Cranberry Day!

Why do the "short" weeks always seem so long?  And why do I always try to cram so much into them?  We had school Monday and Tuesday this week.  I admit I am a bit jealous of those of you who had the entire week off!  (Especially since I am blogging from an airport.  My flight doesn't leave until 6:00 tonight.  Then I have a layover in Atlanta.  Yes, I know it is the night before Thanksgiving and there will be millions of people in the Atlanta airport!  Am I crazy?  No, it was the most reasonably priced flight and I am a teacher.  You need no further explanation!)

On Monday, we had Cranberry Day.  We used a lot of the activities from the packet on TPT from Sailing Through 1st Grade.  Click the pic to check it out!

I started our day by showing a cranberry.  We created a bubble map about cranberries.  (Thinking Maps, anyone?)  Then we predicted if cranberries would sink or float.  

I was sooooooo impressed and excited that most predicted float and justified their prediction based on what we learned from the pumpkin and pumpkin seeds sink or float investigations!  We tested our predictions!

Next we watched a video from YouTube called From Bog to Table.  It was very informational and the kids really enjoyed seeing the bogs being flooded.  

A volunteer (Mrs. Fischer's mom who is a retired teacher....those make the best volunteers!)  read A Cranberry Thanksgiving to us.  It is a great book I enjoy sharing every Thanksgiving.

After that we did a taste test.  I tweaked the one in the packet.  We tried cranberry bread (the recipe from the book above), a dried cranberry, cranberry sauce, a sugared cranberry, and cranberry juice).

Of course we graphed our results!  I was surprised how many liked the cranberry sauce....I am personally NOT a fan!

The most popular activity of the day was The Freshness Test!  Did you know that if a cranberry bounce, it is fresh? We each bounced one and they all were fresh!

Look closely, you can see the cranberry in mid air!

There are lots of other activities throughout the day.  The packet includes a great printable book with lots of facts about cranberries.  I recommend it!

I have created a Jolly Jumbled Sentences activity.  It is available on TPT for $1.  Click the picture below to check it out!  

Happy Turkey Day!   (My first flight has just been delayed, lets hope I make it to Indiana before dawn!)

Meredith