Last month, I made an object/picture matching lesson where the children made
jack-o-lantern faces on a felt board. It went over HUGE in my classroom! I really wanted to make another one with turkeys for Thanksgiving... but I couldn't think of a good way to make the cards. The cards I had made last time were sort of construction paper collages. That was easy for jack-o-lanterns, but turkeys? It seemed like too daunting of a project. Just when I was about to throw in the towel, I saw that Melissa at
Chasing Cheerios had come up with the perfect solution: wallet-sized photos!
I set my turkey up on the felt board and took pictures of him with different combinations of feathers, eyes, wattles, etc. His feet, head, and beak are sewn on, so that part never changes. Then, I got the photos developed in the wallet-size and laminated them. I'm slightly disappointed with my laminating - it's really foggy. The photos are a little dark, so the funky laminating doesn't help. Does anyone know what makes that happen?
Here's how I have everything set up in the basket - cards and corresponding felt shapes. I sewed sequins on the eyes, hat, and some of the feathers just to add a little turkey-pizazz. :)
This is how I will present the lesson to the children. I'll set up the turkey and all its possible accessories. Then, I will choose a card and put together a matching turkey.
This last turkey is kind of a side-note. Lately, I've been slightly obsessed with why the Pink Tower is pink. Does anyone know why that is? I know it's not pink in all schools; some are natural wood. But, why can't you buy a Green Tower or a Blue Tower? When Maria Montessori was alive, her ideas and methods were always changing and evolving. She would totally switch things up in her lectures, just so people wouldn't become consumed with the belief that her materials and methods always had to be a certain way. I mean, you should always make sure that the work you provide for the child is meaningful and that your movements are purposeful, but does a tower of cubes
have to be
pink? Sometimes I wonder if boys would work with the Pink Tower more if it weren't pink. But, then I think, why should that matter? Anyway, point being, I feel bad about knocking pink all the time, so I made some very glam, pink feathers for the turkey. :) Sorry for the crazy rant!
Our school celebrated its own Native American Day...
I didn't have the heart to tell the children that in my foggy, groggy, stuffy-nosed state-of-mind,
They proclaimed that the language area of the classroom should always be a taco bar. I would no longer be their teacher, but their waitress. 
