Thanksgiving Books 2010

Here are some books for you to consider for Thanksgiving!

I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson

This story is very funny and is sure to get giggles out of your children. This is a fun Thanksgiving Read.







The Pilgrims Thanksgiving from A to Z by Laura Crawford

This book is full of infomration about Thanksgiving. It isn't just a picture book with "P is for Pilgrim". It has the letter, what it stands for, then at least a full paragraph elaborating on the item. So you could focus on the letters with your little ones (young toddlers, pretoddlers, and babies), but also go into much more historical detail with your older children (toddlers, preschoolers, an children). I really like this book.




Thanksgiving Day by Anne Rockwell

This is about chilren recounting what they learned about Thanksgiving Day. It has good information while still being interesting.







Thanksgiving Mice! by Bethany Roberts

A group of mice put on a play about the first Thanksgiving.








The Thanksgiving Surprise by Peggy Archer

Two brothers go looking for a turkey to eat on Thanksgiving. They end up coming home with a giant pumpkin instead. This is a fun story.






I'm A Turkey by Jim Arnosky
This is a fun turkey book to read. I would get this from the library, but probably not buy it.





A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman

Raegan mentioned this last year, but it is so good it must be mentioned again. This is our favorite turkey book this year, and really is worth it to own this one. I like it so much I found myself a little taken aback when the librarian didn't read this for story time to the Kindergarteners today--she read a different turkey book! Then I had to laugh at myself. So it is a good one.

Blast from the Past: No Bake Turkey Cookies {plus Spinoff}

We recently made Raegan's no-bake turkey cookies and of course the kids loved them. A whole lot. What's not to love? Sugar, sugar, sugar.

We also recently went to story time at the library, where they made something similar:

I thought that was a great way to lessen the sugar impact if desired. Yes, I was a weird mom squeezing in there to get a picture of the turkey with my phone :) All for you people! All for you. 

This cookie is one half of an oreo, candy corn, and a Hershey's Kiss. You could do a malt ball instead of the kiss. The kiss is stuck on using white frosting (when we made our turkey cookies, I had some green frosting already made so we used that instead! Kids don't care).

Leaf Man

In the Fall Books post I recently did, I mentioned the book Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. Leaf Man shows many pictures of different leaf creations and is a really cute book.

After reading the book a couple of months ago, I had the genius idea for a cute activity. I later explained it to Brayden while we were on a hike and I was gathering leaves.

"We are going to use these leaves to make a leaf man just like in the book Leaf Man," I said.

"Oh, you mean like I did at Preschool last year?" He asked.

"You did that at preschool last year?" I questioned.

"Yeah. Remember the guy made out of leaves." That was the end of the conversation.

Actually, I knew exactly what he was talking about. That's what that was :)! You can see it pictured above. Honestly, at the time I thought it was a bunch of leaves he found glued to a paper. But now I see it is a leaf man. I also see that Brayden's amazing preschool teacher beat me to the punch of a great idea. I will just say I am glad my girls will be going to school there, too :)

The activity is pretty self-explanatory. You read the book Leaf Man. You gather leaves and such to make your own creation. Then you create.

In Leaf Man, there are more than simply "men" images. The leaves form to make all sorts of things. 

Paper Plate Turkey

First of all, sorry for the terribly small picture. I took this with my phone at Brayden's school. I helped in Brayden's class this month as they made these cute turkey plates. IF I remember, when he brings it home this year, I will take a picture and add it to this post so there will be a better picture for future reference. This is a fun Thanksgiving decoration! It is great for counting, colors, fine motor, an art project, and following a sequence of directions.

Supplies

• Two white paper plates
• Six long strips of paper: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple 
• Six short strips of paper: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple
• One short orange strip of paper (for the feet)
• One printed turkey head (try this one http://kidsdomain.com/craft/cegif/pum-tur3-head.gif)
• Crayons
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Stapler (optional)

Method

1. Have the child color the bottom of each plate brown. This is the side that you do not eat from.
2. Have the child color and cut out the turkey head.
3. Have the child cut the strips of paper so the ends resemble feathers. Most of the Kindergartners cut the ends like at an angle.
4. Have the child cut out the orange strip to look like feet.
5. Have the child glue the turkey head on the brown side of one of the plates.
6. Have the child glue the feathers on the white side of the other plate. Glue the tall feathers in the middle and short feathers on the sides.
7. Have the child glue the feet on the bottom of the same plate.
8. Staple (or glue) the two plates together.
9. Viola! You have a turkey.

Tip: If you want this to be an activity where your child follows a sequence of directions, it is a good idea for you to make one ahead of time. Then give the instructions and set your turkey out for the child to look at as an example. I would say this is most appropriate for children 4 and older.

Sponge Painting Fall Leaf Picture

This is something Kaitlyn did last year as a two year old. This is a great activity for children in that age range because they can make a picture that they can recognize--it turns out similar to how they pictured it. It is also great for children of all ages because all children love to paint :)

Materials

• Sponges
• Paint
• Picture
• Crayon
• Paper plates

Activity

Cut a sponge into square or rectangle shapes. Set out some paint on paper plates. 

Have your child draw a tree trunk in the middle of the paper.

Have your child dip the sponge in paint and put it on the paper around the "trunk" to make leaves.

Done!

Fall Books 2010

Time for some Fall books! Be sure to also check out last year's fall books list from Raegan.

Mouses First Fall by Lauren Thompson

Learn about colors and shapes of leaves with this book.









The Bumpy Little Pumpkin by Margery Cuyler

A story about loving something for what it is and not judging by appearances.








Let It Fall by Maryann Cocca-Leffler

This is Kaitlyn's favorite so far this year. She loves the bouncy rhymes in this book.








