Yummy Thanksgiving Economics Lesson and Baking Pie With the Little Red Hen

We pretty much did turkeys all day today in Room 210.

Well…turkeys and hens, I guess.

But seriously! It was a day full of some messy, hands-on Thanksgiving economics lessons.

The Little Red Hen Read Aloud

We started off our Thanksgiving economics lesson first thing in the morning by rereading The Little Red Hen.

(We had already read it twice last week and done a few of the Thanksgiving economics activities included in my Red Hen Packet.  Read another blog post on all of the Thanksgiving economics lessons I used in my classroom!)

The Little Red Hen Goods & Services

During this reading, we focused on the goods the hen used and the services she provided.  We used the interactive PowerPoints from this packet of Thanksgiving economics lessons to sort goods and services.  Then, my firsties worked in their table groups to sort the goods and services from the story.

Then, we were ready use our own goods and provide our own services to make our own pumpkin pies!  Oh, heavens, the sheer excitement that brought on!

The Economics of Baking Pumpkin Pie

We used our pumpkin pie recipe slide from the Little Red Hen packet and highlighted the labeled the goods and services on our flip chart.  We also highlighted the capital and natural resources {which we learned about last week} on our ingredients.

Then, to quote the Little Red Hen, I asked, “Who will help me with the sugar?” We had already talked about the life lesson of this fable {Hard work pays off.} And we had already established that only the eager helpers get to share in the rewards.  So, imagine my surprise when I had 23 eager helpers for baking our pie! 🙂

This year I decided to make mini-pumpkin pies so each kiddo could have a whole pie.  The recipe is the same, but you half the cooking time at 350 degrees. {20-25 minutes at 350, not 40-50}.  AND, instead of having to make a double recipe, I was able to make 24 pies with some left over filling from just one recipe.  I did have to buy 4 pie crusts though.

Each firstie got to cut out their own pie crust.

 And press it into the muffin pan.

 …some of my sweeties were so careful to make their pie crust “pretty!”  Loved the ownership of their little pies.  They were so proud!

And what do you do with left over pie crust?? Eat it, of course!!  {no worries, it’s eggless!}  One of my fondest memories of Thanksgiving baking with my mom was eagerly waiting for the left over pie dough.  So, I shared that memory with my firsties this year.  Not so many of them seemed too appreciate it, but it was fun watching their faces!  And I had plenty of left overs for me! 🙂

Then, we measured and stirred the ingredients. And I should add that I called back table groups at a time for help with each step.  The others were working on our other Thanksgiving project at their desks!

Then, each group got to come back while I poured in their pie filling.  Here they are ready for the oven!

 And AFTER…yum!

I numbered the tins 1-24 with a sharpie so that each kid could have the actual pie they made.  They used their class number so it would be easy to remember.

 I mean…. *chef’s kiss*

How darling are these individual pies??  No need for a fork, and we were able to cut them in “half” and talk about how one whole is the same as two halves {reinforcing our fraction ideas we had worked on last week.}

They were so proud…many of them didn’t want to finish them at school so they could take it home to share with family!  Presh!!

I absolutely love days like today (even though I’d welcome a full week off for Thanksgiving!) because we are able to do special projects that allow me to relax a bit more and just enjoy the kids and their sweet little personalities.  

Sometimes, when I’m in the middle of a “normal week” of intervention, paperwork, assessments, small group instruction, conferencing, and more intervention, I lose sight of each of the 25 sweet and unique personalities in my classroom.  Today was a special reminder of just how wonderful they each are!