Thanksgiving Book/YouTube Round Up!

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Hi there! I hope everyone has recovered from Halloween and has moved smoothly into the Thanksgiving season. We were a little nervous about the transition for C, but he seems to have accepted that Halloween is over. Thank goodness we can still have pumpkins out until Thanksgiving! Haha!
Thanksgiving is coming up quickly, especially since it is so early this year! I only have 10 more days of school until Thanksgiving break, so I realized that I need to get moving on Thanksgiving. I feel like Thanksgiving is overlooked in the book and YouTube worlds, which makes me sad! I feel Thanksgiving is such a missed opportunity to foster a grateful heart for all we have been blessed with. Even though C is still little, we are trying to have a gratitude jar and engage in conversations around him about what we are thankful for. We are also moving into the Thanksgiving spirit with these sweet books and songs.

  1. Bear Says Thanks




I read this sweet book to my kindergarten and 1st grade students last week. They loved it! It’s a great story to teach about caring for friends and fostering a grateful heart, even when you have nothing to offer in return. We used the book to answer questions and sequence/retell the story. It’s definitely written toward a young audience, so preschool aged kids through early elementary will enjoy it!

2. Pete the Cat: The First Thanksgiving


Since our Halloween Pete the Cat book was such a hit, I picked this one up at Barnes and Noble in hopes that it might appease C when we took away Trick or Pete.  The First Thanksgiving gives a historical retelling of the Thanksgiving story as Pete acts in a school play. While this book is written for an older audience (probably 4-8 years), C enjoys the familiar characters and lifting the flaps in this book. This book is great for asking/answering questions, telling cause and effect and introducing the concept of a school play/talking about feelings that are associated with performing in front of others. This book might sneak it’s way into my speech room next week! :)
3. I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Pie




This book has been a favorite in my speech room for years! When I worked with the preschool population (3-5 years old), I would set up a dialogic reading activity where the kids would take real food and feed an old lady that I set up (more on dialogic reading and using it to engage young children in a future post!). We would also use the food to engage in pretend play and cook/eat Thanksgiving dinner in a play kitchen. This book is great for talking about typical foods that people eat on Thanksgiving. It’s fun for kids of all ages!
Now onto YouTube...
4. Where is Turkey? By LIttle Story Bug
This little video is great for teaching prepositions. The catchy tune will be stuck in your child’s head (I’ve caught many students humming it in the hallway). After viewing a few times, I like to pause and see if my students can fill in where the turkey is hiding.

5. Scarecrow, Scarecrow by The Learning Station

This little song is cute, catchy and great for teaching following simple directions and body parts. It gets a little tricky when it speeds up! C loves it because he is getting into dancing and mimicking dances on TV.

6. Ten Little Turkeys by The Learning Station

This song is great for kids learning how to count or working on simple subtraction/number concepts (one more, one less). I love any song that can help C with counting (he only knows the numbers 3 and 9 now, so we have a long way to go!), and he loves the tune!

What are you doing with your kids to introduce Thanksgiving? I’d love to hear in the comments! Thanks for stopping by! :)

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