Here are 10 things I do in my classroom every year for this holiday season:
1. I have the students make a "what I'm thankful for quilt". This quilt we make out of old jean scraps, and kids write one thing they are thankful for on each square. I hang the quilt in the hallway or in my classroom. At the end of the year, kids write essays to win the quilt.
2. Kids write parents a thoughtful "Thank you" book. I usually have 10 writing prompts over 10 days where kids analyse things they are thankful for (from mom's cooking to their favorite color making the world more beautiful).
3. We give parents these thank you books during our Thanksgiving Day celebration in my classroom. On the last day of school before T-Day break, I invite all the parents to a pot luck dinner. I ask kids to bring one "culture filled family favorite to share with the class. I decorate the tables with nice table cloths and set the "stage" for a real family style dinner. It's always a classroom favorite!
4. I ask kids to write cards to staff members in the school. The janitors usually get pretty emotional as not many people thank them for their hard work!
5. Kids go out and pick up litter for 10 minutes each day of the week to say "thank you" to the Earth for providing us with beautiful land!
6. Kids write thank you letters to their favorite authors for writing their favorite books. It's really exciting when kids get letters back!
7. Kids write thank you letters to veterans and active duty soldiers (we usually do this around Veterans day).
8. Kids make turkeys out of left over trash. We call them "found turkeys".
9. We write acrostic poems out of the word "Thanksgiving".
10. I use these freebies on TPT:
Thanksgiving Writing Paper:
Free Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension (4th-6th grades)
Multiplication and Division Turkey Trot Game:
I hope you have a great holiday!
Please hop over to another great 5th grade teacher's blog:
Angela from The Organized Planbook!!!
Lots of great ideas! Oh, how I wish our district hadn't banned pot-lucks; they're such a great way to get families together. I love the idea of sending notes to the staff members we tend to take for granted. It sounds like y'all have quite a November planned!
ReplyDeleteUmm girl there are like a million great ideas here!! Ok so I can't count - You'll forgive me right?!
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
Thanks for sharing!!!
Erin
Learning to be awesome