The Baker's Dozen, Adventures in PreK-B: Plymouth Town

In preparation for our Thanksgiving Feast we spent a week learning all about the Pilgrims and Native Americans!

We learned that the first Pilgrims came to America on a boat called the Mayflower and their 3 month journey was very difficult.

We learned that Pilgrims dressed much differently than we do today. We enjoyed making our own pilgrim portraits as we imagined what it would be like to live in the early 1600s.

After the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth, their first year was very hard. The crops did not grow, so there was very little food to go around. At one point each Pilgrim only received 5 kernels of corn to eat each day!

The Pilgrims soon met the Native Americans living in the area. At first they were afraid of one another but soon became friends. The Native Americans taught the pilgrims how to farm on the new land and the next year's harvest was bountiful!

Pilgrim boys and girls had to help their parents with chores such as tending crops so we planted and tended our own corn. This was a great lesson in responsibility and patience!

We learned that when Pilgrim children got a little older, they helped around their homes by building and fixing toys, furniture, and fences, etc. One important carpentry skill is being able to measure length, so we learned how to measure using a ruler that's unit of measurement was mayflowers (instead of inches). We measured pictures of Pilgrim boys and girls, food items, and animals and recorded how long each item was in units of mayflowers. I was so impressed with how well everyone did, they caught on right away!

After learning about the Pilgrims we learned about the Native Americans who lived on the land by Plymouth. We learned that Native Americans lived in tee-pees made from animal hides, hunted animals like deer and squirrel, and planted crops of potatoes and corn and other vegetables.

We learned that Native Americans also made their clothes from animal hides and adorned them with precious stones and drawn images. After learning the meaning of some Native American images we decorated our own headdresses and vests.

We also came up with our own Native American names using an action verb and our favorite animal! Meet

Princesses: Dancing Zebra, Swimming Zebra, Hopping Seahorse, Twirling Unicorn, Twirling Seahorse, and three Dancing Unicorns.

and

Chiefs: Walking Shark, Skipping Monkey, Running Crocodile, Swimming Lion, Running Shark, and Swimming Turtle.

In the midst of learning all about the Pilgrims and Native Americans, Ms.Susan from the Museum of Discovery came of her second visit and with her she brought a Horned Frog!

We learned many fun facts about the horned frog like: a frog is an amphibian, frogs and toads are not the same, frogs eat insects, and as a defense mechanism frogs pee on you when you pick them up. Yuck!!!

We could not touch the Horned Frog because the bacteria on our hands could absorb through his skin and make him sick, but he was very fun to look at up close!