Holidays
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Printable Decorations for Thanksgiving
Whether you’re still pulling together your annual classroom celebration, or your preparing for you own family’s feast, I’ve got one more Thanksgiving treat for you! These Thanksgiving decorations are 100% printable, making them your last minute lifesaver for any Thanksgiving celebration that needs a little sprucing up. The set includes a festive bunting, name tags, treat bag toppers, a door decoration, and cupcake picks (or they could also be stickers. I have these decorations available for every holiday because they have changed the way I celebrate. Everything can be printed when I need more, and if there is something that I want to save for next year, like the bunting,…
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Friday Freebie – Thanksgiving Roll and Graph
Happy Friday! For me, November means Thanksgiving. I spend the entire month planning and re-planning what I’m going to take to our Thanksgiving celebrations. I search endlessly for new recipes, and inevitably end up making the same old favorites. Today’s freebie fights right in with my monthly theme of food! This cute roll and graph from Ashley Hughes is all about Thanksgiving dinner. I can see kiddos loving this game, and learning so much as they begin to recognize the vocabulary and practice recording their data on the graph. This would be a great activity for large groups or smalls groups, so go download it and add it to those…
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A cranberry recipe preschoolers will love
Cranberries may not be the first Thanksgiving food that your preschoolers want to try, but this easy recipe just might change their mind – and they can help make it! These cranberry tarts are made with three simple ingredients;1 package of sugar cookie doughchocolate chipswhole cranberries The only prep work that you will have to do is to cut your whole cranberries in half. Then the children can help you press spoonfuls of cookie dough into each hole in your muffin tin (you will probably need a couple of muffin tins to use all of your cookie dough). Mix the chocolate chips and cranberries together in a bowl and the…
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Thanksgiving Activities for Preschool
Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holiday season craziness, you’ve got fun activities, parties, and family events at school and then throw in all of the stuff that also happens to be going on in your personal lives and sometimes it can be just a bit much. I have a list of simple Thanksgiving activities that children love and that will save your sanity (this is a repost from last year because these activities are still just as wonderful as they were last year)! I Spy Thanksgiving My kiddos love I Spy books, I think they are great for improving concentration and visual discrimination. These beginning reader versions also include simple…
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Cranberry Sauce Texture Exploration
I don’t think I actually know anyone who enjoys cranberry sauce. It always shows up at Thanksgiving, but personally I would rather have cranberries in my baked goods, or even dried cranberries in my salad. I think it’s a texture thing, whether your family does cranberry sauce from a can or homemade, both versions have physical characteristics that are all their own, this is precisely what makes cranberry sauce the perfect subject for a texture comparison. Whenever I use food in the classroom it is strictly for exploration, the children are always welcome to taste it if they want, but it isn’t required. Any sensory exploration is different depending on…
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Preschool Cranberry Exploration
Cranberries are amazing little fruits that can provide hours of exploration for preschoolers simply because they float. These seasonally popular berries are perfect for exploring concepts like buoyancy in an authentic way. This sink or float experiment is also the perfect way to introduce a week of cranberry-inspired activities because it is sure to pique the kiddos’ interest and keep them engaged. I like to introduce the cranberries during circle time or large group time, this gives me the opportunity to start a discussion and begin a list of what the children already know about cranberries. Some students may be familiar with cranberry juice, or dried cranberries, but for…
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What Thanksgiving means to a preschooler
Now that it’s November we can talk about Thanksgiving. When teaching preschoolers about Thanksgiving the key is to make the entire concept relevant to them. They can’t understand Pilgrims and Native Americans because they don’t have a grasp on our past or the history of our country, so I focus on three concepts that do play a role in the average preschooler’s daily life – food, family, and thankfulness. These three concepts are something that young children are familiar with, but Thanksgiving provides the perfect opportunity to dig a little deeper and build understanding in all three areas. Food: There are so many foods that are traditionally eaten during the…
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Halloween Decorations for the Classroom
I’m re-posting this from last year because these decorations have saved me so much time and energy, I hope you love them as much as I do! I love to change up my decorations at home to go with the seasons, but I’ve never really done it at school, mostly because I can’t afford to buy decorations for home and school – and because I don’t have a place to store those decorations. BUT that’s all about to change. I really wanted to do something cute for Halloween, so I created a super cute set of matching classroom decorations – bunting for the wall, cupcake toppers (or stickers), treat bag toppers, name tags,…
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Friday Freebie – Parent Letter about Holiday Celebrations
It's a little early for this particular freebie, but it fits really well with this week's parent communication theme, so you can download it and file it away for later in the year. This is the letter that I send out every year before winter holidays (usually the beginning of November so I have plenty of time to get it out, get it back, and start planning). It lets parents know why I like to include holiday activities on my lesson plans and gives them the opportunity to share what their preferences are when it comes to discussing holidays in the classroom.This is a great way to make sure that…
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Friday Freebie – Mother’s Day
Happy Friday! I’m hoping today’s freebie is as helpful for you as it is for me! I try to start planning for Mother’s Day early because I have high standards, and because I know how long it takes for my kiddos to finish a project. I have tough time choosing a Mother’s Day project every year because I want it to be something that Moms will really use, not just another piece of artwork that will end up in a pile. I also really try not to spend too much, because I can’t afford to, and because I know it isn’t about spending money, it’s about teaching children to take…
