A Focus on Gratitude

For Thanksgiving we learned about how things were different in the past compared to the present, but our main focus was on the concept of gratitude. We discussed how we can have positive or negative attitudes and that gratitude is a positive one. Having an attitude of gratitude is being grateful for the things we have and being satisfied that we have the most important things such as family, love, shelter and food. We also discussed how when things are not going our way, we can stay positive by having an attitude of gratitude.

We started out the week creating Gratitude Boxes as a gift for our families. I got this beautiful idea from the amazing 

https://mericherry.com/. We created beautiful art on 3x3 sheets of watercolor paper using liquid watercolors. Liquid watercolors are so vibrant and beautiful! I taped them down to create a white frame around each one which is what gives these such a beautiful effect!

Next the kids dictated to us what they were most grateful for and we put them in the box. These were 3.5x3.5 from Amazon. 



We broke out the glitter to create gratitude sticks. These sticks can be passed around the table during their families Thanksgiving Feast or just around the dinner table. Whoever is holding the gratitude stick says something they are grateful for.



Here are the finished Gratitude Boxes!



Next we got ready for our Friendship Feast to celebrate Thanksgiving and how thankful we are for the friendships created in our learning community! They created pumpkins for our centerpieces and then created cards for the table that labeled four things each of them was grateful for.

We created some turkeys to decorate our room.

We created some hand turkeys with feathers but I didn’t get any pictures. You can see them on the upper cabinets in the whole room picture coming up.

Finally, everything was ready for the big day!





The room was ready for our feast!



We made some butter like they had to long ago!

We started out by watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and then served the same food the Peanuts Gang ate! Thank you parents for all of your donations! 

The kids loved it!



Before we ate, we passed around a Gratitude Stick and each friend said something they were grateful for to model how they can do this with their families at the table.



Then we all dug in and enjoyed sharing food and each other’s company! Look at those joyful faces!





Here are some pictures of our Literacy and Math areas and things they are working on. They use these skills in all of the areas of our room, but these areas are for specific practice.

In the math area…

Roll the die, find the number and show all the different ways you can make that number using two rows on the ten frames and math racks.



This game is called Top-It and is played just like War. You each flip a card and the one that is more gets to keep both cards. Whoever has the most cards at the end wins.



Here are a couple,e ways to practice counting to 100 and noticing the number patterns on 100 charts.



The cards can be used for a matching game or one partner flashes a card and the other sees how fast the can make that number on the math racks.



In the Literacy Area…



Sort the pictures by the beginning sounds focusing on the letters learned the last week for review.



Tap and say each sound in the word, then blend it faster then read it. After reading it, create the words using the lines needed to create each letter.



Look at the picture. How many syllables are in that word? Put that many squares on the picture.

The letters we have explicitly taught are available for them to explore in different ways. Some friends used them to sort by letter and sound/pictures.



Some friends used them to create words.





I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!