Thanksgiving/November Unit

Indians & Pilgrims:
"Pilgrims Planted"
Discuss how the Pilgrims came to a New Land and learned from the Indians.  They learned how to plant vegetables, fish and hunt for meat to eat. 

"Indian Corn"
Indian Corn

Cut squares of orange, yellow and brown consruction paper to glue on the Indian Corn.  Show an example of Indian Corn and point it out at the market or grocery store.

Teepee Tracing Sheet & Teepee Traingle
Shape Recognition.

Teepee Triangle

Teepee Tracing

Build a teepee in the backyard.  You can find many different ideas on how to build your teepee from google search.  Host a bonfire and pop corn and cook potatoes under the fire.  You can cook like the Indians and coat the potatoes in mud or you can simply use aluminum foil.

Make Indian headbands.  Cut a strip of brown paper and let your chid decorte it with crayons, markers or paint.  Illustrate designs they might choose to put on their headbands by reminding them of the teepee tracing activity.  After the headband is decorted, use permanant marker to write the words, "I am thankful for..." across the headband.  Give your child(ren) three or four feathers to color and ask them what they are thankful for and write each response on a feather.

Paper Bag Crafts
With large grocery sacs you can mak Indian Vests - don't forget the fringe and the war paint! You can also make Pilgrim hats for both boys and girls.  (I know this may not be "PC" but it's a homemade preschool, remember?!)

Songs and Rhymes about Piligrims and Indians:

I'm a Little Pilgrim
(Melody: I'm a Little Teapot")

I'm a little pilgrim on the run
Here is my knife and here is my gun
When I go out hunting hear me shout-
"Deer and turkey -better watch out!"

I'm a Little Indian
(Melody: I'm a Little Teapot")

I'm a little Indian on the go
Here is my arrow and here is my bow
When I go out hunting, hear me shout-
"Bear and buffalo - better watch out!"

Indians and Pilgrims
(Sung to "row, row, row your boat")

beat, beat, beat the drum.
beat it loud and clear.
to tell brave Indians everywhere
that hunting time is ner

cut, cut, cut the logs,
make them long and short
to help the pilgrims build a house
a warm and friendly fort.

Little Pilgrim
(Sung to "Twinkle, Twinkle")

Little Pilgrim dressed in gray
on that first Thanksgiving Day.
Little Indian dressed in brown,
Came to visit Plymouth Town
They both came to eat and pray
on that frst Thanksgiving Day.

Other Resources:
 Planting Corn Color


Thanks Color Sheet






Turkeys:

"Paper Plate Turkey"
Turkey Puppet

Read "10 Fat Turkeys" or other books about Turkeys from the library.

Paint your child's handprint and decorate it as a turkey when it's dry.  You may choose to use the following template:
Turkey Hand Print Card

Visit the Bear Hollow Zoo and "hunt" for the turkey.

Songs and Rhymes about Turkeys:
Take liberty to make up your own actions and movements to the words of all the songs. Use your turkey puppets too!

Hello Mr. Turkey
(Sung to:  "If You're Happy and You Know It")

Hello, Mr. Turkey how are you?
Hello, Mr. Turkey how are you?
His feet go wobble, wobble
And his head goes Gobble, Boggle.

Hello, Mr. Turkey how are you?

The Turkey Son
(Sung to: "I'm a Little Teapot")

I'm a little turkey
Short and Fat
Thansgiving Day is coming
Now what do you thinkf that?
I had better run as ast as I can
Or your mommy will roast me in a pan!

I'm a Little Turkey
(Sung to: "I'm a Little Teapot")

I'm a litte turkey; I like to play
I'm very hungry; I eat all day
When I se the hunter with his gun
Then I know it's time to run!

Turkey on the Farm
(Melody:  People on the Bus)

The turkey o the famr goes gobble, gobble, gobble
Gobble, gobble, gobble - Gobble, gobble, gobble
The turkey o the famr goes gobble, gobble, gobble
All around the barn!

