Welcome to Turkey Land!

The hallways of Sutton have turned into a land of turkeys! From kindergarten to the 4th grade rooms, there are the neatest art and writing projects being displayed. It makes the long trip to the workroom more pleasant :)

Our kinder cuties have learned so much about Thanksgiving this week. They know tons of facts about turkeys (what they look like, what they eat, etc.) and loved reading stories about the pilgrims and Native Americans. We talked about the differences between fiction and nonfiction a lot this week because our stories varied each day! What smart little cookies we have!

If you've been in the school in the past week, you've seen Turkey Land in full force, but for those who haven't had the opportunity to see the work in person we are so excited to show you your child's masterpieces!

This is Miss DeWitt's and Mrs. Bratcher's kiddos all dressed up for the Thanksgiving lunch on Wednesday! The students in all kindergarten classrooms decorated their headbands and vests with Native American symbols. We were a hit to say the least!

Mrs. Bratcher's class read the story "Run, Turkey, Run!" and completed a writing and art project to go along with it. The students came up with different ways to catch a turkey (the responses are HILARIOUS!). They also colored coffee filters and added water to them to create these beautiful tye-dye feather look.

Miss DeWitt's class read a story about the life of a pilgrim girl and boy. They learned that the pilgrim children worked very hard to stay alive and to keep their village going. We connected the stories to our own life and wrote down chores they have to do at their home. The students discussed how thankful they were for electricity, sturdy homes, grocery stores and cars :)

Miss DeWitt's group also made the coffee filter art project like Mrs. Bratcher's class! Above the art are the anchor charts made during whole group. The students explained what they had learned to the teacher about turkeys. They also explained their own Thanksgiving Day tradition!

Every student took home a feather. They decorated the feather however they wanted and brought it back to school. This is a very special project because no class turkey is the same! Each class is different just like each turkey! We LOOOOVE how they turned out!!

Miss DeWitt's class turkey

Mrs. Bratcher's class turkey

Mrs. Hoffman's class turkey

Mrs. Williams class made a schema chart about Native Americans. Look at how much they knew!!

It was a crazy, busy week to say the least! But what a wonderful time of the year. All four of us are SO thankful to have each and every one of these students in our classroom. They mean the world to us and have made us better people. We hope everyone has a blessed and safe Thanksgiving Break!! It's hard to believe the Christmas season is right around the corner....

And the winner is...

It's election time! Sutton held a school-wide mock election on Oct. 30th so the students could get a real perspective about what it is like to vote (and to understand why they get a day off from school!). We cannot wait to see the results!!

Though our kindergarten friends don't quite understand all that goes into a real election or the details of the candidates/political parties, they are able to form their own opinion. Our students loved learning about our government and the candidates! We learned that Obama loves chili and collects comic books! Romney's favorite food is peanut butter sandwiches and he helped save the 2002 Winter Olympics! Take a look at we were doing in our classrooms last week!

The teachers got a little creative and made an adorable "photo booth" for the students. Both the girls and boys got to "picture themselves" as President of the United States. In our classrooms, we talked about following your dreams and that hard work could lead them to a future in leadership.

Our classes also talked about what a good President should be (I think even Obama and Romney could learn something from our students). It was neat to hear what the students wanted in a good leader. The discussion was very moving. 

For our writing lesson, we discussed how candidates persuade people to vote for them. We asked the students to share what they would promise to people if they were running for President of the United States. The answers are varied, but all truly special. This response in particular warmed my heart.

"Vote for me! I promise to give everyone love." -Damien

Other election activities included labeling, designing your own coin and other writing prompts!