a-page templates to conserve paper.
The booklet is a wonderful way to build students’ self-confidence, and is especially appropriate if your class participates in the “Bucket Filling” program, as children choose a partner then write why they are thankful for them.
Encourage older students to use at least 3 adjectives to describe their classmate, as well as 2-3 verbs of what they do that you are thankful for.
Add school pictures for that finishing touch.
After they share their page, collect, collate and add a cover.
Remember to set your booklets out for parent-teacher conferences.
As always, I've included my completed samples, so that you can quickly and easily make an example to share with your kiddos, to help explain what you want them to do.
There's also a sweet little note from your teacher: I'm thankful you're in our class, that you can tuck in students' desks, folders, or backpacks.
Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop to take a look at the: Thankful Packet.
While you're there, I'd so appreciate it if you'd follow me. I know it's a bit silly, but I really get excited about this growing number.
I only need two more followers to hit the 800 milestone. When I do, I'll be sharing a special FREEBIE in celebration.
By following, you'll know when I post FREEBIES or throw a sale. Thanks in advance for you consideration.
The featured FREEBIE for today is Patrick, the paper chain scarecrow. Use him as a creative and fun way to practice, counting and patterning via the links.
Older students can write why they are thankful on eack link, the scarecrow being a nice alternative to a turkey. Completed projects look cute dangling from the ceiling or as a border up against a hallway wall.
Well that's it for now. Thanks for stopping by. It's rainy, cold and dreary out.
The perfect kind of day to start creating some Christmas craftivities. Wishing you a warm-fuzzy, snuggly kind of day.
"Every day may not be good, but there is good in every day." -Unknown
1-2-3 Come Do Some Thanksgiving Activities With Me
I think you’ll really like the versatility of the Turkey Feathers number packet, as you can pick and choose what’s appropriate for your students PK-1st.
What’s especially nice about the variety, is that you can easily differentiate the activities to suit various student levels.
Use them as table top worksheets, independent centers, whole group activities, something for early finishers, homework, interventions, or a sub folder.
The packet includes a trace & write counting booklet, a variety of worksheets, games, puzzles, several assessments, odd & even activities, plus a graphing extension.
There's also a turkey slider “craftivity”, with “slider strips” for numbers 0-10, 0-30, counting backwards from 10-0, as well as 20-0, plus skip counting strips for 2s, 3s, 5s & 10s.
Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop to have a look see: Turkey Feathers.
While you're there, I'd so appreciate it if you'd follow me, so that you'll know when I post the latest FREEBIE or am throwing a sale.
Speaking of FREEBIES, today's is my "Tasting Feast" packet. It's filled with everything you need to throw a Thanksgiving Tasting Feast for your students: signs, ingredients, letters and notes home + tips.
The packet is one of the first Thanksgiving activities I posted years ago, before all of the clip art, fonts, and graphic design programs that I use now, but I think you'll still find it helpful.
A tasting feast is a fun and easy alternative to help celebrate this historical event. My kiddos absolutely loved it.
Half of them chose to be Wampanoag Native Americans, the other half were Pilgrims. They especially enjoyed making hats and headbands, as well as collars and paper bag vests to wear.
Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. The carpet cleaners are coming tomorrow to do the whole house.
Babies, toddlers and a puppy have taken it's toll, so it will be a busy day getting ready.
At least I feel energized to get things spruced up for Thanksgiving. Wishing you a carefree day.
"Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse." - Henry Van Dyke
1-2-3 Come Do Some Thanksgiving Writing Prompts Craftivities With Me
It never failed, that no matter what grade I taught (PK, K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 12th, and even a college lit class), if I introduced a writing assignment that had a little bit of craftiness to eat, my students couldn't wait to get down to the business of writing.
An added bonus, was that completed projects made an awesome bulletin board that they were proud of.
The two writing prompt craftivities that I'm featuring today, are very simple, and can be done in a really short amount of time.
The first one is "Loopy". He's a creative alternative to the ever-popular "I'm Thankful For..." writing prompt.
Students write something that they are thankful for on strips of colored paper, then bend them into a loop and glue their writing prompt "feathers" to the top of their turkey.
I made my sample out of rainbow colors, but you'll have a wonderful variety if you let your students come up with their own designs.
You can also reinforce AB-AB or ABC-ABC color patterns as well.
I've included 6 different options for a center circle; from as simple as "Happy Thanksgiving!" to several quotes, as well as a poem.
Include a blank, brown loop behind the head of the turkeys, so you can suspend them back-to back from the ceiling. Click on the link for this "funtastic" Dollar Deal: Loopy the Thankful Turkey Writing Prompt Craftivity.
Next up is the Thankful Tree. Like Loopy, it's a nice alternative to the "I'm Thankful For" writing prompt.
I designed this craftivity, so that I could reinforce the 4 seasons, which we were learning about. It's also a great opportunity to practice the use of adjectives, to make writing more descriptive.
Here, children complete the prompt: "I'm thankful for (winter, spring, summer, fall) because..."
There's a cover page, 4 seasonal tree top writing prompts: (I'm thankful for winter, spring summer, fall because...) plus an ending prompt that says: "Most of all I'm thankful for . . ."
Students work on one tree top "page" each day. When everyone is done, have students share one of their favorite pages.
I've included a blank tree top pattern for older students.
For more pizzazz, students can add small seasonal stickers or drawings to the tree tops. i.e. snowflakes for winter, blossoms for summer etc.
Adding a school photo to the "hollow" of the tree adds that finishing touch.
