These two weeks were different because of Thanksgiving and because of the interesting few weeks we've had before.
There were two things going on in the classroom during the classes of the 11th week of my internship. First, the students who didn't get time to finish their books because of previous activities needed time to finish so they could take their books home. Secondly, there needed to be a project still for the students who already finished.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, some of the students were recording "I am thankful for..." messages for the Mix website and for the social media platforms.
Thursday, we were hosting a Thanksgiving meal for families to come to enjoy a feast with friends, students, and staff.
I created a simple lesson based on the week's focus on the upcoming holiday that would be able to fit in any time space that might come up.
When thinking of ideas, I searched many places online but settled on a family tradition my mother started about seven years ago, called the Tree of Thanks.
The story of the Tree of Thanks is as follows:
Every year, on the last night of October, a special seed is planted deep into the ground. This magic seed grows overnight until morning comes. When you wake, a tree is there, but with no leaf in sight. This magic tree needs lots of love to help it grow just fine. It never needs a drop of water, but thankful words will make it bloom. Place your hand on the tree and write the things you're grateful for, then watch your words grow through the month into a mighty oak!
I altered the activity a bit and turned my mother's craft into a plan. I created a tree trunk out of brown construction paper and had staff members write what Thanksgiving meant to them on it. I hung it on the door and had the students trace their hands onto construction paper and then cut them out. They wrote what they were thankful for and then taped their paper hands to the door to create the top of the tree. I had a brief discussion with each class about being thankful and what that means while they worked on their leaves.
The first day was fun, and all the students got caught up on their activities. They behaved well and enjoyed the activity.
Wednesday, a few men from the army visited the students and talked to them about being in the military and things to look forward to if they joined in the future. This cut into some class time, but since the lesson was already pretty short, it didn't have too much of an impact on my plan.
On the Monday before Thanksgiving, we all came in for a few hours and worked to clean the Mix. The whole place needed a good sweeping and reorganizing, especially the supply closets. We looked at what supplies we had and made lists of what we needed more of. After that, we put together a bunch of meal kits for Thanksgiving that included things like canned veggies, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rice, beans, some deserts, and even a few small turkeys. We handed them out to families in the community that needed them. It felt great to be able to give back to the community like that.
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