Happy Thanksgiving 2019

This week everyone was excitedly looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with their families and friends.  But we remained focused and had a fun and productive couple of days.  

We're only in session one Monday of the year, and that's during Thanksgiving week.  We are thankful to have families who are flexible enough to do this, so we can enjoy Wednesday as part of our Thanksgiving holiday.  




Even though it was a Monday morning, we set to work as if it were a "regular" day, and got busy making posters for Coach Teri's neighborhood holiday party.  This is a "job" we have done a few times each year for a while, and everyone helps by coloring pictures that bring the details to life.  Here is the work during the production phase.  We talk to our "Arc-tists" about coloring "masterpieces" for these important jobs, and they have taken it to heart over the years.  We're proud of them!  (Now to work on the harder part:  cutting!)

This is how they looked when we finished!  Great work by our gang!

For our movement activity on Monday, the guys organized themselves into a great game of pool noodle volleyball!  

The leaves we pressed last week worked nicely for our leaf art project.  We gave the guys some ideas for using the leaves to create animals and insects, but then let them create whatever came to mind.  Kate was making a butterfly and Patrick was making a face with funny hair.  Annmarie, decided to trace the leaves rather than create with them.  We love their individual creativity!

Devin used his leaves to create a turtle, and Abraham and Lisa made an elephant.  Kacie's wheels were still turning, but she eventually came up with a feathery owl.

Aren't these great?!

So cute, and very clever!  The googly eyes brought the pieces to life!

After lunch, we went to the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg for our November visit with Christina.  She began the visit by showing us the beautiful tree that she works diligently to decorate each year.

There are almost 2,000 ornaments on the tree, and all of them are handmade.  It's a very beautiful tree!

For our lesson, we went on a scavenger hunt to find serving pieces, and along the way, we learned about the kinds of foods and beverages that were enjoyed by folks in CW in the 1700s.  In this picture, there is a ceramic punch bowl near the center of the photo.  Christina told us that punch in the 1700s was an "adult" beverage, consisting of 5 ingredients:  fruit, water, sugar, spices, and spirits.  She also told us that "punch" comes from an Indian word which means "five."  Then, she told us the "gross" part:  It was common for guests to drink directly from the punch ladle and then pass it on to the next guest! 😮 

Since there was no refrigeration in the 1700s, food was preserved by smoking, salting, or pickling it.  Therefore, condiments were popular for adding taste to food and were served alongside meals in a "cruet set."  They had salt, pepper, dried mustard, and even ketchup and soy sauce!

With one of the most important meals of the year coming up, Christina thought it would be fun to make place mats in the Education Room.  We went step by step with her and created a collage piece, which she then laminated for us!  

Thank you, Christina!  These are awesome!  Our guys did a great job following the directions, too!  Yay!

On our way out, we stopped to see some conservators who were gilding (with gold!) a chandelier!

This conservator explained the process of preparing a piece for gilding, and how the gold is actually applied.  The two conservators in the background were applying gold while we watched.  The tv screen allows for us to see the gilding process up close.  Very cool!  The chandelier will be finished in a few weeks, and we know where to look to see it when we return to the museums in January!

Sometimes we pair our guys so that one partner is stronger at a task than the other.  This gives the stronger partner a chance to "teach" and "support," while including the other partners in higher-level thinking activities.  On Tuesday, we did an addition worksheet.  Drew and Kevin used the chips to add and Alexis and Liz recorded the answers.  Afterward, they took turns coloring by number to finish the pictures.

Sam and Devin ended up as equal partners for the activity.  What was interesting with this partnership is that they are fun-loving guys who generally enjoy more "active" lessons.  They hunkered down for this one and worked quietly and efficiently to solve the problems for about 30 minutes!  They were proud when they finished, too! 👏👏

We're including Choice Time pictures again this week because we were surprised to see how relaxed everyone was on Tuesday.  They had been revved up a bit before lunch, but all of a sudden about 10 minutes into Choice Time, we noticed how focused they were on quiet activities!

Devin worked on a Thanksgiving word search while Drew played a math game on the computer and Kevin put together his favorite puzzle.  They were content to be at the same table together.

We hesitated to end the quiet Choice Time, but we wanted to watch a Mystery Doug episode about that "red thing" on a turkey's neck, and then do an extension activity.  We learned that the red thing is called a wattle, and it's only found on male turkeys, along with a snood, which is more red fleshy skin on the face. 

 For the activity, we used a paper cut-out of a turkey, paper clips, string, and a piece of straw to fashion a turkey that would wobble down the string.  Which led to us getting "revved up" again, as we tried to get our gobblers to wobble.  For some of our guys, holding the string taut was a challenge, but everyone persevered!

Earlier in the day we prepared pumpkin parfaits to celebrate Parfait Day (November 25th) and to learn that "parfait" is French for "perfect."  We also created our own Thanksgiving Bingo cards by pasting the pictures randomly in the squares so everyone would have a different card.  Laura did a nice job during her spare time of coloring hers!  

And our pumpkin parfaits, which we enjoyed while we played Bingo at the end of the day, were splendid.  Or should we say they were "parfait?"  

Before we wrap up this post with next week's agenda, we want to remind everyone that we are conducting a Food Drive to benefit the Salvation Army.  Please send donations over the next couple of weeks.  We plan to deliver them when we are in the area on December 17th.  Thanks in advance for your support!

We have also adopted two angels from the Salvation Army's angel tree.  We chose two little boys, both age 4!  We're asking each associate to make a donation (suggested $10) so we can shop for the boys on December 5th.  Thank you for supporting this benevolence project, too!

We're excited to help a couple of kids have a happy Christmas, and we're also excited to go shopping for the first time in this program.  We will divide into groups for this, and if it seems like a good activity, we may incorporate it into more of our planning for our cooking and craft activities!

That wraps up our short Thanksgiving week.  We'll return on Tuesday with a full agenda.  Here are the details:

Tuesday:  🎂🎈 It's Carol's birthday today!! 🎂🎈 We'll celebrate with bowling and pizza for lunch, courtesy of Laura's grandparents!  We will return to AFCC after bowling for a yoga session with Kiley!    Wear Arc shirts (and comfy pants)! (And thanks for remembering to wear Arc shirts last Monday for our visit to the Art Museums.  We forgot to remind you in the blog!!)

Wednesday:  It's a big day today!  First, Dave from the Rotary Club will be here for computer lab support, and we will work on the December calendar (which we didn't get to last week).  We're also welcoming special visitors, Pam and the Arc of GW Board of Directors!  We have new board members who want to see our program, and they are going to bring us pasta and salad for lunch.  Sadly, we will not have yoga with Patti as she will be having surgery to treat a lung infection and will not be with us again until January.  We will make her beautiful cheer cards to let her know how much we care!

Thursday:  Yesterday was Dice Day and we enjoy playing dice games each year, so we will do that in the morning.  We'll also begin holiday decorations for our room.  After an early lunch, we will head to Walmart to shop for our angel tree recipients.  Please remember your donations, and wear Arc shirts.  Lunch on your own.

Friday:  We will get back to our states' study today with the 20th to enter the Union:  Mississippi!  We'll also have a history lesson about Pearl Harbor, and continue working on decorations for our room.  Lunch on your own, but we will make Mississippi Mud Pie for dessert.

Thanks again to family and friends who continue to encourage and support us!  We are thankful for you during Thanksgiving...and ALL year long!

Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang