More Thanksgiving Fun & a few Freebies

I can't believe that it is almost Thanksgiving.  It still feels like it should be October - this year is flying by!   

I have blogged about this fun thanksgiving activity before but this year I have added a few more fun activities to my Pass the Turkey product and wanted to share it again!  

I love projects that involve families and this one is my absolute favorite!  

In social studies we have spent the month sharing about our cultures and learning about each other's family traditions.  This week we will focus on understanding what it means to be thankful and will create Thankful Turkeys to send home for this special project.  

Here are some pictures from last year where students created their turkeys and wrote what they were thankful for.  Once the turkeys were finished they took the turkeys home,  and brought them the table on Thanksgiving day and ask their family what they were thankful for.
We are going to make our Thankful Turkeys tomorrow and  will send  them letter home on to explain this project a remind them to have students bring turkey back to school on Monday. 


  

Here is a completed Thankful Turkey from last year:

The responses were wonderful and filled with love.  I was totally crying by the time we were done sharing!  A few parents told me at the end of the year that the turkeys were one of their favorite projects all year and that they planned on bringing their "thankful turkey" out each year. 


I have just updated my Pass the Turkey Please product to include some other fun activities to do with my kiddies this week!

Hop over to my TPT store to check it out!!  

Here is are a few other fun Thanksgiving FREEBIES!

To go with the Thankful Freebie, here is a link to a safeshare read aloud of the story Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson!

 

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and enjoy spending time with your families!

Back from Vegas with a RENEWED LOVE of Teachers Pay Teachers!

I have been back from Vegas since Monday but today is the first day I have had to myself because I had leadership meetings at my school all week!  Boy, do I miss Vegas…

I had a blast in Vegas and spent lots of quality time with 2 of my favorite TPT sellers, Kim Row and Carrie Shoenfelder!  These ladies and I spent the whole week laughing and touring around town enjoying all the amazing and often distracting (squirrel) sites!  We won some money from the $1 roulette tables and penny slots and we even got to ride in 2 different limos!  We really felt like high rollers!

The highlight of our trip was the opportunity to participate in the first ever Teachers Pay Teachers conference!  Honestly, I can't believe it was just 1 week ago today!   Sadly, we missed the big blogger meet up because we had tickets to a show but the whole day of the conference was filled with meeting amazing teacher sellers and some pretty fantastic break-out sessions!

We were treated to breakfast and all gathered together to hear the key note speakers before our sessions started.  Being in the room with over 750 teacher sellers was pretty cool; the energy was electric!  Each of the speakers got up and graciously shared their story with us in ways that made us laugh and touched our hearts!  The dedication that the company has to teachers is impressive, the company truly consists of a group of people who "get" what we do and want to help us make a difference in not on each other's lives but in the lives of the students who ulitimatly use the materials shared on the site.  

I got tears in my eyes after Deanna Jump and Paul Edelman spoke.  They were both so genuine and humble in their keynote speeches that we all sat there feeling like we were listening to an old friend tell us a familiar story.  Deanna, Paul and every TPT employee at the conference were all so friendly and approachable.  It was amazing to meet them all in person, and of course I had to get my picture taken with some of them...

Teachers Pay Teachers did an amazing job of pulling us all together, inspiring us and motivating us to be our best - just as they do on their website!  The site really is more than teacher sellers and teacher buyers, it is truly a collaborative world filled with not only professional but often personal development!  

I simply can not wait until next year's conference!!