This book takes place in a New England town where a young girl lives with her grandmother. Maggies grandmother learns not to judge people on appearances.
We spent the month reading this book and doing activities about thanksgiving, cranberries and New England. Take a look at what we did!
Geography-(New England) We placed the story disk on our world map to show where the story takes place. Lily and Aj reviewed where New England is by coloring a map. Playing New England bingo taught us about different historic sites in the area.
History-( Thanksgiving) We learned about the origins,traditions and history of thanksgiving. We read books about thanksgiving, turkeys and watched movies. Having a Thanksgiving snack pilgrim style was a blast. We made turkeys, colored books,thought about what we were thankful for and played with paper dolls.
Language-(Onomatopeia,Adjectives) We talked about words in the book that make the same sound as an object.( Example: Snarl, Buzz). We also made a list of words that describe cranberries.(ps - not all are adjectives but I wrote down what the kids said)
Science-(seasons,cranberries)
We talked about the fall and what characteristics we associate with the season. We learned about cranberries. How they grow and what products they make are some of the facts we learned. We also went on a field trip to Green Briar in sandwich ma to watch them make cranberry Jam and to sample the final product.Lily and Aj loved making cranberry globes and reading a few books.
Mathematics-(measuring skills,estimation,counting) We made Cranberry bread from the recipe on the back page of the book. We also made Cranberry sauce. Lily and Aj used measuring cups and spoons for all of the ingredients. We also did a work sheet on estimation. We guessed how many cranberries were in a bag. Then we counted them. The kids spent an afternoon making their own cranberry bog and harvesting cranberries. They counted cranberries,measured water, determined that cranberries float and bounce.
Art- (warm and cold color palettes) The illustrators of the book used warm color tones throughout the story. In keeping with the subject of thanksgiving we colored pictures of Turkeys using both warm and cool colors. After coloring the turkeys we compared and contrasted them. We also talked about how each color palette makes us feel.
