Wordless Wednesday- What Are You Thankful For?

Linking up again with Miss DeCarbo at Second Grade Sugar and Spice for Wordless Wednesday

http://secondgradesugarandspice.blogspot.com

Since we are entering the season leading up to Thanksgiving, I thought it would be good to incorporate an ongoing activity to help my students keep gratitude in their attitudes while we are gearing up for the holidays.

I found this idea on pinterest and decided to make it my own.

Every day leading up to Thanksgiving, I'm having my students write one thing they are thankful for and post it on our 'thankful tree.' 

By the end of the month (which happens to be very short!) our tree will be full and our hearts will be happy! Okay I know that was a little silly, but you get the gist. 

(please excuse the blurry photo. Yuck!)

So here is the question for you: What are you thankful for? And how do you foster gratefulness in your students? 

Happy Wednesday Friends!

Harvest is in Full Swing and Thanksgiving is almost here!! Yippee!

We had a wonderful Monday in my K/1 classroom. I've really been enjoying a Thanksgiving unit I picked up on TPT created by Kristen Smith. It has wonderful resources including two great printable books about the Wampanoag Indians and the Pilgrims.

You can find Kristen's unit at her TPT store:

All About Thanksgiving Unit

 Our Indian corn and tissue paper pumpkins! (They made the pumpkins and paint dot corns in art class)

 Our Pilgrim quilts :) We didn't have fabric so I just cut up paper squares and had them glue them in different patterns.

 Look at how our pumpkin seeds have grown!! We can't wait to take them home tomorrow!

This is included in the Thanksgiving Unit. It was a fun way to show students a visual representation of our class findings. We all voted "YES" that we loved crockpot pumpkin bread! It was so tasty!


Last week we made an Indian corn tissue paper craft and feather headbands (also found in Kristen's unit) and today we made crockpot pumpkin bread and pilgrim quilts. All of these activities were a blast!
After all of our studying and crafting and learning about the first Thanksgiving, I can say I CAN NOT WAIT for Thanksgiving to get here next week.

On another note, has anyone ever tried cooking a whole chicken in a crockpot?
I did it yesterday for the first time and I all I have to say is WOW! What an amazing discovery I just made.
It was awesome! I prepped my chicken (rubbed it with spices, salt, pepper, etc.) then stuck it in the crockpot (I forgot to add any extra stuff like water or onions) and cooked it on low for 8+ hours.
When we got home, I peeked inside the crockpot and when I poked the meat, it fell completely off the bone. BEST MEAL EVER… Not to mention, cooking a whole chicken will provide meat for several meals, so I am all set and prepped for the rest of the week. Thank you Jesus!
It wasn't super fancy, just tried and true- Here is the recipe I used to make my chicken:

Crockpot Roast Chicken

If I don't happen to post again before Thanksgiving, I hope you have a wonderful holiday with all the people you love!