Sailing, Sailing on the Ocean Blue

I promise I will start getting better at posting weekly updates so I can be true to the name of this school series, the weekly review.  

Our Mayflower voyage went well and we sailed right into the learning about the pilgrims daily life. 

We created suitcases that displayed what we would bring on the Mayflower and even created our own Mayflower ships that listed our newly learned facts. 

When polled: Most children decided that they did not want to ride on the Mayflower. One interesting fact we learned was that the Mayflower was not meant to carry passengers. 

As you can tell we learned many more facts about the pilgrims and their voyage. Their favorite fact: When the water went bad, everyone, children too, had to drink beer.(Maybe I'll leave that out next year ha!)

 I chose to include five things in my suitcases hoping that they would at least fill in the same amount.

This little guy went above and beyond listing 12 things he would want to bring. If you notice #11 it will bring a giggle. 11. and evrethig ellts (translated: and everything else!)

They also loved learning that little boys had to wear dresses until they were six years old! We took the two days before Thanksgiving break off from Scott Foresman to review before our Unit 2 test so we had time for some fun activities. The media center showed the Mouse and the Mayflower which allowed us to further our Pilgrim journey. I have to admit this movie is cheesy and very poorly made but my kids were enthralled with it as they always are when we get a chance to watch a movie. During the movie they quoted some Psalms which I loved and hope took root in my little guys hearts. This lead to the Pilgrims talking about the Holy Bible. One of my little boys(SJ) came up to me right after and said, "Miss Anderson, they just talked said the Holy Bible, guess what? My mom has that book!" Me: "Really, I have it to, its a really good one!" This was a great reminder that I am a teacher to not only teach them about curriculum but to spread His word and love by my actions and words. 

This touching moment was followed by a hilarious one. Two seconds after the first mention of the Bible, little MM comes up and says " Miss Anderson, they just mentioned the Holy Bible and that reminded me...my mom's name is Holley." 

As we were waiting on the bell to ring, we discussed all the things we were thankful for and I was shown God's work in my little ones again, when two of them said that they were thankful for God and Jesus. These were followed by a precious little guy saying that he was thankful for old people. At that comment the bell rang and they were off to their homes to celebrate Thanksgiving. Oh, how they make me smile! I hope you were able to count your blessings yesterday with great food, friends, and family. We have so much to be thankful for!
~Miss Anderson