(Insert wobble for gobble in the second verse)


Five Little Turkeys

Five little turkeys by the barn door,
One waddled off, then there were four.
Four little turkeys out under the tree.
One waddled o, the ther ewee three.
Three little turkeys with nothing to do.
One waddled off, the there were two.
Two little turkeys in the noonday sun,
One waddled off, then here was on.
One little turkey - better run aay!

Soon will come Thanksgiving Day.

Three Little Turkeys

One little, two little, three little turkeys
Gobbling aroun and acting perky
Look at Mr. Turkey Lurkey
On Thanksgiving Day!

Other turkey resources:
Hidden Turkeys

Healthy Foods

Start the lessons on Thanksgiving by teaching your child about healthy foods.  First, go to http://www.mypyramid.gov/preschoolers/index.html to complete a personalized pyramid plan for your child.  This will give you a clear idea of how much food from the different groups your child needs each day. 

Use the visual of an 8-ounce measuring cup and a basket of assorted toy food to teach your child about healthy foods.  Let your child first pick out the grains, then the dairy, fruits, veggies, meats, beans and finally the "sweet treats."  Place each group at a time into the measuring cup.  Fill the cup all the way to the top with the fruits, veggies and dairy foods (it is reccomended to include lowfat dairy products if your child is age 2 and above).  Then put in a couple of pieces of meats and beans.  Finally talk about how the sugary foods are only for "once-in-a-while" treats and place only one at a time into the measuring cup.  Hopefully this will show your child how she should eat on a daily basis, and you can go back to this activity while meal-planning and when your child turns a nose up at healthy foods.  Teach your preschooler what "healthy" means and how we should all eat healthy to keep from getting sick and to be able to grow stronger and smarter everyday!  Eating healthy and exercising helps us sleep better, feel better and behave better!  This is also a good way to teach your child the differences between the food groups.

Healthy Foods Placemat:
Start by creating a drawing of a triangle with five sections (unlike mine that only have four - we forgot the cereal/grains section but at least that's not the hard group to cover in Mae's diet).  Use clip-art of various foods from the different food groups to put the correct amount into the created food guide pyramid.  Let your child cut, color and paste the pictures onto the pyramid.  Cut out the food guide and paste onto a lage (12x18) sheet of construction paper.  Print the cornucopia coloring sheet and allow your child to color the fruits and veggies.  Discuss how God made the fruits and vegetables all different colors and shapes.  In each corner of the paper paste the "Harvest Time" song and the cornucopia (resources below).  Write your child's name on the placemat to give your child ownership of his or her individualized placemat and food guide pyramid.  Also include the following sentance on the placemat:  "Thank you, God, for giving us good foods to eat!"  Finally, laminate the placemat.  (You can have this done at a local print shop or library for a small fee, or use clear contact paper on both sides to laminate it yourself).  Now your child has a nutrition reminder and a reminder to be thankful for healthy foods, and you have beautiful autumn artwork to adorn your dining table!

Thanksgiving Foods:
Teach your preschooler a little about our American culture and about eating healthy by learning more about these traditional Thanksgiving foods.  Also, take this oppurtunity to talk with your child about family traditions that are special to you.

"Do the Mash"
To create a festive atmosphere for this print-making project, play a recording of the classic song "Monster Mash."  Then, while grooving to the music, press a patato masher into a shallow pan (or paper plate) or tempra paint and make a print on a sheet of paper.  Blot the masher on a paper towel.  Continue in the same way with different colors of paint until the desired effect is achieved.

"Mmmm...Pie!"
To make a pie slice that looks and smellsgood, paint a paper plate wedge orange and then sprinkle pumpkin pie spice over the paint.  When the paint is dry, brush glue over the outer edge of the slice.  Then, crumple squires of brown tissue (or construction) paper and press them in the glue to resemble pie crust.

Make a Thanksgiving Cookbook
Let your child color the cover for her cookbook while you ask her how to make a turkey, pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes.  Record her responses with a permant marker on three different colored construction paper cut in half.  Mount her colored cover onto one half of a piece of construction paper then put the cooking instructions togther under the cover to create a book.  Punch holes and string yarn to hold the book together.  Be sure to name and date the cookbook because you will want to remember and likely repeat this activity each Thanksgiving!  Welome any response your child gives and watch her little mind create a new reciepe.  For example, Mae demonstrated that we make mashed potatoes by stomping them under our feet and you better believe I wote that down in PERMANT marker!  It's a great bookmark for her age on her fourth Thanksgiving.
Thanks Cookbook

Thanksgiving Songs about foods:

"Let's all clap..."

