Thanksgiving Resources

Wow, Thanksgiving is practically upon us!  

Can you believe it?  After that, Christmas, then another year!  Life, please slow down?

 

Well, I want to spend the next 7 school days celebrating Thanksgiving. It's a great opportunity to "throw in" a little history, as well as enjoy the things for which we are grateful!

How do I squeeze all this in? Well, I always start with loads of books.  Here's a collection of books I've loved. Some are fun, some are informational. I like to have a lot of books for each interest and each reading level so they all can enjoy them at independent reading time!

                                                            

Books are always a great start. Movies are another fun way to enjoy the holidays!

See the above image for a link to BrainPOP Jr's free Thanksgiving video! Don't you love BrainPOP?

Here are a couple of movies I've found on Youtube with a Thanksgiving theme.  Feel free to preview them and choose what is right for your group!

HERE are some videos from Scholastic that have been filmed at Plimouth Plantation. These are definitely worth a watch!

I try to squeeze in the holidays in all the subjects. This resource has loads of math and literacy activities with the Thanksgiving theme I'll be using these all week!

Thanksgiving No Prep Activities

 

There are a few Thanksgiving themed items in my November Science and Social Studies Printables!

 

There's an information mini-book about turkeys, complete with fun facts, vocabulary practice, comprehension questions, and a reflection page. (My kiddos LOVED this, especially the fun facts!)

 

Plus, there's a sorting activity, where the children have to decide if facts might have happened back in 1621, or if it couldn't have happened back then. Be prepared for giggles!

 

 

Here's a math game with a Turkey theme to practice those +9 facts. My kids LOVE this one!

Turkey Nines!

 

Here's a freebie version of the above game:

Turkey Nines Freebie!

 

I'm a big believer in having children illustrate ideas to help internalize learning. Here's my Thanksgiving Story, Informational Text in kid's language, for them to visualize and illustrate.

 

I can't let Thanksgiving go by without a reference to football! When I was a kid, we always had a football game in the morning, and a turkey in the afternoon. (My dad was a football coach!)

Here are links to a couple of football games my kids love!

Football Game Board and Cards

Counting to 1,000, plus short and long vowels:

Here's a freebie version of the above set:

Football Game Board and Counting to 1,000 Cards

 

Here's is a favorite with my boys:  Football Past and Present Verbs! Yes, all these verbs have something to do with football!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Few Thoughts About Fluency and a Freebie

Fluency is a big buzzword these days. I've seen it used for reading stories, decoding, and even math facts!

Since I attended my second session of the LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) training a few weeks ago, I've thought a lot about reading fluency.

LETRS training was one of the best PD training ever!

Studies indicate a direct relation between fluency and comprehension.

No surprises there, it makes sense that struggling readers would struggle with comprehension.  If they have a hard time figuring out the words, it's not very likely they will put together the meaning easily.

The experts define reading fluency with 4 phrases:

1. automaticity in word recognition

2. accurate word recognition

3. rate (speed) of reading

4. prosody, or expression

So, how do we build fluency?

• Practice both phonetic patterns as well as sight words. Feel free to download my short a/ long a practice freebie by clicking the graphic above or click here: Vowel Word Work Freebie (You'll need to sign up for my emails, which means you'll get plenty more freebies!)

• Practice reading phrases and sentences a few words at a time. (Phrasing)

• Practice reading simple paragraphs with expression.  

• Oral Reading with a partner.  (using text of appropriate difficulty... "just right" text! 95 - 100% accuracy) 

• Monitored Independent Reading

 

This full resource has all 5 vowel patterns: long and short vowels, with real words as well as nonsense words. Vowel Word Work: Word Sort and Fluency Practice

What do you do to build fluency?