Pilgrim Cat ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

Pilgrim Cat
By Carol Antoinette Peacock
Illustrated by Doris Ettlinger
(Albert Whitman & Company, 2004)

Did cats travel on the Mayflower?

Explore the lives of pilgrim travelers on their journey to the New World. Meet Faith, a fictional character based on historical documents. As she waits to set sail, Faith notices a cat chasing a mouse. Both end up on the Mayflower.

Faith adopts the cat and calls him Pounce. Pounce is her constant companion by the end of the journey - through storms, illness, winter, and life in a new country. One day Pounce disappears. The surprise ending of what happened to Pounce will delight cat lovers.

Historical facts are woven into this tale of settling the New World. The story is based on research done at the Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Enjoy Pilgrim Cat with young readers as you learn and use your imagination.

KID KANDY:

Visit Plimoth Plantation

Not everyone lives close enough to visit the Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts. But almost everyone has access to a computer or electronic tablet.

How about a virtual field trip?

1. Ask a parent or older child to help you.

2. Visit plimoth.org/virtual-tours and http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/thanksgiving-virtual-field-trip.

3. Go on a virtual tour of the Plimoth Plantation. Explore the website to find other interesting information.

4. Compare the illustrations and information found in Pilgrim Cat to what you viewed on the website.

What did you learn that was new?
What was most interesting to you?
Would you like to live back in the days of the Pilgrims? Why or why not?
Can you think of one thing you would like to try to do like the pilgrims?

Did you find out? Did cats travel with the pilgrims to the new world?

Clifford's Thanksgiving Visit - aka - What's Important at Thanksgiving?

Clifford's Thanksgiving Visit
by Norman Bridwell (Scholastic Inc., 1993)

Clifford, the beloved giant red dog, loves his family. Emily Elizabeth is especially close to his heart. But what about Thanksgiving when Emily Elizabeth flies to visit her grandparents and Clifford cannot go? Imagine Clifford in a plane!

Clifford embraces the season and fights the normal adventure of travel on the Thanksgiving weekend to visit his mother in the big city. Traffic jams, parades, football games, turkey dinner - all are a part of his Thanksgiving travel. But what is most important to Clifford?

Emily Elizabeth. And his family.

Yes, Clifford is a picture book character, and I hear has his own cartoon on television - though I have yet to see it. But Clifford knows what is valuable.

Let's concentrate on that this Thanksgiving. Family and friends.

Tell someone you love them.
Greet the neighbors.
Shake hands.
Smile at people you see walking down the street and in the stores.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Turkey for Thanksgiving - Picture Book + Activity

A Turkey for Thanksgiving
By Eve Bunting (Scholastic Inc., 1991)

I love this picture book!

Mr. and Mrs. Moose are hosting friends for Thanksgiving Dinner. Mrs. Moose has always wanted a real, live turkey for dinner. Aided by his friends, Mr. Moose heads off to hunt for the real, live turkey that lives near the river.

Of course, he is successful. Mr. Moose herds Turkey home for dinner. And then what the reader understands to be true changes dramatically.

With adorable illustrations (Diane de Groat) and clever word plays, Eve Bunting delivers a holiday classic. My kinder students were able to understand the play on words that make up this story. They delighted in hearing about the Moose family Thanksgiving in A Turkey for Thanksgiving.

I'm sure you will enjoy it as well.

Celebrate like Mr. and Mrs. Moose

Decorate your table. Look through the book for ideas. Make and display one or more of the following:

~ make paper tube pilgrims with markers, glue, and construction paper

~ make a stand-up turkey (tape to a wooden block to make it stand)

~ display nuts, corn, and fall nature items arranged on a wooden tray

~ hang dried flowers, grasses, acorns, and pinecones around the room

~ paint wooden candle holders with fall colors; add candles (Adults only should light candles.)

