The Mailbox® Plus—the established leader in providing teacher-created ideas that really work for 50 years—is edited by educators who are experienced at assessing what teachers will find valuable and worth incorporating into lessons. We’re sharing our “From the Editor” letters for November, where the editors of The Mailbox Plus share their thoughts on Thanksgiving as well as some activities that are just right for this time of year!
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Prekindergarten Activities for November
Managing Editor Kimberly Ann Brugger writes:
“When I was a child, my extended family always had a big Thanksgiving meal together. It was loud, crazy, and wonderful, with cousins running all over the place. After dinner, we would all take a walk before dessert. (Since I’m from Michigan, that walk was occasionally more than brisk!) This is why November makes me think of family, joyful meals, and coziness. My goal was to convey these feelings with this issue packed full of November goodness! Here are some of my favorite features:
- Perfect Plans for Littles: Thanksgiving—Plan an entire day of activities on Thanksgiving with this handy graphic organizer and collection of printables.
- Math with Winter Sleepers—Combine math skills and life science with these activities about animals that nap during the winter!
- Mindfulness—Help little ones focus on the present moment and reduce anxiety with these mindfulness exercises!
“Happy Thanksgiving!”
Kindergarten and Grade 1 Activities for November
Editor Amy Erickson Corkhill writes:
“I love the whirlwind of activities at this time of year. There’s always some sort of fall fun going on. The only downside is that the month flies right by. November isn’t the shortest month, but it sure feels like it to me!
“With all of the November busyness, there’s no better time to take advantage of the low-prep activities in this issue. You’ll want to check out this month’s print-and-use resources too. Count on them to help you make quick work of lesson planning, and free up precious time for other things, like making plans for the holiday break!
“Here’s a sample of the teaching tools you won’t want to miss:
For Kindergarten
- No-Prep Seasonal Skill Practice—These skill sheets provide top-notch practice with calendar concepts, number order, word families, and sequencing.
- A Big Trip—Use this reproducible booklet to reinforce high-frequency words and follow up a discussion about the Pilgrims’ journey on the Mayflower.
- Ready-to-Use Lesson: 2-D and 3-D Shapes—Activity cards and exit tickets are provided with this step-by-step lesson for analyzing shapes.
For Grade 1
- No-Prep Seasonal Skill Practice—These skill sheets provide top-notch practice with calendar concepts, addition, writing, and reading comprehension.
- Word Chain Activities—Take students’ word work skills to new heights with these easy-to-use activities!
- Subtraction Fact Pack—Use the booklet and game to provide students with surefire math fact practice. Follow up with the assessment page to check students’ progress.
“Happy teaching!”
November Activities for Grades 2–3
Managing Editor Jen Moore writes:
“As a former elementary teacher, I know how much time and energy educators like you put into helping your students succeed. It’s a lot, and you deserve many thanks for all that you do. To help make your lesson planning easier this month, we’ve included a variety of ready-to-use activities, like these:
- November Events—Use this reading or listening activity to introduce students to four holidays that happen in November.
- Ready-to-Use Lessons: Verbs—When you’re ready to teach students about past tense irregular verbs or simple verb tenses, these lessons have what you need to get started.
- Shooting Hoops—This center activity provides practice with two-digit subtraction.
- Race to the Castle—Here’s a partner game that provides practice with multiplying one-digit whole numbers by multiples of ten.
“Thankful for all that you do!”
November Activities for Grades 4–6
Editor Becky Andrews writes:
“In my mind, there are lots of reasons to love November. It’s officially ‘sweater weather’ (though I’m an oversized hoodie kind of girl myself). It’s close enough to December to start planning my holiday baking and stop putting off holiday shopping. Plus it’s the perfect month to snuggle under a cozy blanket with my favorite book. Yep, November is full of wonderful things, and so is this new issue of The Mailbox online magazine. It includes lots of activities and printables that pack a skill-building punch, such as the ones in these cool features:
- Printables for November—Build important language arts and math skills with printables that shine the spotlight on Veterans Day, World Kindness Day, and Thanksgiving.
- Ready-to-Use Lessons—Help students learn how to convert metric measurements of length with two ready-to-use lesson plans—for fourth grade and another for fifth grade.
- Responding to Historical Fiction—Guide students to explore the literary elements in historical fiction using this collection of skill-building printables.
- Native American Heritage Month Printables—Use this collection of printables to build important reading, math, and social studies skills during Native American Heritage Month in November.
“Happy November!”
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