Thematic Thursday - Thanksgiving

It's Thematic Thursday. Today I'm linking with Comprehension Connection  to share books, activities and links about Thanksgiving.

BEST BOOKS:

There are several Thanksgiving books that caught my eye.

- 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey - Dav adapts the Christmas poem as children visit a turkey farm. The children learn that a turkey is going to be killed for Thanksgiving dinner so they decide to save the turkeys. 

- Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano and Lee Harper - This turkey fears he's going to be the main dish at Thanksgiving so he decides to disguise himself as other animals. This book is a great read aloud. The students can follow-up with a cute activity in disguising a turkey.

- Thanksgiving by Gail Gibbons - All of her informational text books are beautifully written and informative.

ACTIVITIES AND IDEAS:

This Thanksgiving Harvest Blessing Mix is so easy to put together. Each ingredient in the snack mix symbolizes something associated with the Harvest Season.

Click here for free labels for your Thanksgiving snacks.

- Bugles Corn Snacks - represents the Cornucopia, the horn of plenty

- Twisted Pretzels - arms folded in thanks and prayer

- Corn Nuts or Candy Corn - the sacrifice of the Pilgrims during the first winter. They were allotted 5 kernels of corn each day.

- Dried fruit or Candy Fruit (Craisins) - Harvest gifts, Thanksgiving

- Sunflower Seeds or Peanuts - Promise of the future harvest

- M&M's - Memories of those who came before us; forefathers

Activities:

There are so many activities you can do with your students during the Thanksgiving season. Students can conduct surveys for their favorite foods, use spreadsheets to purchase food within a budget. Another activity I really like to do with my students is reading labels on cans of food. This is a great math activity in reading nutritional labels. It includes addition and subtraction and comparing numbers. This helps students become more aware of calories, fat content and more. 

I want you to enjoy my Thanksgiving Freebie. This editable Thanksgiving (Mayflower) PowerPoint can be used during November. All you do is add your own questions and answers. Just click on the Mayflower to download your free Thanksgiving Product.

Click on the Mayflower for your free product.

LINKS:

Make sure to visit Scholastic's site The First Thanksgiving. Students can learn about the Wampanoag Indians and Pilgrims. Take a virtual field trip of Plimouth, and learn about the Mayflower. This is the best website for teaching about the First Thanksgiving.

Link back to Comprehension Connection for more posts on Thematic Thursday.