AMA Preschool: Week Twelve: Cranberry THANKSGIVING

This week we focused on Thanksgiving.

Our main book was Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin:

Tuesday was such an easy day because there was no meticulous cutting and pasting and hardly any prep, but the kids LOVED what we did.

First, we used this observation sheet I made to record our notes on how we feel about cranberries using our five senses, a little experiment about whether or not cranberries float and why they float, and labeling the parts of a cranberry.

Next, we played a game they absolutely loved, inspired by theinspiredtreehouse. I filled one cup with cranberries and put an empty cup on a table on the other end of the room. I handed each kid a spoon. They took turns scooping up some cranberries from the full cup and bringing them over to the other cup, once they started walking I would shout out a challenge for them. I used theinspiredtreehouse's challenges. They loved this game and it was such a great way to practice team work, cooperation, and both fine and large motor skills.

For our snack, I made mini cranberry muffins using "Grandma's Secret Recipe," but actually just Krusteaz. We ate most of them, they were delicious :)

While they ate I showed them this super neat YouTube video about how cranberries are harvested and made into things like cranberry juice and craisins. They were completely enthralled and one kid later asked to watch it again!

Next, I set up cranberry themed centers for them which they cycled through.

In this one they practiced measuring. I drew "fill-to" lines on three cups and they simply had to fill to the line.

The next one was inspired by littlebinsforlittlehands. I asked them to use each provided utensil to put one cranberry in each egg cup.

This one was a "cranberry bog." Super easy and this was probably the favorite.

After playing with this one for a while, I added onto it for them by giving them some funnels and cups.

And I asked them to pick out the bad ones like the factory workers did in the video.

Then they decided they wanted to fill the bin up to the top with water so they all grabbed a cup and walked back and forth from the bathroom sink to the bin to fill it up with water:

For the last center I just put water in one cup and they had to transfer the water to an empty cup using a turkey baster.

Fine motor play all around the room!

Finally, we did cranberry painting. My idea was to just crush up some cranberries and paint with them, but they were way too hard and it was not working.

So, we had to problem solve. We brought the bowl of them into the kitchen and put it in the microwave. This worked like a charm. The kids were pretty fascinated.

They turned out beautiful:

Since that Friday was the last day of class before Thanksgiving, I wanted to read a more educational book about Thanksgiving. I chose The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern which was long but they didn't seem to mind.

Then we made mini books (download here), which were all about the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving. They really loved putting themselves in the Pilgrims' shoes.

Our snack was pumpkin pie in a cup. They loved this, though it made them a little crazy.