(sung to the tune of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain...")

Let's all clap because we're thankful for our food.
Spoken: yum, yum.  Rub Stomach
Let's all clap because we're thankful for our food.
Let's all clap because we're thankful
Let's all clap because we're thankful
Let's all clap because we're thankful for our food.

vs. 2 Let's all clap because we're thankful for our beds...
Spoken:  ahhh. Pretend to be asleep

vs. 3 Let's all clap because we're thankful for our clothes...
Spoken:  zzzip.  Run thumb from waist to chin


"Oh, Jesus, thank You."
(Sung to the tune of Jesus Loves Me)

Thank You for the food I eat,
Make eating motions
And for all the friends I meet.
Wave to friends
Thank You for the clothes I wear,
Point to clothing
And for all your love and care.
Hug Self

Oh, Jesus, thank You.
Oh, Jesus, thank You.
Oh, Jesus, thank You.
Thank You for everything.

"Five Little Turkeys"
Five little turkeys by the barn door,
One waddled off, then there were four.
Four little turkeys out under the tree,
One waddled off, then there were three.
Three little turkeys with nothing to do.
One waddled off, then there were two.
Two little turkeys in the noonday sun,
One waddled off, then there was one.
One little turkey - better run away!

Soon will come Thanksgiving Day.


Resources:
Watch the videos of Boz's "Bananas, Bubbles and Busy Bodies" and "Madeline's Cooking School."
(I hardly ever recommend watching videos but these go along well with the lessons and will give you time to put the placemat and cookbook together, and clean up the paints!)


Harvest Time Song for Placemat:
Harvest Sc

Thanksgiving Cookbook Cover (2 per page)
Thanks Cookbook

Cornucopia color sheet http://www.abcteach.com/directory/fun_activities/coloring_pages/holidayseasonal/thanksgiving/#7509

Field Trip:
This Saturday, November 14th, is the last Saturday until May for the Athens Farmer's Market.  The Market opens at 8:00 and lasts until 12:00 at Bishop park.  It's a fun atmosphere and a great way to learn about healthy foods and thank the Farmer's in person!  There is also a farmer's market in Comer, GA but it's not as big or as festive.  But they still have lots of yummy foods and interesting crafts.  Maybe we'll see you there!  If you're not in the Athens area, there are Farmer's Markets everywhere and I encourage you to find one near you.

Forrest Friends

Squirrels:
Read, The Nutty Nut Chase" by Kathyrn White & Vanessa Cabban
Action Rhyme: Whisky, frisky squirrel
Color, cut and glue squirrel activity sheet
"Hide-and-Seek Nuts" activity sheet
Go on an acorn hunt and collect acorns. Watch the squirrels scury and bury their acorns. Watch how they crack the nutshell open to eat the nut that's inside. Serve peanuts for a snack, but be cautious of the choking hazard for younger children.
Allow your child to use rubberized tweezers to transfer the acorns from one container to another. Wash an empty egg crate and write different numbers (or draw dots similar to a pair of dice) on the inside of the crate and let your child match the numbers with the number of acorns.

Please excuse the messy hair, we had just come inside after a windy nature walk!

Owls:
Discuss sleeping habits of owls. Discuss the differences and similarities of owls and squirrels. Differences such as: Owls are birds. Birds fly and have feathers. Squirrels have soft fur and scury on the ground and in trees. Similarities such as: Owls and Squirrels both live in trees.

Allow your child to tear pieces of light and dark brown construction paper then glue the pieces of paper onto an the owl color sheet. Cut out the owl.

"Can you see how I see?"
Discuss that owls can only see what's directly in front of their eyes. Cut an empty paper towel roll in half and string together with yarn to make "owl eyes." Your child may choose to decorate this with stickers or drawings with markers or crayons. Take the "owl eyes" outside on a nature walk.

