We are Thankful Cornucopia Craft

Cornucopia is a weird word. Are you with me? I'm also not a big fan of "horn of plenty" and just as an FYI...cornucopia is Latin for "horn of plenty."

Anyway, with that being said, the cornucopia is an important symbol of Thanksgiving. It means nourishment and abundance. For this reason I am doing a cornucopia craftivity paired up with a lil' thankful writing for a perfect November bulletin board.

That project is combining all kinds of fine motor skills in one.  Here's a quick break down of it all:

I think the marble painting of the leaf is my favorite.

And the tissue paper is tricky for some of your little friends... but very good fine motor practice!

And if you are thinking... is this lady crazy? Marble painting, water colors, tissue paper, corn? What?? If you are not thankful for the mega crafting in kindergarten and first grade... no worries... this little ditty looks nice in what I call "The Simple Version."

Notice... there is a pumpkin in this one that didn't make it in the "Mega Craft Version."

On to the writing.... In the theme of Thanksgiving it is important to share what we are each thankful for.  Which means our finished project will look a lot like this:

On Friday we started this whole process by doing a circle map {without the actual circle shape} of what we are thankful for:

As the kids rattled off different things I was very proud of what they came up with. The only item said that I didn't include was "pizza." I said that it was included as part of "food." I don't usually veto any idea they have.... but I didn't want to start the chain reaction of every favorite food they have ever eaten. I fear we would've gotten off track a little.

The other reason I like doing the group brainstorm session first is that next week when we do the individual writing I will ask them to pick the top two or three things they are thankful for.  In the past, this has usually weeded out things like "toys" not that I am against toys and that will be just fine if it is what they choose.

We will also follow up this whole extravaganza with a cornucopia emergent reader. Like I said... it's a weird word... but the kids like to say it... once they finally get the hang of it. They recognize that it is a long one...and probably that it is weird.

So how many times can I use the word "weird" in a single blog post? I know... I'll stop.

This mini book focuses on sight words: a, an, my, have, and I.

And I use this as an opportunity to explain the difference between a versus an, and we have a chat about how plural words do not use either one.

And if you are wondering what all the weird drawings are around those words in that picture you can see a post I did on sight words that will explain it {here.}

This whole little number is on Teachers pay Teachers.

Before I go, a few more pictures of what you get: