Hello readers and thank you for stopping by my blog Be The Difference. I am a children’s book author and mother to three young children. I am dedicated to spreading the important messages in my books to children around the world. I strive to make a difference in my own home by spending time teaching my children character traits using age appropriate activities and quality children’s literature. I am sharing these lessons with you, week-by-week so that you can do the same. Let’s provide our children with tools they can use when they go out into the world and face difficult situations. Let’s give them a chance to grow up to be Problem Solvers! I would love to connect with you and continue this conversation—please see links at the bottom of this post— Maria Dismondy
What is Thanksgiving?
Each year on the fourth Thursday in November, Americans gather for a day of feasting, football and family. While today’s Thanksgiving celebrations would likely be unrecognizable to attendees of the original 1621 harvest meal, it continues to be a day for Americans to come together around the table—albeit with some updates to pilgrim’s menu.
Fun Fact: My husband and I were married on Thanksgiving weekend and our 10 year anniversary falls on Thanksgiving this year. 🙂
From www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving
Book I am using with this lesson:
How I used this book to teach about Thanksgiving
Book: Read or listen to the book with your child.
Discuss: This book does not teach about the holiday of Thanksgiving. I have a favorite book to teach about why we celebrate Thanksgiving called Thanksgiving is For Giving Thanks.
This book by Lisa McCourt is about being thankful. It is in my top 5 books that I will hold onto forever being a mother. The little girl in the story goes on and on trying to guess what her mother is MOST thankful for and come to find out, it is HER!!!! I love this story because it gives examples, page after page, as to things this mother is thankful for. The book leaves plenty of room for discussion about what in our own lives we are grateful to have.
Craft: We will be making this beautiful tree with handprints and list what we are thankful for on the leaves. Find more crafts on my Thanksgiving Pinterest Board.
Activity: Roll a Pilgrim is a fun game to play that reinforces adding and numeration for young children.
Product I’ve created to go along with this lesson: Gratitude Lunchbox Notes (FREE)
Video to teach Thanksgiving: Thankfulness
To find out more about how you can teach character to your students or children:
https://www.pinterest.com/mariadismondy/character-development/
Learn more about the #TakingCareThurs initiative here: http://journaloflaura.weebly.com/what-is-takingcarethurs.html
Continue this conversation on character by joining our Private Facebook Group here https://mariadismondy.com/resources/
Visit my TeachersPayTeacher Store to see products to help support character education: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Be-The-Difference