Thanksgiving Alliterations

In reading we have been working on identifying examples of rhymes, alliterations, and sensory details in poetry. As a part of this study, the students wrote their own Thanksgiving alliterations. On a Circle Map they brainstormed words that started with /t/ or /th/ for Thanksgiving, /n/ for Native Americans, and /p/ for Pilgrims. As a class they then came up with the three alliterations which I recorded on the Promethean Board. They then divided into three groups to write and illustrate them on construction paper.

Thanksgiving Feast

Thank you to all of the parents who donated goodies for the students' Thanksgiving Feast. The students dressed in either brown or black to represent the clothing worn by Native Americans and Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving Feast. They wore hats that they made to go along with their clothes: headbands, hats, or bonnets. They then munched on modern day treats related  to the first feast such as turkey sandwiches, grapes, and popcorn.

Additive Pattern Headbands

Since we are learning more about additive patterns and Thanksgiving, we made additive pattern headbands. We discussed the type of clothes that Native Americans wore and the intricate designs that they added to some of their clothing. The students then used fall colors on sentence strips to follow and recreate multi-step additive patterns. They then added a feather to their headbands.

Pilgrims and Native Americans

To help the students learn about Thanksgiving and the relationship between Pilgrims and Native Americans, we visited the Scholastic website. The website is filled with various articles and interactives for the students to explore and learn from. We then used Deanna Jump's Thanksgiving Unit to compare and contrast Pilgrims and Native Americans. The students placed sentences on a hula hoop Venn Diagram with whoever it identified. They then used the Venn Diagram to help them create a t-chart and write comparative sentences.