Since scarecrows continue to be one of my top November downloads, the featured FREEBIE today is Pete the Peeking Scarecrow craftivity.
Well that's it for today. Time to straighten up my organized chaos, and replace it with some "crafty clutter".
I'm watching my grandchildren today; Kaiden's 3 and Kaitlyn's 1. We're going to make shoe print turkeys today. Wishing you a day filled with special memory-making moments.
"Grandchildren fill a place in your heart you didn't even know was empty." -Unknown
1-2-3 Come Do Some Super-Fun Word Work Activities With Me
Sometimes, some of my boys are not quite as enthusiastic about our reading activities as much as the girls are.
However, if we’re reading about sports, especially football, my little guys get pretty excited.
With that in mind, I designed this football-themed -ick and -all word family packet.
It’s chock full of a variety of games, competitions, worksheets, word cards, and even a helmet and football “slider” craftivity.
Use the activities for centers, table top, early finishers, a sub folder, homework, or for whole-group assessing.
For one activity, students choose teams and then work either independently or with their group, to think of as many -all words before the timer rings. Each word is worth 1 point.
T
o get in some math practice, have students figure out how many touchdowns and field goals they achieved with their word list. i.e. 7 words = 7 points = 1 touchdown. Any "extra" words can be counted to make a field goal.
A field goal = 3 points for 3 words. i.e. One team thought of 11 words. They scored 1 touchdown (7) and 1 field goal (3) and had 1 extra point left.
I've provided score card - posters, if you'd like to keep track and post the results.
There are blank templates, so you can program other word families, if you'd like to keep this idea going.
After I got the -all word family football packet done, I wanted to make Bingo cards as another way to review the words.
However, I had less than 24 words and could not make a Bingo card, so I thought I'd add the -ick word family to the football packet, because you kick a football. 
Another fun way too reinforce these new words is via a word search.
The packet includes the same activities for both the -all AND -ick word families.
There are pocket word cards, traceable word cards, covers so students can make Itty Bitty booklets, alphabetizing worksheets, plus trace-write-color-cut & glue worksheets.
Also included is a fill in the word sentence worksheet; 30 different Bingo cards, so your entire class can play; plus words on footballs.
There are also posters, blank templates for you to program with whatever, and 2 "craftivities" like the football -all word family slider pictured. Many of these activities work well for your Daily 5 Word Work.
Today's featured FREEBIE also has a football theme. It's a set of 10 Frames.
Here's hoping that word work and 10 frame math, with a football twist, will be just the thing to make practice especially fun.
Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.
It's another beautiful fall day, so I'm going to go "winterize" my flower garden out back before the snow flies. Wishing you a productive day.
"Football is like life--it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority." -Vince Lombardi (Go Packers!)
1-2-3 Come Make Some Thanksgiving-Themed Emergent Readers With Me
I've been super-busy tweaking and revamping some oldies, at the same time designing quite a few new Thanksgiving items as well.
Today I'm featuring 3 of "Diane's Dollar Deals" that are quick, easy and fun emergent readers.
They are great for Daily 5, or your reading-writing centers.
First up is the "Thanksgiving Emergent Reader Strip Booklet". I call these “strip booklets”, because I can fit five pages or "strips" on a one-page template, for easy printing.
Trimming the pages provides nice fine motor practice strengthening those finger muscles, as children make a “just the right size” Itty Bitty booklet.
Students read the simple sentences packed with 27 Dolch sight words, trace the words, add end punctuation, then rewrite the sentences, remembering proper capitalization, spacing and end punctuation.
Afterwards, children color, cut and collate the pages.
Next is a "Snip and Flip" Emergent Reader Counting Booklet, that reinforces numbers and number words.
I call them this because students snip the top number pages to reveal the group/set of Thanksgiving-themed items underneath.
Students trace and write the numbers and number words; they read the simple sentences and add end punctuation, then color the pictures in the group/set.
Review adding plus one more to complete the next grouping, as students count from 1 to 10.
For more reinforcement, and to practice another standard, have students count backwards from 10 to 0 by reading their booklet in reverse.
Finally, the last Thanksgiving-themed Dollar Deal is "Shapely Buckles" a Pilgrim Hat craftivity, where the buckle is actually a little shape booklet.
Choose which shapes are appropriate for your kiddos and have them color, cut and collate into a mini buckle booklet.
When everyone is done, use it as a creative way to whole-group assess.
Call out a shape. Students flip through the pages, find the correct one and hold their hat up.
You can see at a glance who is having difficulty. Jot yourself a note and work with these kiddos later.
I’ve also included a set of 2D pocket chart cards to use as a review.
There’s also a matching cover, so that your students can make an itty bitty booklet, as unlike the buckle activity above, these pages also include the shape word, which they trace and write.
Finally, there’s a set of picture cards, as well as word cards, so that students can play a Memory Match and/or an “I Have; Who Has?” game.
Today's FREEBIE. "A Feast of Fictional Fun" is an oldie but goodie, designed years ago before I had all of the clip art, fonts, and design programs that I use today.
However, I think your kiddos will enjoy the creative writing prompts. I've also included a class book, travel journal and diary pages.
Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. I hope your kiddos enjoy practicing a variety of standards with the Pilgrims.
I got up early to get this posted, but now it's time to get ready for church. I'm thankful for the Pilgrims who paved the way for our religious freedoms. Wishing you a peaceful day.
"It's not enough to attend church and pray every Sunday; you have to act." -Abbe Pierre
