We have been learning about Thanksgiving. Ask your child about the Mayflower, the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving Dinner. I am amazed at how much they have picked up during this social studies unit. We are also using the Thankful Theme in our writing and reading workshops. I found this cute little pattern to use for a different type of writing project. We first listed as a class the things we are thankful for in our lives. I wrote down many of the ideas they had, but they had to be able to find the ones they wanted to write by using their Super Reading Powers. They did a great job using their Super Reading Lips (Lips the Fish) to make the first sound and using Stretchy Snake to sound out the words. They are starting to write in smaller and smaller spaces as their fine motor skills increase. They are also practicing the skill of putting spaces between their words when they write. This requires a lot of planning on their part. Here are some pictures of them creating their turkey and writing their thoughts on paper.
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| The children had to follow multi-step directions to complete this project. They had to color, cut, write, assemble and glue each feather to the body. This takes a great attention to detail and good pre-planning skills to fit their words onto paper. |
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| Each child had their own unique way to create their turkey. Some cut out their feather and then wrote on them, some wrote on the paper and then cut out their feathers. Other wrote on all of the feathers and some drew pictures on the feathers. |
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| Working hard! |
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| This child added the name of her friends to the things she was thankful for and thought it up all by herself (I had only written the word FRIENDS on the board for them). |
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| This child used traditional writing and drawing pictures to convey their thoughts. |
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| This child used her decoding skills to spell the word class (klos). |
