Thanksgiving Literacy Part 3: Cooking

Cooking with kids is the perfect literacy activity. You research ideas, read and follow directions, experience family closeness (at least most the time :)) and then you get to eat! What could be better!

You may already have your own holiday cooking traditions. Please share them in the Comments box below!

Here are some ideas I've come across. See if any of them will suit your family.

Disney Family

Kid Friendly Thanksgiving Menu

Kids Cooking Activities

Baked Cornucopia, Harvest Centerpiece and Holiday Snack Mix

Family Fun Magazine

Appetizers

Desserts

Food Network

Kid Friendly Crudites

I hope your Thanksgiving is restful, yummy and full of blessings.

Gail

Celebrate Thanksgiving with Books Part 3

This is my last post about Thanksgiving books. As always, my book research has led me to read lots of books I hadn't read before. I hope you enjoy them! See Part 1 and Part 2 for more.

The Thanksgiving Door by Debby Atwell

After burning their Thanksgiving dinner, an old couple head for the local café. The café is closed but the immigrant family who owns the restaurant welcomes them to dinner. Their celebration is full of food, music and dancing. In the end, the couple is grateful they burned their dinner. This is a properly thankful Thanksgiving story.

Thank You, Sarah by Laurie Halse Anderson, illustrated by Matt Faulkner

In the early 1800s, Thanksgiving was celebrated in some states but not all. At least not until Sarah Hale, a magazine editor and author, persuaded President Lincoln to transform Thanksgiving Day into a national holiday. It took lots of persistence and work for her to make it happen, but she did it!

The Firefighters’ Thanksgiving by Maribeth Boelts, illustrated by Terry Widener

A group of firefighters work to cook a Thanksgiving dinner. But calls to fires, an injured friend, and cooking disasters mess up their cooking. What will they do?

Celebrate Thanksgiving by Deborah Heiligman

This book describes the history of Thanksgiving and how it is celebrated in the United States. With large print and lots of photographs, it’s a fun book to explore.

The Very First Thanksgiving Day byRhonda Gowler Greene, illustrated by Susan Gaber

This is a cumulative story in which rhyming verses tell the events leading up to the first Thanksgiving day. The structure is interesting – it starts with the dinner, traces the Pilgrims backward to England and then returns to the dinner. The paintings on each page are beautiful.

Duck for Turkey Day by Jacqueline Jules, illustrated by Kathryn Mitter

Tuyet’s Vietnamese family is having duck rather than turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. Tuyet tries to talk her family into having the traditional turkey, but she’s unsuccessful. However, when she gets back to school, she finds many of her classmates also had untraditional Thanksgiving meals.

Squanto’s Journey by Joseph Bruchac, illustrated by Greg Shed

Squanto tells about how he was captured by the British, sold into slavery in Spain, and then returned to the New World to become a guide and friend for the colonists. The story is well told and the illustrations are beautiful.

Thanksgiving by Kathryn Kyle

This is a Wonder Books Level 2 Reader. It combines a simple history of Thanksgiving with modern day Thanksgiving. If your family is doing Thanksgiving readings, this would be perfect for an early reader.

A Pioneer Thanksgiving by Barbara Greenwood, illustrated by Heather Collins

There’s something about Thanksgiving and Christmas that makes many of us want to look back in time. We wonder about how people celebrated holidays back then. This book weaves together stories, information and activities to show the life of a pioneer family at Thanksgiving. It is the second of the Pioneer Story books.

I hope each of you has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I send my blessings.

Gail

Thanksgiving Games and Videos - Online

Last Friday, I gave you a bunch of games that don't need a computer. I hope you and your family found some you enjoyed. Did you have a favorite? Write it in the Comments box!

This week's Friday Fun post has online games and 2 videos about Thanksgiving.

GAMES

Each of the following sites has a collection of Thanksgiving games and activities. Have fun!

DLTK

A Kid’s Heart

The Kidz Page

Primary Games

Kaboose

VIDEOS

The following videos came from History.com

The History of Thanksgiving

Holiday Foods

Check back next Friday for Thanksgiving jokes and riddles!

Gail

Thanksgiving Literacy Part 2: Crafts

While compiling this collection of Thanksgiving crafts for families to do together, I concentrated (mostly) on the ones that focused on harvest, tradition and thankfulness. (See Part 1 for last week's ideas.)

From The Holiday Zone

Thanksgiving Collage

Collect old magazines, catalogs, and sales papers with plenty of pictures. Cut out pictures of the items you are most thankful for. Neatly mount pictures on colored paper. Beneath each picture, write the name of each item. Arrange pictures on poster, bulletin board, wall, or door.

Chain of Gratitude

Cut colored paper into one-inch strips. On each strip, write something you are thankful for. Tape or staple strips into rings and intertwine to form a "chain of gratitude." See who can form the longest chain!

Thanksgiving Certificates

List three or more people for whom you are thankful. Beside each person's name, write the things about that person for which you are thankful for. Now, create a "certificate of appreciation" to tell each person how much you appreciate him or her.

Cornucopia Coloring Page

The following are from Kaboose, Family Crafts, DTLK and Artists Helping Children.

Mosaic Cornucopia

Thankful Garland of Leaves (my favorite!)

Family Tree Leaf Pins

Turkey Pin

Count Your Blessings Ornament

Giving Thanks Tree

Thanksgiving Wreath

Thanksgiving Harvest Celebration Jars

Give Thanks Hanging Leaf

Next week I'll have lots of ideas for family cooking for Thanksgiving. If you send me one of your favorites in time, I'll add it!

Gail

Celebrate Thanksgiving with Books Part 2

Here are more Thanksgiving books. Next Monday, I’ll give you one more set. You can also check out last week’s Part 1.

