We were both headed to the same place.
But we were on the phone chatting because we like to talk to each other, and, more importantly, we were avoiding our "To Do" lists. Interestingly, though she's in school and I teach school, our "To Do" lists were surprisingly similar: homework, homework, laundry, homework, and a little more homework.
During our conversation I asked my wise SIL for some advice. I wanted to know, from a student's perspective, what I should do with my kids on the day before Thanksgiving. You see, it's what I refer to as a "Stupid-early-release" day. I typically enjoy early release days. I don't enjoy the crazy behavior that comes with any change in the schedule, but for the most part, the occasional early release is a welcome change to the monotony of the same schedule every single day. However, the day before Thanksgiving Break is lame. School starts like usual at 7:30, but we are done at 10:20 a.m. That's less than three hours of school. Figure in six classes, with five minute passing in between each one, and I've got my kids for a total of 23 minutes or less in each class. What on earth can we do in 23 minutes? Honestly, it takes them a good 5-10 minutes to really settle in and focus on what we are doing. That's why so many teachers, myself included, have an "entry task" most days. Get them focused as quickly as possible so we can move on.
Plus, it's the day before a holiday and a mini-vacation, so it takes them longer to settle in. The few that come. An astonishing number of parents take their kids out of school early for Thanksgiving. Some for traveling, but most because they think it's silly to go to class for 20 minutes. My first two or three years I tried doggedly to get "real" work accomplished on this day. But, if half my class is gone, then I'm going to have to reteach the lesson when we come back. I'm not a fan of reteaching something unless I've done it poorly. If kids don't understand something, I'm all about reteaching until they do. On the other hand, I'm not interested in repeating myself because half the class decided they didn't need to come to school.
I've come to accept the fact that real learning just won't happen on the day before Thanksgiving. I'm now stuck (and have been for the last five years) trying to come up with a suitable activity. I want them to stay in the habit of being busy in my classroom. Downtime is never okay. You should ALWAYS have something to do. If we have even five minutes left at the end of the hour I pull out word play activities. It's fun, it keeps their attention, and it's still educational and English related. I abhor down time in the classroom.
Wow. This post is getting far longer than I thought it would be. I talk too much.
So, C and I were talking, and she suggested that I do an art project. (Of course she did - she's an amazing artist!) I said I thought I would like to do an art project with kids, but I wasn't sure what to do. I have freshmen and seniors, but nearly all high school kids love to color, even the boys. Most boys won't admit it, but you should see how they focus! It brings them back to their elementary school days when they still liked school.
I complained that I had been searching the internet and could only find a few things that I liked that I felt I could make copies of "legally" (copyright laws suck). So C volunteered to create a set of paper dolls that I could copy. The kids could color the different outfits and cut them out. I eagerly accepted, with the caveat that I didn't want to take her away from her school work. She laughingly dismissed that notion, and we hung up so she could get to work.
The next morning, I had these in my inbox:
The turkey - he/she is naked right now.
The clothes:
Here is a plain old t-shirt and shoes.
Here is a suit for the fancy Tom, and an evening dress for his lady friend.
A tu-tu for those turkeys who need to dance.
A football jersey for the rugged Toms in the group.
For the more politically minded (or vegetarian) turkeys, this protester outfit is perfect.
And, of course, every self-respecting turkey needs a good hairstyle / head covering before venturing out into public.
They were a HUGE hit with my high schoolers. And several of my coworkers who have little ones wanted copies as well.
If you want to print these for your own use, C would be happy for me to share them. My suggestion is to print them on heavy card stock so they last longer. My high schoolers are less likely to do a lot of playing with paper dolls so regular paper was okay for them. In fact, a few of my kids glued their favorite outfits / hair on the turkeys, and made them a sort of card for their friends or parents. One girl made a boy and a girl turkey, and then framed them for her boyfriend. (I thought that was a little over the top, but she said it illustrated them perfectly! He was a football player and she dressed up a lot!) Also, before you give them to your little ones to cut out (or before you cut them out if the little ones aren't good with scissors yet), draw in a few tabs so that you have something to fold over the turkey to keep his / her clothes on.
Anyway, if you want to have your own copy of these drawings, e-mail me at confusaled@hotmail.com, and I'd be happy to send them to you. (Please just remember that they are the work of C, and give her credit where credit is due!)
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