When the Leaf Blew In by Steve Metzger
Metzger is a well-known, popular author. This is a funny book with a cause/effect theme in it.







Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

This has fiction and nonfiction mixed together. This is about the cycle of leaves throughout the year, so a great science-focus book.







There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves! by Lucille Colandro

A funny, silly book with a familiar character--the swallowing lady :)








Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

This story manages to be artistic, informational, and slightly funny at all at once. 

Reading Sight Words

Sight words are words you have to read by sight. You cannot sound these words out. As your child becomes more familiar with sight words, he will be able to 

So just how do you teach your child to read sight words?

First, start by reading to your child regularly--daily for at least 20 minutes. Do this no matter the age of your child (that means from young to old). 

Second, run your finger along the words as you read. As your child starts to become interested in reading, he/she will follow along and might just start to pick up on some commonly read words.

But you can't simply read. It does take more.

A common approach is flash cards or word lists. This is one method that has its place. Above, you can see the sight-word flash cards I made for Brayden. They are simply notecards with the words written on the back.

My favorite approach is the Bob Books Sight Words books. These are new. I did a review on these books on one of my other blogs. The great thing about these books is that the child is reading the words in context, and reading the new sight word over and over again. This means the child really gets to know that sight word well by the end of the book. It is read capitalized, lowercase, at the beginning of sentences, in the middle of sentences, at the end of sentences....it is more than memorizing a list. It is learning a word in the purpose it was intended--to read it. Bob Books sight words do include some words that can be sounded out. The Bob Books Sight Words set also comes with pre-made flash cards for extra practice. These flash cards have the word on one side and a sentence with the sight word in it along with a picture on the other side.

So there you have a few simple ways to teach sight words. Need help knowing what sight words are? Here are some lists:

Saxons Phonics Sight Words for Kindergarteners (15)

• My
• You
• Into
• From
• One
• Said
• Have
• Four
• Love
• What
• The
• To
• Of
• Do
• Was

Bob Books Sight Words for Kindergarteners (30)

• Ran
• Saw
• To
• Can
• Jump
• On
• A
• Fly
• Has
• Is
• Look
• Who
• As
• Had 
• Was
• In 
• Not
• Some
• Did
• Do 
• She
• Get 
• Go
• Off
• Over
• They
• Went
• Goes
• Down
• Home

Dates!

Dates aren't just for grown-ups...

One thing I've learned (and relearned) is never to underestimate one on one special time with your little one, especially if there is more than one! Sometimes it's the random "cure" for off behavior, a much needed break for both of you away from the day to day to-do list, and most times...it's just plain fun.

I especially need this time with my girls when the holidays start. Between shopping, parties, dressing up, family visits and visiting, pictures, and trying to do the not-so-fun year 'round stuff (cleaning, cooking, etc)...we can forget or put off time just to talk and enjoy time with our kids.

I've learned some really neat things about my girls when it's been just the two of us. It also has opened the door for some deep conversations, and given my oldest the opportunity to share her heart more freely. I've never once regretted the few hours on our "dates."

It's also really important for Dads to take part in this too. There's nothing like daddy time, and please never make the mistake of underestimating it's importance. My husband recently took our 3 year old to a local lotus park/pond for a tea party. To her delight, she was allowed to dress in her Cinderella dress, get all "fancy", and they had a sweet time, just the two of them. She served him "tea" and even cut up his muffin for him. It was a great time for both of them and she almost walked on air for the rest of the day.

So think about what you can do that your child would enjoy, away from the normal routine, just the two of you or your child and husband. What can you do to make it happen? Write in on your calendar, plan it in advance, or life will tend to get in the way.

And trust me...next month you won't remember how clean your floor was or how many loads of laundry you did that week. And neither will your family. But you'll ALL remember and be really changed when you take time to simply enjoy each other, especially around this busy time of the year.

Thankful Basket

This is an activity we did last year, and we will be repeating it this year. It is quite a simple way to help teach your children (and remind yourself!) about being thankful for what you have.

November is a logical time of year to do this activity since it is Thanksgiving, but there is never a wrong time to focus on gratitude.

PREPARATION

• Get a basket or some other container
• Cut up small pieces of paper

ACTIVITY

We did this for one of our Family Home Evening Lessons. You could do it as a lesson with the family, or simply start it with your family one day.


The way this works is each night (or each morning if that works best), each person in the family says something they are thankful for.


You then write on a piece of paper the item and put it in the basket.


At Thanksgiving, you can look and see the many things your family has to be grateful for. 

Whenever you first start an activity like this, it can be hard to think of something new after the standard answers have been used up. But you soon find that it is hard to stop thinking of the blessings you have once you start to focus on them.

Turkey Round-Up

Here are our Turkey ideas from last year:

Involving Young Children on Thanksgiving Day

Turkey Handprint Place Cards

Handprint Turkey

Turkey Apple

Feather Turkey

No-Bake Turkey Cookies

Successful Learning Tip: Read To Your Child

Can I push reading any more? I probably could :).

A very important tip for successful learning is to read to your child. Reading is so important because all learning requires reading. Every subject involves reading. I have gone over more in this in this post. I wanted to make sure that as you look over ideas for making learning time successful, reading came on your radar.

Not only do you want to read, but you want to share with your child your own enjoyment of reading. Tell him about the books you liked when you were little. Causally talk about what you like about reading.

Surround your child with good books. Keep them age appropriate. You can check with your local library for ideas or google "reading lists." When I say "surround your child" with books, don't think that means you need to go broke buying him books. Libraries are wonderful resources.

Also, give books as gifts. I always make sure that I give at least one book to each child at Christmas time. I also give a book to each child at Easter. Giving books to children shows them that you value books.

For a great book on teaching your children to love reading, see this post.