Today we worked in Danny's part of our school community, his classroom. We rearranged some of his hanging elements and added a few curriculum based items such as a new alphabet chart, months of the year poster, color word poster, and an interchangeable calendar. This calendar will help promote continued learning and understanding of our past and present Social Studies concepts. Danny was pleased at being included in adding these elements to his room. Next, we continued our studies of Thanksgiving by reading a book entitled, The Story of the Pilgrims by Katharine Ross. This gave us a good reminder of the Pilgrims' journey. We then read a book using real photo reenacted pictures called, Samuel Eaton's Day - A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy by Kate Waters. This book shows the life of a Pilgrim boy getting dressed, completing his chores, and eating with his family. The real photos provided an excellent representation of their lives long ago. To honor the Pilgrim, Danny then used templates to cut and assemble his own Pilgrim hat. We also studied the other group involved with the first Thanksgiving, the Native Americans. We read portions of the book, The Very First Americans by Cara Ashrose which went through the various tribes of Native Americans. We looked at their homes and clothes. Danny then enjoyed a fun foam craft. He decorated a cut-out Native American boy figure. The stickers helped us see the types of clothes the Native Americans wore. We reviewed, The First Thanksgiving, information from Danny's Florida Studies Weekly- Week 10 packet. We reviewed brief elements of the Pilgrim's journey, where they landed, and the feast. Danny then completed his five-question follow-up assessment. On these FL Studies Weekly assessments, I read Danny the question and then I present the two choices listed with A and B. He then bubbles in his choice. At times, he is a little apprehensive about making a choice but I encourage him through the process and then we review the work together. He's doing a great job with the assessments and they cover information we have just discussed, serving for a very appropriate level of challenge. We then completed page 53 about Colonial Life in Danny's Harcourt Social Studies workbook. Danny examined the picture and found items that would not be part of life long ago, such as an airplane, computer, and truck. We had a lot of laughs reading, 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey. In this funny story, a group of school children visit Farmer Nugget. When they realize his 8 turkeys will be the Thanksgiving dinner, the children hide them under their shirts and sneak them off to safety! We completed a worksheet in which he chose pictures of items the Pilgrims would need to bring on their trip. He did a great job choosing the correct items and eliminating the nonsense pictures. Danny chose a fun book called, The Thanksgiving Monster by Alison Inches. This cute book featured some of The Muppets characters and reminded us that even though the feast may not work out as planned, just being together is the most important part. Finally, we finished off the day with another funny book, A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman in which the turkeys take off in hot air balloons to avoid becoming the main course on Thanksgiving! Danny really enjoyed this book and had fun finding the various turkeys throughout the pages.