Sometime it's Turkey - Sometimes it's Feathers

This book was a great, cute story to share with your students during Thanksgiving. Unlike other stories, it doesn't have the controversial issues about the Native American and pilgrims or historical context. Instead it's a warm fun book about the holiday itself. It has a much more deeper meaning about being thankful and kind.
Mrs. Gumm  finds a large cream-colored egg with freckles while hunting for wild mushrooms. She fills her mushroom basket with soft April grass and places her new treasure in it. Mrs. Gumm was so excited she had found her Thanksgiving dinner, a genuine turkey egg!
Mrs. Gumm tries to hatch the egg. She covers it in flannel and sets it in a warm place. She can't imagine what a fine Thanksgiving dinner she will have!
For days and days she watched it, and turned it, and warmed it, until finally in one day in May they heard a "tap...tap...tap." The freckled egg had finally cracked! Out came a sticky, we, boney little lump. It dried and became a fuzzy little lump with beady black eyes and a sharp beak. Mrs. Gumm will feed him and fatten him up. She can't imagine what a fine Thanksgiving dinner she will have!
The turkey ate everything in sight! Oatmeal, wheaties, cornmeal and bread, seeds, nuts, insects, sand, and cat food. The turkey grew fast; "He'll be plenty big for Thanksgiving dinner" said Mrs. Gumm!
In June, Mrs Gumm started planting seeds. In July, Turkey ate raspberries.  The grapes grew sweet and purple in August. The September wind blew the thorn apples off the tree, and turkey gobbled them up as fast as they fell. In October Turkey ate up all of Mrs. Gumm's corn. All of Mrs. Gumm's food was gone, but she could only imagine what a fine Thanksgiving dinner she would have.
Preparations for Thanksgiving Day began early in November. She prepared a great, big feast! From cornbread, to sweet cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and a steaming bowl of fragrant onion-and-chestnut stuffing.
Mrs. Gumm sets the table and gets ready to bring out that nice plum Turkey to the table. What a fine Thanksgiving it will be!
"I have so much to be thankful for," said Mrs. Gumm, "A Thanksgiving feast and two good friends to share it with. Imagine!" Turkey takes a seat next to Mrs. Gumm.
"He'll be bigger-and much plumper- next Thanksgiving." said little old Mrs. Gumm. IMAGINE!"
I thought this book had such a cute ending! Who would have thought that Mrs. Gumm's big, plump Turkey would become a friend! I think this is a great book to share for the holiday because it teaches you to be grateful of the friends and family you have. I love how it also uses repetition when Mrs. Gumm keeps stating, "What a fine Thanksgiving we'll have, Imagine!" The book also helps with the different months as Thanksgiving arrives.
I would love to use this book in my class followed by a Thanksgiving activity. I think that it'd be great to have the kids make a hand turkey and write something their thankful for on each feather.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

The Perfectly Horrible Halloween

The Perfectly Horrible Halloween by Nancy Poydar was a book I read to a first grade classroom on the day of Halloween. The kids absolutely loved it and were excited to see the pictures and make their own predictions! This book is about a boy named Arnold who is determined to have the the "Scariest of All" prize at the Room Thirteen Halloween Party. Arnold has his costume in his bag and talks and acts like a pirate. He is bold, mean, and scary. Mr. Jack, the bus driver, jokes "Have a horrible day" and Arnold gets off the bus.
Mr. Roche announces that it will be business as usual until the end of the day. Arnold thinks about his costume all day. "I'm going to be a pirate," boasts Arnold. He has chocolate gold coins for everybody. He thinks about his gold coins; then he thinks about his costume. Arnold heads to his cubby to look at them. He pushes aside his jacket and sees everything BUT the costume! He starts to look for it everywhere and then remembers just where is chocolate gold coins were. He knew just where his beard and eyebrows were, and his bandana, and his sword, his earring, his eyepatch, his parrot, and the tattoo. He had left them on the bus! Arnold was going to have a horrible day. Mr. Roche continues his spelling lesson, until he scolds Arnold for not listening. Arnold was feeling horrible.
Finally, Mr. Roche said it was costume time. Arnold wanted to change too. Arnold puts his jacket on backwards and his sweater too. He lets the arms dangle, and sticks pencils in his hair. He was a bug! A scary bug! The kids joke about his costume, and Arnold feels horrible. He puts his clothes back on and tries to stuff himself into his cubby. Arnold wants to get away from everybody and hide. He then spots a sheet and hides under. Arnold curls up tight and feels unnoticed.
Arnold hears the other kids having a great time at the party and thinks about how much better his Pirate costume and gold chocolate coins would have been. Arnold, the invisible, he thought to himself. "Arnold?" shouted Mr. Roche's voice. The class is puzzled and starts looking for Arnold, who has disappeared. A ghost, thought Arnold. That's what I am, a ghost! I'm eerie, spooky, and SCARY! He rose to his full height and scared the whole classroom. He howled and he whooped. It frightened everybody, and he won the "scariest of all" award.
The kids get back on the bus at the end of the day, and ask what happened to the pirate. "All aboard mates," Jack snickered. "And anyone who is too noisy will walk the plank!" Jack, the bus driver, is seen wearing Arnold's costume.
I loved this book! It was too cute. I think this would be a great read aloud to share on Halloween with your own classroom. It excites the kids, and has a hidden message as well. It teaches how to turn any bad day around!