Celebrate Thanksgiving in your classroom by writing thank you notes. Students can help you compose letters to parents and classroom volunteers; school staff such as the librarian, secretary and custodian; and community leaders such as your local fire fighters and police officers. Provide crayons, markers and glitter so students can decorate the cards. Help students who can write their names sign the inside.
Teach students about the settlers who celebrated the first Thanksgiving. Use a map to show students where the settlers lived at the Plymouth Colony in present-day Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Tell students about the Native Americans who lived in the region and helped the settlers learn to survive in their new habitat. Show pictures of the clothes they wore and their homes. Provide clothing, toy fishing poles and gardening tools, and encourage students to pretend to be Native Americans and pilgrims preparing for the winter.
Talk with students about their favorite Thanksgiving foods. Discuss foods traditionally eaten during Thanksgiving like turkey, pumpkin pie and stuffing. Ask students about other foods they enjoy with their family during the holiday. Tell students about the first Thanksgiving, and the foods the pilgrims ate at the feast. Give each child a paper plate, pictures of food from magazines, and art supplies like markers and crayons. Ask each child to cover their plate with their favorite Thanksgiving foods, then create a Thanksgiving feast display by hanging each project on a classroom bulletin board.
Celebrate National Family Literacy Day on November 1 with plenty of reading and book-related activities; invite parents and families to take part. Read books aloud, play audio books or enjoy cartoons featuring book characters. Write a story together as a class and ask children to create illustrations. Provide plenty of books in the reading center of your classroom for students to look at during free time. Create a writing center equipped with lined and unlined paper, pencils, markers and crayons for students to practice writing their letters.
November is Native American Heritage Month, so take the opportunity to teach students about Native American cultures. Read stories and poems about Native Americans during circle time. Bring in photographs of wigwams, long houses, tepees and other Native American homes. Discuss building methods and the materials used in the construction of these homes. Encourage students to create their own replicas with soft clay and wooden dowels.
Encourage children and families to collect food to hand out to needy families. Gather large empty boxes and cover them with white paper. Invite your preschoolers to help decorate the boxes, then ask students, parents, teachers and school personnel to donate non-perishable food items. If possible, set up a table outside a local grocery store to collect food, or at least advertise a collection box in your school's administration building.