Candle Dipping

This week, we are learning about different things that the Pilgrims and Native Americans taught each other during the time around The First Thanksgiving. Today, we focused on the Pilgrims. We learned that Pilgrim children had the responsibility of making candles. To us, it is so easy to flip on a light switch or shine a flash light if we need light. However, in colonial times, they did not have these luxuries. Children and adults were required to make the candles if they wanted light.

Today, we made our own candles just like they would have done during the First Thanksgiving. Each student received a long wick and had the opportunity to dip it into the pot of wax. As a class, we continuously made circles to re-dip our wicks. After A LOT of dipping and patience, we were able to make small candles!

"This is the best day ever!!"-Brooklyn

"This is so cool!"-Chase

"I didn't know we could make candles at school!"-Sam 

"I love making my own candles Ms. Garner."- (pretty much every child in the class!)

I hope you enjoyed all of the precious words and comments I heard throughout the day! We had so much fun learning to make our own candles just like the Pilgrims!

How are our homes different from the homes of Native Americans and Pilgrims?

This week, we have been comparing our lives with the lives of the people during the First Thanksgiving.

We started the week learning about the homes of Native Americans. We learned that they lived in two types of homes: Wetus and Teepees.  We researched and compared their homes with ours and then built our own teepee! We studied different types of Teepees and practiced the symbols we would use.

We also read, The Story of the Pilgrims.  In the book, we learned how there were no houses when the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth.  We also learned about the Pilgrim's common house which was a house where everyone gathered.  We learned that the sides are made from wood and the roof from straw. As a class, we rolled brown paper for the logs and yellow for the roof.
Below is our finished Common House:

We are excited about our teepee and Pilgrim's common house!

We love our book buddies!

Each Friday, we partner with Mr. Carrol's 4th grade class and read together! So far, they have taught us about the characters and setting. 

We voted and honored our Veterans today!

Today, we had the opportunity to celebrate and honor our Veterans. We read the book, Hero Dad to learn more about what truly makes Veterans heroes.

We also created a poster describing Veterans and why we are so thankful for them!

After discussing as a class, my students created thank you cards to give to a Veteran of their choice!

This card had thank you written on the outside and this house drawn on the inside. The author told me, "I drew this house so that when a soldier has to leave their family, maybe it would remind them of their house and their family and make them happy." This explanation melted my heart.

We talked about how Veterans are willing to fight for our freedom and rights. One of those rights is the freedom to vote. This past week, we have learned all about democracy and how it means everyone has the right to vote. Three 4th graders at OES decided to run for "OES President." We have watched videos and interviews of each candidate to help us decide who to vote for. 

Today, we voted for the candidate we felt would do the best job as OES President.

After tallying our votes, Peyton won the presidential election. We learned that the candidate with the most votes wins!