Please Note
All exploration ideas and discussion suggestions can be tailored to fit the age and needs of your child or group. Ages given are guidelines only. For children who are not yet reading, adults can listen, record and transcribe their thoughts. Children love to see their words on paper and hear them read aloud. Having their efforts validated by an adult inspires them to read.
Drawing is an excellent way for children to express their feelings and thoughts about stories they hear. Consider keeping markers, crayons, colored pencils and blank notebooks available. Ask children to draw their favorite part of a story or what meant the most to them. Let them use any colors or medium available with no boundaries. When a child begins to draw, they are expressing their vision and understanding. You will be delighted and amazed at childrens' inherent brilliance and what they can teach you as well.
Children's Picture Books Reviews and Exploration Ideas: Thanksgiving
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Thanks for Thanksgiving written by Jule Markes and illustrated by Doris Barrette is an idealistic wonderland of perfect, cozy scenes with every nuance of nuclear family bliss. Drenched in sleepy, muted Eddie Bauerian blues, browns, reds and golds, Thanks for Thanksgiving delivers a sweet, loving-hearted message of gratitude for the tender moments shared at home. Gentle, pleasing text and gorgeous illustrations sweep the reader into the colder days of Autumn, giving a touch of winter delight and the Christmas cheer waiting around the calendric corner. The author and illustrator gift us with a wonderful family tradition in-the-making by offering the last page as a place to record thankful thoughts of our own. Thanks for Thanksgiving is a lovely read.
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Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message recorded by Chief Jake Swamp and illustrated by Erwin Printup, Jr. is an Iroquois, or Six Nations of Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora peoples in New York and Canada, Thanksgiving Address given at ceremonial and government gatherings including the United Nations. From the first words one is humbled and awakened to a sense of deep understanding about the bounty of the Earth, the inner-connectedness of all creation, and the honor we receive in being human. Each and every part of our shared existence from the four winds, animals, and waters to our ancestral spirits are called forth in praise. Erwin Printup, Jr. graces Giving Thanks with vibrant, richly-hued images that rise from the page in simple, striking, sweeping shapes and lines. Chief Jake Swamp, founder of the Tree of Peace Society, lovingly and openly shares his Iroquois culture and their vision of conservation, diversity and peace for all.
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Discussion and Exploration Ideas
I have included Thanksgiving books from two different cultures to invite you and yours to experience various ways of considering the world in which we live. Native Americans and the White, suburban middle class of the United States have very different values, beliefs, religions, familial and cultural focus; however, each shares the desire to give thanks for that which has been given us.
- Discuss the experiences and items for which each culture is thankful in Thanks for Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks. How are they similar? How are they different? Why are they different?
- From a worldview standpoint, how do the items for which the Native Americans are thankful in Giving Thanks impact the health and well-being of the Earth? How do those items for which the family is grateful for in Thanks for Thanksgiving impact the Earth? How are these impacts the same, and different?
- Chief Jake Swamp explains in Giving Thanks that children are taught to greet the morning each day with thanks for all living things. Consider creating a Morning Salutation with your child and/or family that you can share together each day or on a chosen special occassion. Include those blessings for which you are grateful and the hope you share for the coming day. Another great book about Morning Salutations includes The Way to Start a Day by Byrd Baylor ; pictures by Peter Parnall.
- Discuss the two different types of illustration each artist uses. Enjoy the choice of colors, styles, mood and feel of each. Invite your reader to create a Thanksgiving picture depicting that for which he or she is thankful.
- As a family, enjoy creating a list each Thanksgiving of thankful thoughts. Save these thoughts and consider adding their annual review and production as a new Thanksgiving tradition.
- Both Thanks for Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks remind the reader to give thanks to family and ancestors. Consider using this time of year to discuss your familial ancestry and the lands from which they have traveled and settled. Research and discuss Thanksgiving traditions from new countries or peoples that you discover and how they may be incorporated into your own traditions. Another beautiful book about the ancestral joy and love of family includes The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco
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- Invite your child on a nature, or listening walk, to discuss the creatures, places, trees, plants, sky and all creation around him/her. Enjoy collecting and identifying fallen leaves. Picture books about leaves and migrating birds can be found at The Seasons in Story. A sweet and gentle book that offers a complimentary messages is The Listening Walk by Paul Showers, illustrated by Aliki
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- Enjoy visiting Chief Jake Swamp's Tree of Peace Society
Visit Thanksgiving - grace, gratitude and humility for more fun family books of warmth and home in addition to items about the First Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims and Native Americans
Native Americans - wisdom of our First Peoples provides listings of children's picture books by geographic region that includes wonderful folk tales, myths and true stories to delight and inspire.
November Events to Explore in Children's Books
Los Dias de los Muertos - Day of the Dead - November 1
Maria Molina and the Days of the Dead by Kathleen Krull; illustrated by Enrique O. Sanchez.
Veteran's Day - November 12
Veterans Day (Rookie Read-About Holidays) by Jacqueline S. Cotton
Thanksgiving - November 22nd
The Very First Thanksgiving Day by Rhonda Gowler Greene ; paintings by Susan Gaber.
Full Moon - November 24 - Hunters' Moon
Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back by Joseph Bruchac
Creative Writing Inspiration
November invites a time for reflection and empathy for Native American cultures across the United States who lost their original homelands and have faced spiritual and cultural genocide. November is also a time to reflect upon the Pilgrim's journey, arrival and first experiences in the New World and the reasons for their departure from England. Consider the circumstances each peoples faced and write a short story or paragraph as though you were one of each. Detail the feelings you would have, emotions you would endure and impact the experiences would have upon you as a young person in these cultures. How are they alike?
Articles and Interest for Preteens to Adults
Global Sacred Writings and Poetry - hope, love, and prayer from around the world.
What does "embracing the extraordinary through story" mean? Visit Embracing the Extraordinary Through Story - inviting wonder into our lives through education to learn more.
OneWomansMind.net Highlight: January 2008 Class Registration Now Open
OneWomansMind.net Education Newsletter subscribers are given first opportunity to register for my classes. I will be opening registration to the general homeschooling community on or around November 15th.
January - February 2008
Learning About You - Developing Self Knowledge through Children's Literature
a sweet class for ages 6+, 6 weeks
Learning About You will share beautiful, touching, non-didactic stories that open our hearts and minds while helping us understand ourselves individually and in relation to others and our planet. Class participants will create individual art and writing books, a page a week, related to story topics including but not limited to compassion, peace, our names, and personal dreams. Class sessions will include story reading, discussion and art and/or writing creation and the final class will be a celebration of You.
Learning About You class information including class dates, times, personal and education applications now available.
On-line Class Registration is now available.
Homeschool Class Policies and Terms are now posted.
A preview of what's coming in December...
Books sharing the joy and wonder found worldwide during The Season of Light.
Beginning winter exploration including books about hibernation and cozy, cold winter days.
Book review submission guidelines for ages 4-8 and 9 to adult.
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Awareness
First Book - giving low income children the opportunity to read and own their first new books.
CharityUSA.com - CharityUSA.com, LLC. owns and operates The GreaterGood Network, a family of online activism sites that harness the power of the Internet to help people, animals, the global environment and causes in need. The GreaterGood Network sites include the hunger site, the breast cancer site, the child health site, the literacy site, the rainforest site and the animal rescue site. You can help by just visiting and clicking.
