Celebrating Thanksgiving with my first graders has been, by far, my favorite thing yet! As a culminating activity to our Thanksgiving unit, we had a giant Thanksgiving feast to celebrate the season. We made pilgrim hats & bibs to wear for the occasion. The fun feast was catered by one of my favorites…Dickey’s!!!!…and the kids dined on turkey, ham, mac & cheese, green beans, rolls, and homemade cookies {one of the sweet first grade moms made peanut free chocolate chip cookies for the WHOLE grade level…and they were GOOD!} It was such a fun experience for both the kids and their parents…us too!! Can’t wait to celebrate Thanksgiving with my littles again next year! We read a story about the first Thanksgiving before heading out to the feast. It was fun to hear the kids throw in little facts here and there remembering what we’ve learned these last couple of weeks! 
My sweet class…the dang cutest pilgrims I’ve ever seen! 
The “tables” & placemats were set up in the first grade hallway so we could ALL eat together 🙂 
The kids were served by our sweet moms and they just thought it was the coolest thing ever!! 
Such a fun way to tie up everything we’ve learned!! 
*********************************************************************************** Our school held it’s annual Grandparent’s/VIP Day on Friday. This is a day that all the kids, one class at a time, perform songs for their V.I.P’s. {coordinated by our music teacher} This is a HUGE event at our school. After the performance, the parents/grandparents/family members come back to the kids’ classrooms to see all their work and then the kids can leave with their guests for an off campus lunch…and then stay gone for the rest of the day {if they want}. Needless to say, I LOVE this day! A lot goes into getting ready for this special day. My kids wrote about their favorite memory with their VIP and illustrated their writing and we made sure to display all their hard work around the classroom. My favorite was the way we set up their desks. Since we loved those Mayflowers so much, we decided to let them “sail” on their desks… 
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It was a HUGE hit with our VIP’s!!! We’ll definitely do this again next year!! Loved it!
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Great ideas! You are so creative. Loved the "water" on their desks!
Omiword, you are SO impressive! And such an inspiration to me 🙂 I've taught K for the past two years and this is my first year as a 1st grade teacher. I love it, and have to credit you with many of the ideas I've incorporated into my room this Thanksgiving.
I can't say it loud enough: THANK YOU!
DO you happen to have directions to make the adorable hats and bibs?
This is so cute! I'm doing my Thanksgiving with my first graders on Wednesday. No food, but super cute paper turkeys!
How can I make those hats and bibs with my kids!??!!! Any advice/directions! 🙂
LOVE the blog!!!!
http://mrskimbrellsclass.blogspot.com/
I just discovered your blog and I LOVE it! Do you write mostly for other teachers or your parents? You have so many creative ideas and you're so enthusiastic about your class. Where in TX do you teach? I teach first in Austin.
http://www.peasefirstgrade.blogspot.com
Oh my goodness! I love your ideas! We are having our big History Harvest tomorrow and all of our kids are dressing up. I will post about it tomorrow. 🙂
Very cute ideas. I may have to include some of these into my aresenal for next year. It needs a pick me up!
Again, I love your stuff! What are those adorable shirts your kids are wearing w/ your name on them?
I love these ideas– and your whole blog. We are doing a feast tomorrow, too, and I am looking forward to seeing my little pilgrims in their hats. 🙂
Wow! I am new follower and love your blog! So excited to hear about your teaching ideas.
I saw your blog from a link on proteacher. This is an amazing resource. Thank you so much for sharing your hard work and wonderful ideas.
I just barely found your site. I'm so excited! I teach second grade and I can't wait to use your ideas. I just wish I would have found this site at the beginning of the year. I can't wait to see what you do for December. THANK YOU!
So cute! We are doing our feast next week – do you have a template of your pilgrim costumes? If so I would be so appreciative if you e-mailed it to me racheschmitt@gmail.com
I do not like the one I used last year and have been looking for a new pilgrim outfit! Thanks!!
I too would love to make the hats…any chance you would share the directions? Please! trishacody88@gmail.com
I too would love to make the hats…any chance you would share the directions? Please! trishacody88@gmail.com