Whooooo! Whoooo!
(sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot")

I"m a little owl.  Look at me.

I like to sit high up in a tree.
When it's dark outside and day is through,

You might hear me say, "Whooo!  Whooo!"

Bears:

Read, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?"

Then fingerpaint (similar to the illustrations in the book) onto wax paper. After the paint is dry, cut the paper into a desirable shape an hang on a window that receieves a lot of sunlight. A great color review!  A good idea might be to sing the "Where is thumpkin?" song to find the correct finger to use with the paint.  Pointer, the index finger, works well and might keep this project's mess at a minimal.

Check out more books at the library about hibernation.

Color "Woodsy Animals" coloring sheet

At the end of this unit take a trip to Bear Hollow Zoo in Athens and see lots of your favorite Forrest Friends. Be sure to discuss that we respect the animals by staying quiet and distanced from each habitat.

Pumpkins

Search your library for books about pumpkins.  I log onto the pines catalog at home and place a hold on my books and videos to pick up at the desk.  It makes going to the library and finding what you need that much easier. 
Visit a pumpkin patch to pick your own pumpkins, walk the fields and teach your little one how pumpkins grow.  Cut your own pie pumpkins to take home for a yummy (and sticky, messy, ooey, gooey) science experiment!

Sing "Five Little Pumpkins" which is also illustrated in the book titled the same. 
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate

The first one said "Oh my, it's getting late!"
The second one said, "There are witches in the air!" (can also insert bats, owls for witches)
The third one said, "...but we don't care!"
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run!"
The fifth one said, "We're having so much fun!"
Then whoosh went the wind! (wave arms in air)
And out went the light (clap hands together on "out")
And the five little pumpkins rolled (roll your fists over each other) out of sight (hide hands behind back).

Science Experiment:

Let your preschooler hold a pie pumpkin and predict what might be inside the pumpkin.  Let her draw a picture on the "What's inside a pumpkin?" worksheet of what she predicts. 
Then cut the pie pumpkin while she watches and see if her prediction was true or false. (Mae predicted that a purple sucker was going to be inside the pumpkin)  Let your child draw the stringy pulp with an orange crayon, pencil or marker.  Or let him glue on orange yarn with school glue.  Then glue down pumkin seeds.  Ask your child questions such as, "How does the pulp feel?"  "What can we do with the seeds?"  "
Use words such as slimy, cold, gooey, slippery,etc...
Explain how pumpkins grow: on a vine, from seeds planted in the dirt, on the ground, etc...
What Sins Idea Pumpkin

Cook the pumkin:  Scoop all the pulp and seeds from the pumpkin and wrap the rest of the pumkin with aluminum foil and place on a foil-lined jelly roll pan. Place in a 350 preheated oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until soft on the inside. Allow to cool and remove the "meat" of the pumpkin from the shell. Mash with a potato masher and use in a recipe that requires pumpkin (substitue for can pumpkin). Allow your child to be as involved in this process as possible for his/her age and abilities. Be sure to stretch his or her abilities by letting him or her try something new :-) It WILL be messy!!

Roast the seeds and toss in salads or in pastas for yourself. I wouldn't reccommend serving pumpkin seeds to children under age 4 or 5.
Allowing your children to help in the kitchen teaches them science and math skills, how to follow directions and will promote healthier eating habits.
Read "Apples and Pumpkins" by Anne Rockwell.  Describe the difference between the way pumpkins grow (down low on a vine) and the way apples grow (up high in a tree).


Extra Activity:

Pumpkin Patterns Sheet
Pumpkin Patterns
 

Spiders and Shapes

A rainy day in October, which we've had a lot of lately, is a great time to focus on the "Itsy, Bitsy Spider" activities.  Start by singing the song together with your preschooler.  Then, use the reproducible below to make a puppet to enjoy while you sing the song.  Toddlers will love this activity too!
Spider Puppet
I've also included a few other spider activity sheets from The Mailbox that are a lot of fun.
Spider Squarest
Spider Spout

More Spider Activities:

Spider Prints

Cut eight slits in one end of a paper-towel roll and spread the strips out flat.  Dip the cut end of the paper-towel roll into a shallow dish of black or brown tempera paint and then use it to make spider prints on construction paper.

