Second Story Window

Monday Math + GIVEAWAY!!

Growing up, the focal point of our Thanksgiving decorations was mom's cornucopia. I was fascinated by all the different fabric foods and how they were arranged--especially the mushrooms. I hate mushrooms now, so I'm not sure about the attraction, but I loved to sneak and play with them. :)

Those fabulous 70's prints are as much a part of my Thanksgiving memories as turkey and pumpkin pie!

When I was trying to come up with a design for a Thanksgiving card game, the brightly patterned mushrooms and all their stuffed friends kept coming back to me. Which is how I ended up with this:
It's part of an addition came called Harvest Bounty. Players practice adding numbers--with a Thanksgiving twist!

 

This game is geared toward 6 to 9-year-olds, but by using fewer cards, younger learners could easily play.

Now onto the good stuff...

If you would like to win the Harvest Bounty game PLUS TWO MORE games of your choice, bee bop on over to our Etsy shop and peek around. To be entered in the contest, please leave a comment on this post telling us which two games you would like to own. Contest closes Thursday, November 11 at 10:00 PM MST. We'll announce the winner on Friday.

For 5 extra entries into the contest, do any or all of the following and leave a comment for each:
- subscribe to our blog
- follow us on google friend connect (bottom left of page)
- post about our contest on your blog
- "like" us on facebook
- mention us on facebook
- follow us on twitter and tweet about the giveaway  (include link so we can follow you!)

Please leave a separate comment for each entry!

If you just can't wait until Friday to own your own Harvest Bounty game, starting today it's available for purchase in our Etsy shop.

All games are sent via email. After downloading and printing the file, it's quick and easy to prepare games for use. You may print as many sets as your family or class requires, but please don’t make copies to share with others. Laminating your games will help them last longer.

Turkey Time Part 2

After posting our turkey snack idea and round up of darling edible turkey ideas yesterday we came across even more ideas! We thought it would be a shame not to share a few more of them with you today.

source: Our Best Bites

source: Cookies and Cups

source: The Party Animal

source: My Paper Crane

source: The Family Corner

source: bhg

source: For The Mamas

source: Pillsbury

And a different kind of edible turkey...

source: One Charming Party

Now you've probably got enough snack ideas to have a Turkey treat everyday until Thanksgiving!

Turkey Time

In need of a quick and easy edible craft, I decided that graham crackers would make the perfect base for a turkey themed snack. After some in depth Googling revealed nothing, I had to take matters in my own hands.

It took some trial and error, but I ended up with these guys. You can't see the feathers well, but they're there!


I kept these cute little sandwiches from Family Fun in mind as I did my planning.

I started with some frosting on a bottom layer of cracker. I thought chocolate would be good since turkeys are brown, but I think white would have been more forgiving. Especially with the eyes.

Using a highly technical method, I stuck the ends of pretzel sticks into frosting. Then I put them around the cracker. I cut some feathery shapes from fruit leather and layered those on top. It's easier to cut if you leave the plastic on the fruit leather, but it's tricky to peel it all off afterward.

After the fruit leather, a second graham cracker.


The head is a Nilla Wafer with a candy corn beak. Originally I thought of using M&Ms; for the eyes, but they were too huge. Mini M&Ms; or mini chocolate chips would have been great (especially with that elusive white frosting). Lacking either of those, I fished some black sprinkles out of my Halloween sprinkle set. You can tell they're eyes, and that's all that matters, right?

I still haven't decided if I'm going to do these with my class. It was pretty cheap and I think could do it, but I'm not sure if I can handle the mess. :) My roommates had fun with them, though!

During my research for this little project, I came across tons of turkey themed snacks! Who knew there were so many ways to make a turkey?

Some turkeys use cookies.

source: rachel's blog

source: cakespy

source: Ashley Brown Photography

source: make and takes

Some turkeys use cookies and cupcakes.

source: cakespy

And some turkeys are cookies!

source: nickjr.com

You can make turkeys from Rice Krispies.

source: gimme some oven

source: girltalk

Some turkey snacks can be healthy.

source: the happy raw kitchen

source: make and takes

source: Adventures in Bentomaking

(also check out the Pilgrim girl bento which is so cute I think I need to try one!)

And some turkeys don't need to be edible at all!

source: the Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

We're linked up at to the Play Academy and Thanksgiving Traditions at JDaniel4's Mom.

Wednesday Words: Turkeys Can't Anticipate

One of my favorite Thanksgiving poems is a short one from Jack Prelutsky.

If turkeys thought, they'd run away
A week before Thanksgiving Day.
But turkeys can't anticipate,
And so there's turkey on my plate.

I introduce this poem to the students by showing it on the board or a chart and reading it out loud to them. Then I highlight the word anticipate and ask if anybody knows what this word means. I listen to some of their ideas before showing them the definition: "To feel or realize beforehand; foresee." In other words, anticipate means feeling that something is going to happen. Turkeys should know what happens every year on Thanksgiving day but they don't because they can't anticipate.

Read the poem again this time asking the students to read it with you.

Another definition for anticipate is "To look forward to, especially with pleasure; expect." I tell the students that every year I anticipate Thanksgiving because I love to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on television. It happens every year and I look forward to it, so I anticipate it. I ask them about the things they anticipate at Thanksgiving. The students share what they anticipate with a partner and I make a list on the board.

I point out that many of them shared some Thanksgiving food that they anticipate eating. I give them each a paper plate and ask them to draw on the front of it the foods they anticipate eating. On the back of the plate, I have them copy the poem to remind them of the word anticipate. (You could also save and print the image above for gluing on the back of their plates.)

Inchulata--Hah!

Extension: This lesson is a great opportunity to start one of my favorite vocabulary tools: the "Cool Words We Know" chart. I had it on a long cupboard on the back of my room. Every time we learned or heard a really cool word we would learn the definition and add the word to the chart. Anticipate would definitely be on the "Cool Words We Know" chart.

I anticipate that your students will love this activity!


We're linked up at No Time For Flashcards.