Kindergarten Squared: Let's Talk Turkey!!

This is Page, the Thanksgiving Lover of Kindergarten Squared! Seriously Cristy, I know you are super excited about Christmas, but I needed to share this first! I guess I was snoozin on my blog responsibilities and you beat me to the punch for sharing about my favorite holiday.

I am all for Christmas and Hanukkah too, but my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving! I love all the great food and time with family and friends without the pressure of the gift! I love that Thanksgiving is not all about giving and receiving, but just about being thankful for all the great things in your life!

We spend Thanksgiving Day in Adele, Ga at Uncle Mikey's farm riding 4 wheelers, fishing, playing soccer, and various other sports, as well as stuffing our bellies! This year we will even celebrate my lil guy's 2nd birthday with a big cake for dessert!

Look at that Cutie Pie! I can hardly believe that baby is 2! We tried for what seemed like forever to get this precious guy!

Anyway, I know it is too late for our blogging buddies to have Harvest Soup in your classroom, but I wanted to share about the Harvest Soup our classes had before the break.

We spent one morning before the Harvest Soup, making festive costume pieces that of course incorporated Common Core Standards (patterning and counting).

Check out "cutie pie" Joshua and his grandparents (That's Cristy's baby and parents). I know it is hard to tell, but he has a detailed pattern on his headband and necklace. The vest was made from t-shirts dyed by myself (super easy), then cut by a parent and beaded/knotted by the kids. The bracelet is a retelling bracelet where each bead is a cue to retell part of the Thanksgiving story. The kids made the bracelet, necklace and headband during rotations. Each teacher was in charge of one activity. Super fun to get to know all the kindergarten babies :).

Below are the steps that made our Harvest Soup a Success.
1. Decided on a menu. We always have Harvest Soup (Comment and leave your email if you want our recipe), Piki Bread (recipe on the back of Publix Brand Corn Meal), desserts from various parents, homemade butter made by students, and apple juice (Cristy has Sweet Tea and juice boxes).
2. Made a list of all ingredients that were to be requested from students.
3. Made invite and ingredient request form to send home with students.
4. Sent invite home and requested items from students.
5. Had items in the classroom before the day of the feast so teacher could pick up any last minute supplies.
6. On the morning of the feast, our students helped open canned goods, placed all the stew ingredients in the pot and stirred, cut vegetables, made butter, flipped piki bread corn cakes, and wrote about being thankful.
7. While students were at lunch, teachers set up the tables and place settings. This event was a sit down dinner and required a RSVP. We borrowed tables and chairs from the other kindergarten classes because each class had their soup on a different day.
8. Teacher put together a quick photo story of students cutting veggies, making butter, and flipping piki bread.
9. Parents/ grown ups joined our class at 1:00 pm to watch all of the student preparations and share a delicious feast.
10. While waiting to be served, students and parents wrote what they are thankful for on a leaf cut from paper. The students then hung their leaf on our Thankful tree (a mid sized branch in a vase with tissue paper around it ).

This event is truly loved by all of our kindergartners and parents! It is one of the top 5 events of the year!