Mini Mayflower boats and the beginning of Thanksgiving unit study

Last week we read some of the Thanksgiving books in our book basket and also worked through a few of the activities from my big list of Thanksgiving links.  If you missed it...here it is: Thanksgiving Links

We first worked on our calendar---they enjoyed figuring out how many days until Thanksgiving.

We did a worksheet on items that are orange---but I don't know if you notice...little Sissy--spelled her name!!!

She's pretty proud of that;)

Little Bear using an orange marker to color his Pumpkin

Then I let them all mix red and yellow to make orange---I think he liked this, don't you?

Then we worked on a Mayflower voyage map and a mini Mayflower

the finished boat

We also did a float or sink experiment before we tested to see if these boats would float.

There they go

It floats!

I loved these coloring pages and copywork pages from Christian Preschool Printables

Resources we used this week:

thankful character trait tune charts by Hubbards Cupboard

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/Joyful_Heart_Character_Trait_Tune_Chart_Thankful.PDF

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/thanksgiving/map/Help from the Lord scripture pages
http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/Pages/Thanksgiving/HelpFromLord.html 

calendar

http://www.calendarlabs.com/printable-calendar.php?template=tL1m

Help from the Lord scripture pages

http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/Pages/Thanksgiving/HelpFromLord.html

table turkey tracer craft

http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/Pages/Thanksgiving/ThankfulTurkeyCraft.html

orange color sheet

http://members.enchantedlearning.com/colors/colorworksheets/orange/page.shtml?p

pumpkin coloring page for extra paint

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/missfattyfat/other%20uploads/pumpkin-clr.gif

Books we read:

Thanksgiving Day by Gail Gibbons

http://www.amazon.com/Thanksgiving-Day-Gail-Gibbons/dp/0823405761

On Thanksgiving Day by Judy Zocchi (with Spanish)

http://www.infosoup.org/search/q?author=Zocchi%2C%20Judith%20Mazzeo&title=On%20Thanksgiving%20Day&searchscope=77

We watched:

Mayflower Voyagers (Peanuts)

http://www.amazon.com/Mayflower-Voyagers-America-Charlie-Brown/dp/6303152767

Thanksgiving Links and resources

This morning we started our Thanksgiving Unit Study.  I plan to do a little bit each day up until Thanksgiving.  The plan is to have a lapbook for each kid ready to display, along with art crafts that can serve as decor.  But, this is also a great introduction to what a holiday is...so I'm going slow. 

I'll post more as the week comes to an end...but, this morning I heard:

Bud: I'm thankful for Mommy, Daddy, sister, brother, calendars, Jesus and God, clothes and house.   (Wait, what was that?  Calendars?  It was so funny I rushed to find a pen and write it down)

Sissy: I'm thankful for bananas and crispy treats  (hahahahaha I love these kiddos)


I spent quite a while scouring the web looking for links that a) would be appropriate for my preschoolers skill wise b) wouldn't use up a ton of ink;)  so a lot of things require the kids doing the coloring themselves.

Here's what I found:

Thanksgiving Resource Links and List

We already have done a couple of the activities this morning and I'm looking forward to the next 10 days of prepping for Thanksgiving Day!

L is for Leaf/ Caps for Sale

We spent the last two weeks on L is for Leaf from MFW K.

We had a great time--but, it's definitely time to move on to our Thanksgiving unit study.

In addition to MFW K, we used the following books:

Let's Read and Find out: Let's Be a Friend to Trees by Patricia Lauber


Discovering Trees by Douglas Florian


Caps for Sale Esphyr Slobodkina 

Our favorite non-leaf books this week were:

Bud: Train of States by Peter Cis

Sissy:   Old Bear by Jane Hissey

Little Bear: Touch and See Bible

Most craft/activity ideas came from:

MFW K board

and some of my friend's ideas;)

Five in A Row:

We didn't do any other crafts relating toour Five in a Row book these past two weeks,  other than reading Caps for Sale many times and discussing and trying to act it out...

But, you should have heard Sissy yell out 'Caps for sale..50 cents a cap'...hillarious!




We went through the MFW K lessons and Bud really 'got' the Leaf without the plant object lesson.  But, other than that--leaves were just an okay thing for him.

But here is what I caught on camera:

We started out the L is for Leaf unit by Bud receiving a letter from a friend that lives in Kansas....boy, did he looove that.  She also sent leaves from her backyard--this inspired him to collect leaves that had started to fall. 

Leaf work started by the kids making letters/words out of colorful straws--Bud spelled the word Leaf

Sissy made a letter 'E'

We had fun color mixing again...they love this--even Little Bear

Sissy painting using q-tips as paint brushes

Laying out brown paper grocery bags to form a tree pattern

Coloring leaf templates

Bud coloring leaves in Fall colors

first batch for the tree ready to go

Some of the more colorful leaves along with 'Lulu' the leaf that didn't want to stay in the plant (MFW K)

Little Bear enjoying coloring on brown paper bags

bud painting part of the tree trunk

The whole crew working on art

Funny how sometimes my kids don't like what I like or would have liked....Bud, trying on only ONE hat--not many ala 'Caps for Sale'

Bud's tree...he glued all the leaves on himself;)

The whole 'sweet' tree

Sissy pulled out her Snow White headband and found a new way to wear it;)

Leaf Rubbings...thanks Jess for the great ideas!

Bud working on one of his leaf rubbings

Washing coins ---the whole money/change inspired by 'Caps for Sale' 50cents a cap!

stirring/cleaning his change

Math time!

Inspired by the letter 'I' from co-op class...playing 'Don't break the ice'

Linking up to Preschool Corner