21 Fall Pilgrim Hat © Scholastic Teaching Resources BIGGIE Patterns With a Purpose Scholastic Teaching Resources Pilgrim Hat Anagrams & Acrostics Use the hat pattern for spelling activities. Make 12 copies on card stock, and write one letter of the word Thanksgiving on each. Attach a bit of magnetic tape on the back of each hat and post in order on a magnetic board or chalkboard. Then invite children to rearrange groups of letters to make as many new words as they can. As they play with the letters, encourage children to sound out the combinations to test whether they have made a word. Words include king, think, ink, ski, knit, gang, sing, night, knight, and gas. You might also use your letter hats to create a group acrostic poem. Assign pairs of children to one of each of the letters in the word, and give each pair a blank sentence strip. Encourage children to write a word or phrase related to Thanksgiving that starts with that letter (leaving out the letter on the strip). Post the strips next to each hat Standards and then read your poem together! For ● Uses letter-sound relationships to spell words instance: Turkey; Happiness; Apple pie; ● Writes in a variety of forms, Neighbors, and so on. such as poems Fall 21 Holiday Word Wall & Story Starters Use copies of the hat pattern to create a holiday word wall. Brainstorm key words with children, such as turkey, dinner, celebration, food, feast, friends, family, table, harvest, thanks, cook, eat, and holiday. Write each word on a hat and post on a bulletin board. Encourage children to Standards use the word wall for writing ● Understands level-appropriate sight words and vocabulary Thanksgiving stories. As children write, ● Uses prewriting strategies to they might also come up with new plan written work, such as words to add to the wall. To spark ideas, writing key thoughts give children story titles such as: ✓ “My Favorite Thanksgiving Foods” ✓ “How My Family Celebrates Thanksgiving” ✓ “Things I Am Thankful For” ✓ “My Favorite Thanksgiving Memory” ✓ “The Thanksgiving Day Parade” Pilgrim Hats Kids decorate their own wearable Pilgrim hats. Make a copy of the pattern on heavy paper for each child. Then invite children to decorate it with crayons, markers, or paints. They might squeeze a thin layer of glue on the buckle and decorate with gold or silver glitter. Allow the hats to dry, and then attach each one to the center of a long oaktag strip (a sentence strip works well). Fit it around the child’s head, trim off the excess, and tape the ends together. Invite children to wear their hats during a Standards classroom Thanksgiving activity, such as ● Uses a variety of basic art performing a read-aloud play or materials enjoying a Thanksgiving-themed snack. Book Links It’s Thanksgiving by Jack Prelutsky (Greenwillow, 1982). Prelutsky’s inimitable wordplay graces 12 holiday poems. The Night Before Thanksgiving by Natasha Wing (Grosset & Dunlap, 2000). A gleeful Thanksgiving version of the classic Clement C. Moore poem. Tip Thanksgiving Day at Our House: Thanksgiving Poems for the Very Young by Nancy White Carlstrom (Simon & Schuster, 2002). This delightful collection describes one family’s holiday activities. © Scholastic Teaching Resources BIGGIE Patterns With a Purpose Scholastic Teaching Resources