Gobble Gobble!

Okay, okay, we may not have even celebrated Halloween yet, but just like all the retail stores out there, I'd like to hop on the Thanksgiving bandwagon!  November 1st is only a week away, which means I need to start planning my Thanksgiving dinner.  This year is a special one, and should be interesting, because for the first time yet, I'll be hosting a family get-together and serving a FEAST!  ...Scary!  So far I know my mom is going to bring gravy, mashed potatoes, her delicious sweet potato casserole with the brown sugar crunchy topping (my FAVORITE!), and Swedish apple pie.  YUM!  Sam and I will take care of the turkey, and Sam is hoping his mom will make her pumpkin pie, but ...well, the rest has yet to be decided.  I'm starting to get some great ideas from good ol' Pinterest!

Lemony Green Beans- GB tossed with olive oil, lemon juice & rind, onions, and basil

Glazed Butternut Squash- Cooked in apple cider! Mmmm!

Cornbread Stuffing

 Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting- I know, RIDICULOUS!

White Autumn Spice Sangria

Everything looks TOO GOOD!

I also have been starting to get my act together with Thanksgiving TpT projects/activities. I just finished my first one, called Invite a Pilgrim to Thanksgiving Dinner, which is a creative and persuasive writing project meant for 3rd-6th graders. 

The basic premise of the project is students need to write a persuasive letter inviting a Plimoth Plantation Pilgrim who has time-traveled to the present to their family's Thanksgiving Dinner.  To do this, kiddos need to research The First Thanksgiving.

They will record their findings on the graphic organizer above.  Next, they will fill out a similar GO on their own family's Thanksgiving traditions, and then use a Venn diagram to compare their traditions to The First Thanksgiving.  

After a lot of preliminary work, students will examine and discuss the above example persuasive letter, and eventually write their own.  They will focus on the friendly letter format, writing an introduction to a letter/invitation, using persuasive language, comparing/contrasting, and writing a conclusion. They will be writing across many genres all the while letting their creative juices flow!

This product comes with teacher directions, objective/goal posters written in student-friendly language, vocabulary posters, a scoring rubric, an editing/revising checklist, and final draft paper. 

For the culminating activity, students will create a paper plate turkey invitation to go along with their persuasive letter. Don't you love him?!

Check out my Invite a Pilgrim to Thanksgiving Dinner Project and Craftivity here at TpT!  I hope you enjoy it!

Best Wishes for the week ahead!

XO <3, C