Students began the month of November by learning a Thanksgiving Day Song sung to the tune of row, row, row your boat. It went something like this...

"The Pilgrims sailed away,
Far across the sea. 

They came to America
So they could be free.
The Native Americans
Helped them plant the corn.
Then they shared a great big feast,
Thanksgiving Day was born!"

This song helped introduce the children to our theme of Native Americans, Pilgrims and Thanksgiving. We began by learning about the Native Americans. We discussed what "native" means and that the Pilgrims were not the first people here in America, but the Native Americans were. We learned how the Native Americans lived in many different styles of homes depending on their lifestyle. Those who hunted and traveled to places where food was plentiful lived in Tepees, and usually for only a few days before moving on. Other Native Americans lived in Wigwams, which were homes that stayed warmer because of their dome shape. Native Americans who stayed in one place for years lived in Long Houses. A Long House was like a home for the community. It had a sleeping area, eating and cooking area and a living area. We learned that several families would have lived together in the Long Houses.

We learned about a very special Native American named Squanto. He was a friendly man who helped the Pilgrims learn how to hunt, fish and grow food. Without Squanto, we may never have had a First Thanksgiving. He was a great friend to the Pilgrims.

Next, we learned about the Pilgrims. We talked about why they wanted to come to America and what freedom meant to them. Students learned what it was like to be on the Mayflower and how the children didn't have toys with them. We talked about all of the chores every family member did to help each other.

We ended our month by learning about being thankful and what it means. We all shared things we are thankful for. Jonah said he is thankful for his mom, dad, brother and all of his friends; Anthony was thankful for blue lollipops and Iselena said she is thankful for the food her mother cooks every night.

Students enjoyed many art projects this month. They had the opportunity to make Pilgrim or Indian vests, Indian headdresses, turkey place mats, leaf turkeys and a scene of pumpkins on a fence. Students all worked together to make a long table cover for our Thanksgiving Feast. We hope you enjoyed seeing some of these wonderful creations come home!

Painting our tablecloth for our Feast!!  

Mr. John's Corner:

Line time lessons:

Our class went back in time and studied dinosaurs this month.  We learned the names of 5 dinos (T-Rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Pterodactyl, and Brachiosaurus) Students also learned what a carnivore is a meat eater and an herbivore is a plant eater.  We had fun learning together which dinosaurs where herbivores and carnivores. We also learned how long ago they lived and introduced students to the terms "extinct" and "fossils." We spent time discovering what each of those words means.  Dinosaurs weren't extinct in our Art Area. Students enjoyed making dino finger puppets, dino tracks, and dinosaurs with the children's faces. Throughout the week, we read some fun Dino stories like, "Dad is a Dinosaur," and Dinosaurs go to School."

We then learned about Pilgrims and Thanksgiving in preparation for our upcoming holiday.  Students were excited to learn about what the Indians taught the Pilgrims, the Pilgrims voyage on the Mayflower and their very first meal together. In our Art Area, our students enjoyed becoming Pilgrims and Indians. Our craft was making feathers and putting on them what we are thankful for.  The feathers were put on turkeys that we placed on the bulletin board.  It was neat to see what our students were thankful for. We also made the Mayflower and colored many cornucopias! We also enjoyed many fun stories together this week, which taught us more about this very special holiday tradition (and some also incorporated our letters) like  "T is for Turkey" and "P is for Pilgrim."

Our final week in November we learned about Native Americans. We took a look at the different kind of shelters they used, their dress, and other body decorations such as face painting and feathers. We learned that some Native American tribes were nomadic, which meant the tribes moved from place to place to follow their food source and some tribes stayed in one place to farm for their food.


We talked about the tribes of the Great Plains who followed the buffalo.  It was explained that Native Americans not only used animals for their meat but used the hide for clothing and shelter. The Indians didn't waste anything! Our classroom tribe enjoyed making teepees from construction paper and drinking straws and also made Native American head dresses.

Cultural subjects:

Every morning our students count to 10 in eleven different languages!  We can count in English, Spanish, Sign Language, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Arabic (with the Lebanese dialect), Italian, Russian, and Romanian.

Kindergarten lesson:

The kindergarteners learned how to tell time with the long and short hand during the month of November.  We started by learning to tell time to the hour, half past the hour, quarter after the hour, quarter 'til the hour, and finally to the minute.  We have done many worksheets, used flashcards, and a toy clock with moveable hands to help us learn to tell time together. Next we delved into everyone's favorite thing...money!  First we focused on the coins. Students learned how to recognize the penny, nickel, dime, quarter and the values of each coin.  We also spent time counting and recognizing the bills and the value of each. We even learned about the ever elusive two dollar bill! I enjoy my time with the Kindergarteners and look forward to my time with them in December!

Ms. Courtney's Corner:  

November was the month of animals. From four legged mammals, to high flying birds, slithering reptiles and adorable amphibians....we learned to love and appreciate them ALL!

Our first week's lesson was on mammals. We learned that mammals are born alive, have fur or hair, are warm blooded and vertebrates. They also drink milk from their mother's bodies. We read many books as well as played mammal charades.

We talked about the world's largest mammal, the blue whale. We learned they weigh up to 200 tons and are endangered.

The next week we discussed birds. We learned that all birds have feathers on their bodies, lay hard eggs, are warm blooded and vertebrates. Birds also have wings, however they do not all fly. We discussed flightless animals, such as the penguin and ostrich. We talked about the endless possibilities of places to fly to if we were birds. Erin shared with us that if she could be a bird and fly anywhere she would take flight to the closest ice cream shop; Noah wanted to fly to Colorado to see horses, while Julia would head right to the mall and then to Giant Eagle.

The following week we doubled up on reptiles and amphibians. We learned that reptiles, such as snakes, alligators, turtles and many types of lizards are vertebrates, cold blooded, have scaly skin and lay eggs. We studied alligators and crocodiles and determined the way to distinguish the two from each other is in their jaws. The alligator's top jaw is shaped like the letter U, while the crocodile is shaped like a V. We learned that reptiles have well developed senses. For example, snakes use their tongues to taste the air! We also had the opportunity to create fingerprint snakes.

Next, we learned all about amphibians. These groups of animals are vertebrates, have moist skin, are cold blooded, hatch from eggs and live both in water and on land. The class favorite amphibian was the red eyed tree frog that has sticky pads on the bottom of their feet to help them climb. We learned that frogs and toads look alike but the best way to tell them apart is the toad has drier, bumpier skin. We had fun making frog puppets with our student teacher from the University of Akron, Ms. Nicole. 

Our last week in November, although a brief one, was probably the most memorable. Mr. C and I had an amazing Thanksgiving Feast with our class. We spent the morning discussing what we were thankful for. Most of our students expressed their thankfulness for their families and friends, however we had some additional thanks from students that made us chuckle. Chas was thankful that he was able to go to the beach this year and for all of his video games, Ava gave many thanks for her purses, while Abbey gave special thanks to the other Thanksgiving meat, chicken! Nathan was thankful for his inflatable snowman, Allie for Hello Kitty and Jack truly expressed his sincere thanks for all the money in the world! We also had the pleasure to have Jackson's mom come in and help the class create a fun harvest corn craft.  By this point of the day, the students were ready to sit down and share in our yummy Thanksgiving meal. The entire class sat down and ate together as a thankful Room 24 family! This day and everyday, I was thankful for special moments like this.....sharing time with my beautiful class! 

Enrichment Programs