1-2-3 Come Do Some Thanksgiving Craftivities With Me

Thanksgiving break is almost here!  Woo hoo.  I always like to toss in a little bit of craftiness for that energy-filled (them, not me) Wednesday before vacation.

Here's a quick, easy and fun little My Thanksgiving Dinner Writing Prompt Craftivity,  with a variety of options to fit different age groups.

After reading several stories about the first Thanksgiving, have a discussion with your students about the kinds of meals that they enjoy for their Thanksgiving dinner.

How are they similar? How are they different? Do most of them have a traditional or non traditional Thanksgiving?

If they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, does their family have another special dinner at some point in the year?

Students then transition to the writing craftivity. They trace and write the words, add end punctuation and color the pictures; then trim the pages into a circle, collate and staple them to a paper plate.

For that extra pizzazz, I like using small, decorative fall plates from The Dollar Store, which also sells the real looking, plastic silverware for that special 3D effect.

Because they are silver in color, everyone thinks they look truly amazing, and always comment about our cool looking bulletin board display.

I've also included a blank page template for older students to write about their Thanksgiving meal.

Younger children can also exchange the pages that don't apply to them, substituting a few pages of their own.

There's also a generic "My Favorite Dinner" cover, so students who don't celebrate Thanksgiving, can still participate, creating their own pages of a dinner that's a favorite of their family.

For more writing practice and word work, I've included a set of trace & write word cards.

Children can trim, alphabetize and staple together to make an Itty Bitty booklet.

Finally, there are some larger writing prompt pages for older elementary, should you wish to skip the paper plate crafivity portion.  

Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop to take a look: Thanksgiving Dinner: A Writing Prompt Craftivity.

The featured FREEBIE for today is a Native American headband craft that practices 2D shapes. 

Another little something fun for your feast, or to make during the last week of school.

Well that's it for today. My "to do" list for Thanksgiving is rather long, so best get at it.  Wishing you a fun-filled day.

"There is only one difference between a long life and a good dinner: that, in the dinner, the sweets come last." -Robert Louis Stevenson

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 Awesome Autumn Craftivities With Me!

To help motivate my Y5's to get down to business, stay focused and complete their morning table top lessons, I'd often offer a simple & quick craftivity that they could transition to, when they were done, or if I spied them quietly working.  The textured acorn is perfect for this.

Here's How: 

• Run off on brown construction paper & rough cut.
• Students trim and write their name on the back.
• Individually call them up to the ‘sprinkling” center, to work one-on-one with you or an adult helper.  
• Children brush glue over the top with a large foam brush.
• Children sprinkle mustard seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds or bird seed on the top.  Gently shake off excess, then they brush glue on the bottom. 
• Children sprinkle ground cinnamon &/or ground clove onto the bottom.  Set aside to dry.
• Your room will smell wonderful while making these.
•  
• Another craftivity you can do with the acorn template, is to have children write their name on the bottom; you help them trace the letters with glue and then sprinkle with coppery-orange glitter. You can also add glitter to the top of the acorn and sprinkle with another color.

Use the acorns as a border on your bulletin board that displays student work.  Your caption can be: “We’re simply nuts about...” and then fill in whatever you’re studying. Click on the link to view/download the scent-sational acorn craftivities.

Another sweet-smelling craftivity I call the pumpkin pie pomander. Simply cut a paper plate into 1/8ths.

For a quick and interesting review of fractions, do this in front of your kiddo's to demonstrate how fractions are formed, by first cutting the plate in 1/2 then in 1/4ths and finally into 1/8ths. I've included a set of fraction pies for even more reinforcement.

Punch a hole in the corner and tie a yarn or ribbon loop.  Call quiet students up to the painting center.  They paint their slice of pie with light brown paint.  While the paint is still wet, help them sprinkle on ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.  Shake off excess.  When it dries students can glue the little poem to the back. I've also done this as a whole group activity. 

You can skip painting and simply have children color the edge of their "crust" with a light brown or tan marker or crayon.  Instead of using paint, students brush Elmer's glue onto the bottom portion of the pie using a Q tip. 

Remind students that they just want to make their pie sticky and not sloppy with glue puddles. Have a mixture of  cinnamon-clove powder sprinkled on 8" paper plates  (1 per table). Students carefully place the wet side down onto the powder and press.  Click on the link to view/download the Pumpkin Pie Pomander craftivity.  

Finally, since the Thankful Tree was such a popular download, I thought I'd make another option called the Thankful Wreath. 

I've included a variety of leaf templates + an acorn.  Prior to the activity, brainstorm with children about the things they are thankful for.  Write them on the board so students have help with spelling. 

There are several ways to make the wreath:  Children flip over a paper plate and glue the poem in the middle. 

They select 8 leaves that you have run off on a variety of fall-colored construction paper. Older students can cut their own leaves, but I'd pre-cut for pre-K's to expedite things. If you want them to have some cutting practice, have them trim the elm leaf.

Children write something they are thankful for on each leaf.  Before they glue, have them arrange the leaves in a circle around the poem.  When they are satisfied with the appearance, they glue the leaves to the wreath. In the picture I used two oak leaves to make a "bow" and put an acorn in the middle with a child's photo glued to it.

The other way you can make the wreath is to skip the poem and cut the center of the plate out.  As I was making samples, I liked a thinner circle so that the white didn't show through, but you still had enough "base" to glue things on, so I cut quite a bit of the ribbing off as well.  

After students have written on the leaves, they rub glue all over the wreath and then press their leaves on. 

My Y5's absolutely loved anything with glitter, so I thought that some "sparkles" would help add the "wow" factor they so enjoyed. 

Completed projects make a lovely bulletin board, or hang them back-to-back from the ceiling in the hallway.  Click on the link to view/download the Thankful Wreath patterns.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  I blog and design daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES.

"Without Thy sunshine and Thy rain, we could not have the golden grain.  Without Thy love we'd not be fed.  We thank Thee for our daily bread." -Unknown.