Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on Thursday, November 23, this year. President George Washington designated November 26 as a day of National Thanksgiving in 1789. In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed a resolution declaring the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving. It's a great time to encourage your students and families to discuss gratefulness.


Letter writing is a perfect activity to get students thinking about who and what they should be thankful for. And there is solid evidence that writing letters of gratitude improve happiness too. The iSOSY series Write On! has a lesson that centers on Letter Writing.


A fun activity families might enjoy creating a gratitude paper chain. Each family member is provided strips of colorful paper on which to write or draw images of the things for which they are thankful. Then use the strips of paper to form a chain to display in the home. You can find additional fun, engaging gratitude activities for the family HERE.

Quiz time!

Q: What are the lead cranberry producing states?  

A: Wisconsin, followed by Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oregon. 

Q: Is a pumpkin technically a fruit or a vegetable?

A: Fruit

Q: What are adult female and male turkeys called?

A: A hen and a tom

National Stress Awareness Day is always the first Wednesday in November, so this year it is November 1. Chronic stress leads to impaired cognitive and physiological functions. The iSOSY website has a wonderful Personal Wellness Training Package designed for users to learn more about personal wellness and mental health–and to teach others about issues that address and support overall wellness, with an emphasis on the unique stresses that occur in the lives of migratory students and their families. One of the fun, useful activities within is making stress balls.


You can also access the Webinar Archives to listen to Dr. Mona Johnson reviewing methods for coping with career stress, compassion fatigue, and potential secondary traumatic stress which can result from continuous exposure to school-based and/or other student trauma(s). Participants reflect on their social emotional competence, explore comprehensive areas of professional wellness, and are introduced to a framework to create an individualized self-care plan to support positive resilience and personal growth.

November is Family Literacy Month. Started in 1994, the celebration seeks to spread awareness and promote family literacy by encouraging parents and caregivers to read to their children. Family literacy activities help parents improve their literacy and parenting skills and support early childhood education. When you read to your children during the early years, they are more likely to become good readers in adulthood. When children see the adults in the house reading, it inspires them to read as well.


It is also Library and Informational Services Month. What a perfect time to visit the local library with the family. A library is the one place where you have access to endless information for free. In addition to books, libraries also offer many programs. Join some of those programs, such as workshops, movie nights, and reading groups to add to the fun. Did you know that studies show reading for just six minutes can reduce stress levels by up to 68%?  Books are a great tool to escape from everyday worries and stress. iSOSY’s ACRES resource, Unit 3, contains lessons for reading for fun and understanding.


The Read-Write-Think website has some great ideas for activities supporting Family Literacy Month. Loyola University also provides 10 ways to celebrate and support family literacy.


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