Happy {almost!} Thanksgiving, readers!
Earlier this week I shared about my preschool friends and the Thanksgiving Bible unit we did – you can read all about it (and snag a freebie!) here: Preschool Bible Thanksgiving Unit
Today I want to share some biblically-based Thanksgiving ideas for those of you who teach (or have!) elementary students:
Here are some of my favorite Thanksgiving books for elementary students:
In my classroom we spent some time the week of Thanksgiving learning about what it means to be thankful and the importance of developing an attitude of gratitude.
First we took notes using these interactive notebook foldables:
Students brainstormed in groups to define “thankfulness,” think of ways they can express gratitude, and wrote reasons why they were thankful for Jesus, their families, our school, and their health. Then they dug into their Bibles to write verses that highlight the importance of thankfulness.
Next we discussed the idea that developing an ATTITUDE of GRATITUDE begins in your mind. Each student filled their “mind” with things they were thankful for. They then personalized the person to look like themselves. Here’s one of my sweet student’s sample:
Then we separated back to our desks and did some personal reflection. We wrote thank-you letters to someone who we were thankful for. I encouraged each student to give (or mail) their letters to the special someone they wanted to thank.
Lastly, we divided into pairs and did a fun brainstorming activity – I set the timer and challenged the students to write something they were thankful for – one for each letter of the alphabet.
Our Bible class was extra-special the week before Thanksgiving – I hope I instilled the importance of developing an ATTITUDE of GRATITUDE in my students. You can snag all of these print-and-go resources in my Elementary Thanksgiving Bible Packet
