Thanksgiving Addition Practice Placemat {Freebie}

I am so super excited tonight because my students brought in over $90 in COINS for our Hurricane Sandy Coin Drive this week. Yesterday we had $28.02, which was awesome, but we decided with one day left we needed a goal. I talk to my students daily about the importance of goal setting...to read more difficult text, to pass the next math timing, to get to the next RAZ level...to donate coins to people/kids who need it more than we do right now.

So we set our goal for $50...which meant we needed to bring in almost $22.00 today (Friday). Then we talked about where the money would be going, why those children needed our help, and how we would feel if the hurricane had happened over here. We talked about maybe giving part of our Friday Treat money, searching the couch cushions, under the seats in the car, or even doing some extra chores around the house.

When my students walked in this morning they had happy smiles on their faces...proud smiles! As they brought their coins and dollars up to our Coin Drive cup they very proudly cupped their coins in their little hands and donated them to other boys and girls who need those coins a little more than we do right now.

Soon I heard, "Ms. O'Brien! The cup is overflowing!!!!" Yep! We filled our donation cup and then some! Mrs. Black (our principal) needed to make the deposit for the Red Cross this morning so I quickly started counting the coins and dollars. It took me a while though... my students brought in $63.40 TODAY! Making our class Grand Total = $91.42!!!! They were pumped! Impressed! Excited! One student said "That shows that we really care about them!" Another student said, "I gave all of my Friday Treat money!" Another student asked if we could write letters to the kids who would be getting the money, and I am going to look into that one! How cool would it be to have pen pals from the other side of the United States?!

So in celebration of my students being so giving, I thought I should do the same. 

I have been working on a Thanksgiving Addition Practice Placemat project and just posted it to my TPT store. It's yours for free! Go download it!

I am thankful for each of my followers, I love learning from you and with you. You are all inspiring educators and people.

It is quick, easy, and it is a sneaky way to get your students to practice their math facts while eating their Thanksgiving turkey! They can show off their addition skills to family visiting from out of town!