Spider Web
If you have a group (3-4 players) of older preschoolers you can play the spider web game.  Simply form your group in a circle and toss a ball of yarn or string to different players to create a unique spider web.  You may choose to allow children to act as the spider one at a time on the web.  It's fun and promotes motor skill development trying to weave through the stringy web!  You will just need an extra hand or two to hold up the web as one player crawls through.  Have fun!

Spider Spy
In the fall, you'll notice more spiders spinning around so go on a walk in the yard to notice all the webs and different spiders.  Just don't get too close, they do bite!  Use words like creepy, crawly, wiggly, and sticky to describe the spider and its web.  Describe how the spider spins his web to catch bugs to eat.  The spiders help us to catch bugs that "bug" us.  "Thank you, spiders!"

Additional Resources:

You can join The Mailbox magazines website to receive more downloadables for free.  You won't get all the benefits of the full magazine subscription, but they have quite a few activities for each month including a bonus unit.  I love, love, love The Mailbox magazine!  The website is:  http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/af/home.do

First Day of Fall

Read the book, "We're Going on a Leaf Hunt" by Steve Metzger.

Take a nature walk/leaf hunt around your yard, neighborhood or park. Take a bag or bucket along to collect leaves, twigs and nuts you'll find on your walk. Point out the changes in color in the leaves, grass and flowers. Discuss how it's getting cooler in the night and morning and how that helps the leaves change color. When you return from your walk lay out your findings and make a collage.

You could also do the following activity with the leaves you found on the nature walk:

Press a variety of large fall leaves between pages of a book until they lie flat. Then choose two or three pressed leaves and place them on a protected tabletop. Brush fall-colored tempera paint over the leaves. If desired, add several streaks of gold metallic tempera paint. Then place a sheet of construction paper over the leaves and smooth your hands over the paper. Flip the paper over and remove the leaves to see a lovely piece of autumn artwork!

As always, you can simply place a leaf or two under a piece of paper and let your child rub an unwrapped crayon over the paper. Talk about the different types of leaves - colors, shapes and sizes. (use words like big, bigger, biggest...)

Here's the link to a few "extras" and also another neat idea from a magazine article with illustrations. Happy fall y'all! (FYI, the first official day of fall is September 22.)

Document 4

Document 5


Fall Magazine Article Activity

Leaf Man

Ten Apples Up on Top

Begin by reading the Dr. Seuss classic book, Ten Apples Up on Top. (I realize the title needs to be underlined, too bad blooger doesn't have that option in text editing!) While you're reading, talk about who has more apples on each page. Discuss the concepts of more and less, most and least.

After reading the book, sit with your child at a table with the following activity:

Have pictures of family memebers or cutouts from magazines, whatever is on hand, along with at least 10 apple shapes. You can use the apple shape here and minimize or maximize it to fit your picture. You may choose to copy and paste mulitple apples on a page in a word processor. Print, color and cut the apples yourself before beginning the activity with your child. I also laminated the apples since we'll be using them for other activities and for years to come.



Let your child explore putting a different amount of apples on each person's head, then count them together and talk about who has more apples and who has the least. We also started counting to ten in Spanish with this lesson.

Craft/Math:
Supplies:
red, green and yellow tempera paint
3 Q-tips
medicine cups, or some sort of small cup or bowl
crayons
provided reproducable (Sorry, it's a little crooked!)

Ten Apples Upon Top


Allow your child to color the drawing to resemble himself. Fill each medicine cup with red, green or yellow paint. Allow your child to create a pattern with the different colors by painting apples on top of their head. You may need to review the colors before each color is added. Also, keep a count of how many apples are up on top after each addition. Make sure your child has 10 apples up on top!

Let your child try doing another sheet without using a pattern. Just like we saw in the book, the apples don't have to line up perfectly. Numbers can be represented in any order or sequence.

Repeat songs and rhymes from previous apple lesson.