Whether you’re visiting friends and relatives or staying home this Thanksgiving, the holiday is a powerful time to stop and express gratitude for the gifts around us. First grade social science curriculum includes lessons on this holiday message, but there’s no place like home to make it come alive. Around this time of year, lots of families make or purchase a wreath in seasonal russets and gold. This year, why not consider getting some homemade help from your first grader—and providing some extra reading and writing practice while you’re at it?
What You Need:
- Construction paper in strong fall colors
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Permanent marker
What You Do:
- Help your first grader lay her hand down, fingers apart, and trace around it on several different colors. Then have her cut out a set of twelve hands (one for each month of the year).
- Tilt each paper hand slightly and arrange the group to form a wreath shape—but don’t glue yet! On each hand, have your child practice a first grade reading and spelling skill by writing one of the months of the year, starting with January at the bottom and ending, clockwise, with December. If this is too difficult, you can help; but do try to insist that your child write the first letter, to reinforce phonics learning.
- Below each month name, have your child write one thing she feels thankful for in that month of the year. Maybe it’s snow; maybe it’s a birthday; maybe it’s a special place the family visits. Whatever it is, help your first grader spell out a word or two for every month, and stand by to applaud.
This Thanksgiving, join your child in this “hands on” gratitude. Put the wreath on a wall or door near the table, and be thankful together. Invite your child to read what she’s written for everyone to enjoy. Tends to make the food taste just that much better…and it’s one more boost for your young learner, too.
By Julie Williams
Julie Williams, M.A. Education, taught middle and high school History and English for seventeen years. Since then, she has volunteered in elementary classrooms while raising her two sons and earning a master's in school administration. She has also been a leader in her local PTA.
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