Thanksgiving

I am excited to be off all next week for Thanksgiving!  My district started this last year.  It's nice to have a break.  That said, I had a ball with Thanksgiving activities this week!  Here's a peak at my top five.  (Better late than never for Five for Friday!)

1.  Cranberry Science Activities - We tasted cranberries,investigated the inside of the, checked to see if they sank/floated, and bounced them on the ground.  My favorite part was the expressions on the students' faces as they tried them.  Let's just say that, for most of the students, cranberries were not something that they liked!

2.  Contraction Surgery - The students each got a mask (10 for $1).  They had to cut the words apart and put a band aid on them to put them back together.  I loved listening to them and watching them work.  Some of my favorite comments were "Clear!  We are losing him!" as the student administered imaginary paddles and "Oh no! I accidentally threw away my patient!"

3.  Making Butter - Shaking small containers of whipping cream.  We tasted the results with crackers. It was a little bland since we didn't add salt, but the students enjoyed it.

4.  Writing How to Cook a Turkey - The students gave a little hassle at first about doing this, because they had no clue how to cook a turkey.  It's almost sad that creativity is already starting to leave the students by third grade.  Oh well.  Once they actually started writing them, I got to have a chuckle.  Let's just say I won't be using any of their recipes next week.

5.  Pumpkin Pie in a Bag - Many of my students have never tried pumpkin pie.  We had fun following the recipe.  The end result looks a little gross - canned pumpkin is such an unnatural color!  The kids loved their pies though!  

As an added bonus, using muffin tins were a great way to help review multiplication arrays!

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