Giving Thanks

This week we discussed the history of Thanksgiving.  We introduced the story of the Pilgrims coming over on the Mayflower and settling in Massachussets.  We also talked about the Native American tribe called the Wampanoag, who had been living here for a long time. We talked about how the Wampanoag helped the settlers learn how to plant corn and live in their new environment.    We heard the story 1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Pilgrims as well as Why do we Celebrate Thanksgiving? 

After snack and music we heard another story which was a Native American legend.  Legend was another new vocabulary word for the kids.  For some reason they all were fascinated with the idea of hearing a legend.  It was really cute!!  We read The Legend of the Loons Necklace. 

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1183572211l/1435490.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1435490.The_Loon_s_Necklace&h=500&w=397&tbnid=AKk4zGnkjqHeIM:&zoom=1&docid=PLgyMakgLf6LVM&hl=en&ei=jYN7VLSKMOqRsQTktoLYBQ&tbm=isch&client=safari&ved=0CB4QMygAMAA

Most of the kids didn't know what a loon was either.  They confused it with a duck.  They kept making quacking sounds.  We watched a video on loons and heard their call.  Then we made a loon during art.

On Wednesday we talked a lot about what thankfulness and gratitude means.  We went around the circle and each shared what we were thankful for.  Then we heard a few books about thankfulness and watched the Raffi video of the song "Thanks a lot".  Here it is:

http://youtu.be/7McbECHlgbg

During activity time each of the kids wrote their own version of the song.  They also had fun working on puzzles with Mrs. Chyko, making an airport with blocks, playing in the rice table, playing with cars, coloring, tracing their hand and turning it into a turkey, and playing in the tool center and housekeeping center. 

As for Joan and I, we're thankful for the terrific kids and families at Maple Leaf Academy!!

Happy Thanksgiving!