Published October 3, 2012 | 
A “non-turkey” Thanksgiving art activity is to create a Thanksgiving Tree.
To make a tree for your classroom, put up a large tree trunk with branches somewhere in your classroom. Have each child trace their hand on a Fall coloured sheet of construction paper. Once the students have cut their hands out, have them write their name and one thing that they are thankful for. These handprints are your leaves for your tree. You could also give each child their own individual tree and have them draw and colour their own leaves on and then write what they are thankful for on each leaf.
Published October 1, 2012 | A few people have requested art ideas for Thanksgiving that are not turkeys. Below are three example of activities.
One idea we use is to tie in healthy food to Thanksgiving. Usually, there is alot of focus on family dinners at this time of year. We collect grocery store flyers, and have children cut out pictures of healthy foods they would like to eat at Thanksgiving. We then have the children use these pictures to glue to a large piece of paper. Once it is dry, we either mac-tac it, or laminate it (depending on available resources) and send it home as their placemat for Thanksgiving dinner.
Another idea for Kindergarten (one you could use in any primary grade) is to have pumpkin seeds in your art centre. The children can create pictures with these, or for older students, you could have pre-made pictures they can glue the seeds to. To make the seeds more interesting, you can colour them with food colouring.
Finally, you could have dried leaves in your art centre. The children can do leaf-rubbings to create beautiful Fall pictures. These can also be laminated to send home as placemats.
Published June 26, 2012 | Because it is the last week of school, my teaching partner and I wanted to make the time we have left with our kindergarten class fun and memorable. Instead of doing traditional lessons, we decided to put out board games during literacy and math times today. We divided the students into groups of 4. We chose 5 games that the children could play independently, and 2 games that they may need assistance with. That way, we could sit at those 2 games, if they needed help.
The children were so excited when they saw all of the games set up after recess! They really enjoyed it and asked if we could do it again tomorrow. Seen as it is the last week of school, I think we might do it again!
Published June 25, 2012 | Last week, I posted how our kindergarten class made leis to celebrate our school’s “Beach Day”. Today, we used those leis as it was “Beach Day”!
We wore our leis all day. Then, during the last 60 minutes of the day, our entire school met in the gym to play Beach Blanket Bingo. Students were asked to bring a beach towel to use as their blanket. Our class was paired with an older class so that each kindergarten student had a helper for the game to recognize the numbers and follow the rules. That also left myself and my teaching partner free to handle any issues that may have risen (bathroom breaks, etc). Our principal, as well as an EA who had organized the event, sat on the stage and called the numbers.
Our class got recognition of our festive necklaces, which made the kindergarten children smile with pride!
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