~ help arrange chairs for table seating

~ make name cards with cardstock and skinny markers

Decorate and enjoy a festive Thanksgiving, just like Mr. and Mrs. Moose.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is For Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is For Giving Thanks by Margaret Sutherland
(Scholastic Inc., 2000)

Thanksgiving is for giving thanks! This book perfectly gives examples that young children can identify with and understand. I am all for books that help preschoolers and young readers learn about some of the things we do as adults and families.

Like Thanksgiving. Why do we have Thanksgiving? Why should we be thankful? What is thankful?

I totally agree with the need for preschoolers to begin on that lifelong journey of getting outside of themselves and thinking about other people. The idea of saying Thank you! is an excellent skill and I believe, a necessary component of good manners.

We enjoy reading Thanksgiving is For Giving Thanks and talking about things for which we are thankful. It's the right time of the year for giving thanks.

(Though, like Christmas, we should act like it is Thanksgiving all the year round.)

Thanks, Margaret Sutherland, for this simple, delightful book.

Being Thankful Thanksgiving Activity

How about a countdown to Thanksgiving activity? Let's stretch out the thinking-about-being-thankful fun.

1. Check the calendar to see how many days there are in November until Thanksgiving Day. Or you could just use the total number of days in November - 30.

2. Make a construction or scrapping paper chain with your chosen number of links, one per day.

3. Attach the chain to a turkey picture or family photo or something that is important to your family. Set an empty glass jar beside the chain and picture.

4. Each day, tear off one chain link. Ask your child to share one thing for which he or she is thankful. Print what is said on the link. You can let each child list something and add them all to the same link. Put the link in the glass jar.

5. Continue through your number of chain links, taking time to be thankful each day. At the end of the days, look at the filled jar. Discuss all of the things for which you and your family are thankful.

6. Pray and give thanks for all good things.

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.
~ Psalm 92:1

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day - Book + Activities

Thanksgiving Day by Anne Rockwell (Scholastic Inc., 1999)
Illustrated by Lizzy Rockwell

Thanksgiving may be one of my most favorite holidays. The season has usually changed to winter, though winter does not officially start until December. We sometimes have snow. The food is delicious and abundant. We have friends and family visiting with us. We get to decorate for Christmas right after dinner. And watch our first Christmas DVD of the year.

And there are so many good, fun books about Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day is an adorable story about a classroom of children retelling the story of Thanksgiving - by putting on a play for family and friends. I love how the children act out the different parts for the drama. Thanksgiving Day is an easy to share recount of Thanksgiving, perfect for younger listeners and readers. Details, but not too many details.

Want to know what first captured my attention to this book?
The cover! I love it.

Here are a few Thanksgiving activities I like to do with my students (or my grands). Happy Thanksgiving!

~ Make a turkey. Let your child paint a paper plate brown. While it dries, trace big feather shapes on patterned scrapbook paper. Help your child cut them out. Trace basic shapes for the head and neck, eyes, beak, wattle, and feet on colored scrap paper. Help glue the feathers and body parts to the paper plate. Sometimes I have had to use a stapler to make them not fall off in transit. Hang your turkey where everyone can enjoy it.

~ Use thankful feathers to voice thankful thoughts. Let your child decorate a paper lunch sack. Fill it with several feathers. Take turns pulling out a feather and telling about one thing for which you are thankful. Give hints (grandma, your home, the garden, the car, snow, and so on) and expect some silly answers. But if your child says he/she is thankful for something very interesting, he/she probably really means it and gets great joy from that interesting thing. Pray and say thank you to God for all He has done and given.

~ Act like a turkey. Wear brown or gray clothes. Gather up all of your scarves - winter and dressy. Stick them in your child's collar and pretend they are feathers. Put on a long tube sock and make a beak with your hands. Walk around (with your child, of course) squawking like a turkey. Make your hand do the talking and wiggle your bottom and head to make the feathers dance. Be silly! It's Thanksgiving, after all!

Gobble, gobble.

The turkey is a funny bird.
His head goes wobble, wobble.
All he says is just one word -
Gobble, gobble, gobble.