Skip to main content

Thanksgiving Feast


Thanksgiving is just around the corner! What are some traditions you do with your students to celebrate?

Every year, it has been a tradition in our Kindergarten class to hold a Thanksgiving Feast. This was done for many years even before I joined the Kindergarten team. I have come to love having a feast. 

Here's a look at what this tradition entails in my classroom:

1. We bring the tables together to form one long table and cover them with orange or brown butcher paper. We all sit around the table together. The day before we make name tags and then I put the students next to kids they don't normally sit by. It is a great way to build class community and celebrate this holiday. 


2. The kids love bringing something to share with the class. It's usually finger foods like cheese sticks, pretzels, apple slices, etc. However, at one school I taught at, they did actual Thanksgiving food which was a lot more preparation for teachers and parents. So, I like to stick with finger foods and the kids seem to love it.

3.We talk about what we are thankful for. We go around the table and pass the handheld microphone around. Each person states something they are thankful for. I usually write the sentence stem on the board - "I am thankful for..." and do an example to help out my ELL students. It's always so sweet to hear what they are thankful for.


4. we make placemats to use at our feast. Some years we also make turkey hats to wear at the feast. This is usually done on a day or two before the feast so it's ready for the big day.

5. To get ready, I also send home a parent letter explaining the feast and parents are always invited to come on feast day as well. Included in the parent letter is a sign up sheet to bring something to share with the class. Then the day before, I send home a reminder note with the item they signed up to bring so they don't forget!



I created this sign up sheet to make it easier year after year to get ready for the feast. I also find it helpful to send a reminder page home the day before so parents don’t forget to send their items. If you would like to use this, feel free click here to head over to my TpT store at Candace Teaching Things or click the images above. It's a freebie!

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hello! There is always a first post...

Hello! This is the start of my new teaching blog. To start off, I want to give a purpose for my blog and also give a little introduction of myself. First and foremost, I am a teacher and like most teachers, I love to collaborate. For me, it helps so much to see what other teachers are doing and what is working for them. It helps inspire me to be a better teacher and to try new things. With that being said, I have a desire to share what I have tried and what has worked for me. I want to be part of the collaboration. SO this is my purpose in creating this blog - to share my ideas with fellow teachers. Now on to my introduction :) I have been teaching for 6 years. During that time, I taught Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade and have been a Spanish Immersion teacher in Kinder and 1st. I have also been a substitute teacher when going through a big move! I often get asked which grade is my favorite to teach and I can't ever pick. Each grade is unique and I have great memories f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Winter Math

Winter break is almost here!  It's around this time that I notice my students getting antsy and excited for the break to come. I don't know about your students but my students seem to have a harder time staying focused and engaged during our afternoon math block.  If your students are like mine, you've probably searched for fun and engaging math activities to do this time of year.  Here are some of my ideas to keep kids engaged during your math block. 1. Math Story Problem Mad-Libs Yes, you read that correctly - story problems. Story problems can be hard, but I have found that my students are more engaged when they get to make up parts of the story problems. I created these Winter/Christmas Themed story problem mad-libs so students could create their own story problems with some guidance. I like to use it whole class and in math centers so students get lots of practice.                    If you'...
Post a Comment
Read more

Namaste

Yoga in the classroom? While student teaching, my mentor teacher had a time each week when the 4th graders would push the desks to one side of the room and get out yoga mats for a yoga session. I loved it and the kids loved it. At home, I do yoga pretty regularly and I have loved the benefits of feeling better, more relaxed and less stressed. Why not share this with students? It has benefits for them! Kids need to be taught ways to calm themselves down and yoga is one way they can do that. When I began teaching Kindergarten, I wanted to include yoga in my classroom but I do it a little differently from my mentor teacher since Kindergarteners are quite different from 4th graders. Here are some things that I have done in my own classroom to share yoga with students. 1. Yoga sessions. I don't do full on yoga sessions very often - maybe once a month or close to a holiday when I know students can get hyped up easily. I find different kids yoga videos on youtube. You can find grea...
Post a Comment
Read more