Thankful!

I have so many things to be thankful for. This week was just like icing on the Thanksgiving cake (or maybe pie). This morning one little cutie came in with a bag with this in it:

I mean how could you not love a child who gives you that? I beamed.

My favorite part is the stick picture drawing of the child and me he did on the back of the sign. Man I look skinny. :)

The sign sparked the following conversation with another child:

Child: Miss R, I don't know if you're the best teacher.

Me: Why is that?

Child: Well, I've only had 3 teachers.

Me: That's true.

Child: I guess you're the best teacher SO FAR.

We had a blast on Monday making these turkey hats inspired by this pin on Pinterest.

Today was Book Fair Preview Day and our sweet librarian made each teacher a turkey! They were so precious!

This had to be my favorite Thanksgiving craft! The kiddos chose someone they are thankful for and then wrote one reason they are thankful for that person on each leaf. They wrote the most adorable things like "you always tell me you love me" and "you play video games with me". Later we filled the jars with m&m's for the recipients to enjoy.

Of course my assistant and I had to make our own for another teacher on our team. We're one big happy family.

And what day before Thanksgiving at school would be complete without leaf jumping! I showed my kiddos the proper way to make a leaf pile and jump into it the other day and ever since that's all they want to do outside. It's so fun to watch them! We set some ground rules for safety (and I sat closely nearby) but I let them loose. They made a huge line (like 20 kids) and cheered for each person when it was their turn. Afterwards today they also had a "leaf party" where they threw leaves into the air for 5 minutes and then made "leaf angels" on the ground. So precious!

My list of things to be thankful for could go on for a long time. I'm thankful for all of you - thanks for reading and hanging out! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

It's Turkey Time!

Sorry I've been MIA lately, it's been super busy here! Is anyone else ready for Thanksgiving? Turkey Day is my absolute favorite holiday. I rank it above Christmas. I can't wait to wake up on Thanksgiving and watch the parade. :)

We have started a new creative writing project that I am LOVING. My kiddos need practice writing letters so I decided we would make it fun by writing from the perspective of the Turkey. Their job is, as the turkey, to convince people NOT to eat turkey for Thanksgiving. They are coming up with another food that they think should be eaten instead.

We started off by reading Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems. We discussed how the pigeon was trying to get the reader to do something. Then we wrote down the sentence starters that the pigeon used to sound convincing. The kiddos also brainstormed who they could write the letter to and what food they would advertise instead of turkey.

I made a plan using free turkey clip art that Natalie's husband made. It's super cute. Feel free to download your own copy of my plan by clicking here.

Next, we'll use Ashleigh's Turkey Paper (Free on TPT) to write our letters focusing on the parts of a friendly letter. I can't wait to see how these turn out!

How are you getting ready for Thanksgiving?

Bookworm

Today I made a risky choice. I went into Barnes and Noble. Might not be a risky choice for most people, but as elementary teachers we know that the children's section can be a very dangerous place! I had some time to kill before meeting a friend so I let myself have some book browsing time.

It never amazes me how MUCH I love reading new children's books. I had an awesome Children's Lit professor (hey Beth Frye) who really made me love children's books more than I already did. She always challenged us as teachers to expose our students to high quality books and be readers ourselves! I find myself giggling when I read brand new children's books at a bookstore.

I found a few titles that I had to share. I only let myself buy the following 2:

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet by Diane DeGroat - I love Diane's books. Gilbert is such a lovable character that I think all children can relate to. He always learns a valuable lesson in each book. I didn't have this one yet, so I decided to add it to the collection.

Thank You, Sarah by Laurie Halse Anderson - This is a completely new one to me. The book tells how one woman helped make Thanksgiving a National Holiday after years of trying. There is so much history weaved into this book it would even be great for much older children (and adults) to read as well.

This last book I did not buy but I REALLY want.

Lucy the lovable and very excited bear is back in another fun story by Peter Brown. I originally wrote about one of his books Children Make Terrible Pets in this post. You Will Be My Friend was just as much fun! The illustrations are vivid and fun and Lucy is hilarious! I'm hoping the school library gets this one so that I can read it to my kiddos!