Mayflower Flapbook with Five in a Row's "Cranberry Thanksgiving"

11.18.2011

Yet another wonderful book was read this week through our Five In A Row Curriculum-- "Cranberry Thanksgiving" by Wende and Harry Devlin.  I definitely plan on reading this every year around Thanksgiving.  

It is a story about a young girl and her grandmother getting ready for their Thanksgiving feast; each invited a guest--because "friendship and sharing were important."  

To Grandmother's surprise, Maggie invited the man who was after her famous Cranberry Bread recipe, ... or so she thought.  It turns out that the man who "smelled of lavender and had a gold cane" was after Grandma's special Cranberry Bread recipe-- not "Maggie's clam-digging friend , Mr. Whiskers." 

Never judge a book by it's cover.

... And, Grandma's special recipe is in the back of the book... SHH!  Don't tell ; )

Cranberry Thanksgiving Activities

Homeschooling with Five in a Row 



Social Studies


  • Colored the states that make up New England; it's really cute to hear T try to say some of the names!
  • Just like Grandmother found out that judging solely on looks can be deceptive, T did too....


**This idea was not my own!  I found it in the archives on the Five In a Row website.  I took two bags-- one that looked pretty and one that was an ugly plastic grocery store bag; the surprise was that inside the pink bag was a dirty diaper and the plastic grocery bag had a chocolate chip cookie in it!  T of course chose the pink bag because, "it was pink."  It may have been pretty on the outside, but the inside was rather yucky!**
  • Talked about Thanksgiving and we started a "Thankful Turkey;"  T adds a feather with something he is thankful for onto the Turkey everyday leading up to Thanksgiving.  Should I be concerned that I was the FOURTH thing he named-- after little sis, toys, and Daddy?!
  • Thanksgiving Timeline
  • Watched a short Mayflower Deconstruction video-- very informative!
  • Played Sail the Mayflower game for a little math and social studies interaction : )
  • Learned about who the Pilgrims were and the boat they sailed on, The Mayflower.  T colored a picture of the Mayflower, but I wanted something more interactive so I made a puzzle and then turned it into a flapbook!  I think it turned out cute!
**It was a tedious project, but it was worth it!  I only wish I had used cardstock instead of regular construction paper.  First I cut out my puzzle pieces.  Next I laid them onto the blue piece of construction paper and traced where everything should go.  Then I mixed all the pieces up and had Tyler put it back together.  Finally, I glued the edges of each flap piece in place thus making it a lift-a-flap book, too!  And as noted in the picture, I wrote Mayflower facts onto the blue paper before I had T put the puzzle together.**
Mayflower flapbook

Mayflower activity
Lift a flap to learn something new!


Language Arts

  • Made a list of adjectives that described our Cranberries.
Cranberry Thanksgiving Go along activities
  • Completed a cute "I have....., but the Pilgrims did not" writing activity.
pilgrims activity
  • Reviewed Similes (I'm not concerned that T knows the term, but more to have an awareness of the concept) with a fill-in-the-blank worksheet:
The slipper was as soft as a blanket.
The water was as cold as the floor.
I ran as fast as a cat.
The knock on the door was as loud as fireworks.
The cloud looked like a feather.
  • Talked about 'repetition' in a story.  Lately I've had "Down By the Bay" in my head (don't ask why!) and since the first line repeats throughout the song, we read that to reinforce the concept.
  • Copywork and our Narration cube

Math

  • Turkey Addition Sort.  I had T use a number line if he needed help figuring out an answer and he did great!
  • addition worksheet

  • Turkey Grid Game
  • Odd/Even Turkey Worksheet-- I don't know where I found it, but it was great practice.
  • Worked on measuring skills while making our Cranberry Bread!
cranberry bread
Workin' hard!
Cranberry Thanksgiving bread
Grandmother's Secret Recipe!

Art

  • The manual suggested a lesson on the Warm Color Palette, so I had T color a turkey in reds, yellows, and oranges.  To compare 'feelings', I colored a turkey in Cool colors.  Warm colors are much more exciting, vibrant, and fun!  The Warm Palette turkey made him feel happy and the Cool Palette turkey made him feel sad!  So interesting how colors can shape how we feel!  And it's also interesting to learn that T already has a "picture" for how everything should look-- he had a hard time keeping to his Warm colors as he wanted green for the grass and blue for the sky!
cool vs. warm art project
Cool (not cold) Palette vs. Warm Palette
turkey art
turkey craft

Science

  • Learned about Turkeys! 
  • Cranberry Sink or Float activity; watched a few videos on YouTube about Cranberry farms.
Cranberry Thanksgiving activity
Our own Cranberry Bog!
  • Reviewed the Four Seasons: I pulled out a puzzle I had found a loooooooong time ago-- before Pinterest (sigh!) so i am not sure where it is from, and had T complete it.  Then we each took turns playing, "What Season Am I."
  • There's actually a few more ideas in the manual that I think we'll do next week!
 I hope you check this book out, if you haven't already, it really is a sweet book with many lessons to be learned!

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Comments

  1. WOW! You do a lot of awesome work! I haven't tried BFIAR yet, though I've been hearing about it almost everywhere I go. Thanks for sharing in such detail what you do, I'll definitly be back for more!
    littleadventurespreschool.blogspot.com

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  2. Looks like a beautiful book - I have to check it out. WAY fun activities! Love the mayflower boat and turkey lacing activity!! Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Have a WONDERFUL thanksgiving & I can't wait to see what you link up next!
    Beth =-)

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  3. What a great lesson! I will definitely have to check out that book. Thank you so much for sharing at Crafty Moms Share!

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  4. I love your Thanksgiving themed lesson plan! The idea for the lift a flap boat was so cool!

    Stopped in from Crafty Moms Share.

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  5. I love everything you did! What a wonderful unit.

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  6. So fun, Kristina! You put a lot effort into this row! Great job! Love how creative you were with the Mayflower flapbook and that cranberry bread looks yum - I can't wait until we make it next week. Hope you have a happy Cranberry Thanksgiving! =)

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  7. I love the craft ideas!

    I hear you about being fourth- I often get left out or end up last in prayers at night. :) I think it's easy to take mamas for granted.

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  8. Thank you all for your sweet comments and taking the time to read my post... it was a longer one. We had a lot of fun though : )

    Looking forward to seeing your row, Michelle!

    and Tiffany, I'm glad I am not the only one that is usually *last* to be named ; )

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