Teachable Thursdays

Well, today is the day that I promised to tell you guys about the turkeys :)  Every year for the last eleven years, my Tan (grandfather) has made wooden turkeys for my class.  He uses a special saw and cuts them out - one for each of my kids.  Then, my Tanny and now Margaret paint the heads and glue little wiggly eyes on them.  It has become a tradition in my classroom and everyone knows that on Friday afternoon all of my kids will be walking out with their newest table decoration and member of their family.

Anyway, here are the pictures.  This weekend, when things slow down a little, I'm going to trace one and post the template.  If you know someone good with one of those special saws (I don't know much about tools), then you can take my pattern to them and make your own turkeys.  

 The biggest thing to explain to the kids is to not put feathers where the two pieces slide together and to start the feathers around the edges and layer them as they work their way towards the middle.  Also, before you start, make sure you put your students' names on the back of their turkeys.  The first few years, I'd forget.  Trying to straighten out a bunch of matching turkeys was not easy.

I also had one of my parents help me go ahead and decorate my door.  When it hits November 1, I immediately get Christmas fever.  It's the greatest holiday ever!  We even broke out the Glee Christmas and Kids Bop music today.  I used to decorate my door like a present, but by the time I'd get it put up, I'd have to take it down two weeks later.  Now, I make sure I decorate my door for "winter".  This way, I can leave it up until the end of January or early February.  Last year, I found these pins on Pinterest.  Click here to go to my Holidays - Christmas board.  I loved them!  They were definitely the inspiration for my door.

To the right is a picture of how my door turned out.  I adjusted it slightly from the Pinterest pictures, but I think it's still pretty great! The biggest difference is I decided I didn't want to use a real scarf.  I was afraid it would fall off, get dirty, or my kids would play with it anytime they went in or out of the door.  I also changed the hat.  Since our door opens out, I couldn't do a crooked hat on the outside.  It would've never stayed.  I ended up putting it above the door. 

Since I know not everyone can draw, I've created a template.  You can print these out on colored construction paper or print it on white paper and then copy it on colored construction paper.  Hopefully, it will save you a little time.  Click here to get the snowman pieces template.  I included eyes, a carrot nose, mouth, and a button.  

Our 5th Grade Play is tomorrow, so not sure I will have time, but my next goal is to have my Christmas stuff set up before I leave tomorrow.  I'm telling you, I LOVE Christmas :)  

Have a Fantabulous Friday!