The Thanksgiving Bowl by Virginia Knoll, illustrated by Philomena O’Neill

I love the idea of this Thanksgiving bowl. In this story, each member of a family writes an anonymous "I'm thankful for" note and places it in the Thanksgiving bowl. After the family guesses who wrote each note, the bowl is accidentally left outside. It rolls off on a year-long series of adventures.

The Perfect Thanksgiving by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Joann Adinolfi

This book tells the story of 2 families – one is perfect and one is not so perfect. Each family celebrates Thanksgiving in their own loving ways. Hooray for less-than-perfect families!

The Can-Do Thanksgiving by Marion Hess Pomeranc, illustrated by Nancy Cote

A girl is excited to help serve Thanksgiving dinner at the soup kitchen. When there’s a mishap in the kitchen, she and one of the kids being served help solve the problem.

The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh, illustrated by Helen Sewell

This book was written in 1954 – a long time ago! The text is somewhat old-fashioned and may contain some inaccuracies, but the story is told in a charming way.

How Many Days to America? A Thanksgiving Story by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Beth Peck

Refugees from a Caribbean island embark on a dangerous boat trip to America where they have a special reason to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Rivka’s First Thanksgiving by Elsa Okon Rael, illustrated by Maryann Kovalski

Rivka learns about Thanksgiving at school. But it’s a hard sell to get her immigrant family and her rabbi to agree that Thanksgiving is for all Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike. I like how Rivka approaches the problem with both strength and respect.

It’s Thanksgiving! by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Marylin Hafner

This collection of poems is just about Thanksgiving. They cover a wide range: family, the first Thanksgiving, school projects, football, turkeys, leftovers and more. It is a I Can Read Level 3 book.

Dr. Carbles is Losing His Marbles by Dan Gutman, illustrated by Jim Paillot

This is only sort of a Thanksgiving book but it’s such fun, I had to include it. When their weird but fun principal is fired for bringing a wild turkey to the school’s Thanksgiving Day assembly, A.J. and his friends plot to get him back. This is part of Dan Gutman’s My Weird School series. I look forward to reading more books from the series.

Katie Kazoo Switcheroo: Don’t Be Such a Turkey! by Nancy Krulik, illustrated by John and Wendy

Katie is a regular fourth grader, except for one thing: sometimes a magic wind switches her into a different person. In this story, Katie ends up as an actor playing a Pilgrim and later as a clown in the Thanksgiving Day parade. This is a fun book.

Have you discoovered new books that celebrate Thanksgiving? Write them in the Comments box!

Gail

Old-time Thanksgiving Games – No Computer Needed to Play!

The days around Thanksgiving often give us time to do family activities we don't always do, like playing games. Instead of pulling out Candy Land (not my favorite!), how about trying some of the games suggested on these sites...

Nine Men’s Morris

Hub Pages (scroll down)

Disney Family Fun

The Holiday Zone

Thanksgiving Day Scavenger Hunt (I love this idea!)

Did you find any good family games? Write them in the Comments box!

Gail

Thanksgiving Literacy Part 1: Getting Ready

In addition to reading a variety of Thanksgiving-related books (see Celebrate Thanksgiving with Books Part 1 ), consider trying some other activities that promote literacy. This week I’ll give several suggestions for getting ready for Thanksgiving Day. Next Wednesday, I’ll suggest several crafts. In the following week, I’ll offer several ideas and sites for using family cooking to promote literacy.

CARDS

Many kids love making cards for family, friends and neighbors. Here are a couple of ideas to get started.

Pop-up Turkey Cards

Printable Card

Thanksgiving Quotes for inside your cards

TABLE DECORATIONS

Let your kids help make the Thanksgiving table festive.

Placemats

Corn-Print Place Mats

Autumn Place Mats

Placecards

Pop-up Placecards

Printable Color Placecards

Ear of Corn Placecards

Other Table Decorations

Candle Holder

Flowers and Vase

OTHER LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES

Word Searches – You can find Thanksgiving word searches online but creating your own is a better literacy idea.

• Brainstorm a list of Thanksgiving words.
• Give each family member a piece of graph paper to create his own puzzle.
• On the graph paper, write the letters of each word in the squares - up, down, diagonal. Avoid going backwards - it's too visually confusing (my bias).
• Fill in the unused squares with random letters.
• Exchange searches.

Crossword Puzzles (a little trickier)

• Brainstorm a list of Thanksgiving words and their definitions (clues). Or let everyone come up with her own clues. The simplest clues are fill-in-the-blank sentences: My grandpa carved the _____.
• Give each family member a piece of graph paper to create his own puzzle.
• Lightly plot each word on the graph paper, in pencil, criss-crossing the words.
• Once all the words have been plotted, heavily outline only the graph squares you used.
• Number the words.
• Write out your clues to correspond with the across and down words.
• Carefully erase the words.
• Exchange puzzles.

 T-H-A-N-K-S-G-I-V-I-N-G Words

Using the letters in Thanksgiving, create other words. Examples: hang, giving, sit… If you want, you can make it a contest to see who gets the most words. You can also give extra credit for longer words.

SCIENCE

From www.littlegiraffes.com

• Plant a corn seed, popcorn, and candy corn. Make predictions on which will grow and then watch their progress! Some kids will actually think a candy corn tree may grow from the candy corn. After a few weeks, make comparisons of the real corn and candy corn.
• Put an ear of corn in a pot filled with potting soil, half covering it with the soil. It will grow. Be sure to use field corn or Indian corn.
• Or just take an ear of Indian corn and place it in a pie tin with water. The kernels of corn actually start growing!

These are just a few ways to promate literacy at Thanksgiving. What are some more ways you've thought up? Share in the Comments box!

Gail