Thanksgiving School 2011

Today we had our "Thanksgiving School," which our girls have been looking forward to for a week now. Unfortunately, I was a little too tired to actually plan and do all the fun things I've pinned on Pinterest and seen online. But, we ended up having more than enough activities, and the girls had fun with their friends!

(Side note: the 2 older boys are just one week younger than each of my older girls, the babies are just a few months apart, and my friend is pregnant with her first girl while I'm pregnant with my first boy. Too fun!)

We started off reading some Thanksgiving jokes. Here's one for ya: Q: Why did the turkey join the band? A: Because he had drumsticks!

I found a fun little game online, (So sorry I lost where I got most of this stuff!) It's called "Roll a Turkey" and is played just like "Cooties," only you draw the turkey in parts as you roll them. Natalie was our winner!

You may wonder what you do with 2 little ones while trying to teach the older ones. I've found these 3 steps to work wonders:

My friend brought a wonderful story of why we celebrate Thanksgiving, and not just "Turkey Day."


And, we limited our crafts and upped our recess in honor of the boys. I had 3 crafts planned, but decided to go with just one. Oh, little baby boy in my tummy... what am I in for? :)



I didn't take pictures of everything, but we found some great Mad Libs on Classroom Jr. and Family Fun. Before lunch, since we had to wait for the pizza man, we put on the "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving." Such a classic!


Once the boys left, I put Sierra down for her nap and then went on to our last activity. I sent the boys each home with a can so they could do it while their little brother was sleeping, too. I came up with this late last night, and was excited about it. I had SO wanted to make some fun turkey treats. I found a million ideas out there -- but alas, I didn't have the energy to go to the store with the girls in the rain to buy the neccessary ingredients. Then it occurred to me... why not throw a bunch of leftover Halloween candy in a can and have the girls make their own turkeys? It's a snack and a craft all in one! Here's what they came up with:



Each can had the following:
1 each: red, yellow, orange Starburst
1 pack: m&m's
1 pack: candy corn
1 pack: Reese's peanut butter cup
4 peanuts

That's it! I just had to help the girls manipulate their Starbursts enough to make legs, eyes, a beak, etc.

We're on an indefinite break from "formal learning" as I am now one week away from giving birth. It is a nice relief to not have to plan for a while -- at the same time, we are finally in such a good routine, it will b a little difficult to stop and have to start up again -- especially with a new little one around! For now, I am just going to enjoy each day as it comes.


One more idea for you... I taped a Thanksgiving word search to the window. Each time the kids remembered to say "Thank you," (which wasn't very often!), they were allowed to go to the window and look for a word. If they found one, they were rewarded with a treat. I may have to keep this up for a while until saying thank-you once again becomes a habit!