The History Of Halloween and Pilgrim Virtual Field Trip

I have a lot to share in one little post. I don't want anyone to miss anything they might want to use in their educational adventures. If you go to Scholastic, you can sign up for a free Thanksgiving virtual tour with educational resources. The first tour is Wed Nov 2nd, so I am sharing the link so you can sign up in time. We did it last year too, but the link didn't work great and they have added more stuff and updated the tour. They will send you email reminders so you don't miss any episodes.

Monday is of course Halloween. While I do not consider Halloween a holiday many people refer to it as such. Have you ever wondered why Halloween is even celebrated? The History Channel has put together an awesome show so you can find out. You can view it below or Tivo it Oct 31st at 10 PM on the History Channel.

One more Tivo alert, Nov 7th at 6 AM the History Channel will be having a documentary to cover Veteran's Day, called The True Story of Veterans Day. There is a teacher's guide that goes along with the documentary, but it is a pdf file that I am not sure I am supposed to share. But, you could go to the History Channel website and get the teacher guide there. We will be doing this one as well.

We have been learning about pumpkins lately. Those of you who are used the themed units then you know that there are a ton of different ways to cover a topic. We have painted on pumpkins, learned how pumpkins grow, looked at some pumpkin recipes, made pumpkin crafts and coloring pages. I want to make homemade pumpkin pie but I am not optimistic that this is something I can achieve. If anyone knows of a super easy homemade pumpkin pie recipe for a novice please share it with me.

Happy Saturday, everyone.

Free Educational Thanksgiving Activities

Today I am sharing a couple of free Thanksgiving activities for kids. These are awesome. Next Tuesday, on the 16th, Scholastic is having a free virtual field trip called the First Thanksgiving. It is about 30 min long, and you can sign up by clicking here. Then on November 24th the History Channel will be telling the Real Story of Thanksgiving at 8/7 central. You will need to remember to watch it, or record it, Tivo is wonderful for this. If you homeschool your children these are both awesome resources.

Today DJ did the next chapter in his Story of the World Ancient Times book, with activities. I love the Scholastic website, and he did Amelia Earhart, and the colonies on there today as well. This definitely a favorite. He also did an art lesson on drawing dragons.

Caitlin began her dinosaur lapbook by cutting out pictures of dinosaurs from a Nat Geo magazine, and gluing them into her folder. When we took our trip to the library yesterday, I found an awesome learn to draw book about dinosaurs. She drew a beautiful dinosaur for the cover of her lapbook. This lapbook will be an extended activity for her, with new drawings, and printables added as we go. Her weather/seasons lapbook continues as well. Caitlin spent a good deal of time this morning socializing with her new bunny. The bunny now comes to the edge of his cage and even came out to sit by her all by himself. She is still a little nervous holding him. Even though it is a small bunny she has very small hands, and is afraid to drop him.

All in all a great week so far. Tomorrow we are going on a field trip to the Aquarium. This is a first major field trip in some time. I can not wait to share the pictures.