Host Your Own Cranberry Day

Looking for new ideas for celebrating the upcoming fall harvest and Thanksgiving? Wanting to do something different so that your students aren't always having the same old classroom feast in November? Why not host your own Cranberry Day?

Last year, my 1st grade teaching partner, Kelley, told me she celebrated Cranberry Day with her students each November. Since she grew up in Massachusetts this was a given! However, since I have lived my entire life in California, I had never heard of this celebration, but thought it sounded wonderful. It was! The parents donated all the supplies we needed and several volunteered to run one of the stations.

I kept it simple last year, but decided I would add a few more activities that Kelley had shared with me this year. I can't wait!

The children will rotate through the following stations:

1. Taste Test: Which do you like? (unsweetened juice, sweetened juice, dried cranberries, fresh cranberries, cranberry sauce, cranberry muffin, etc.)

2. Freshness Test: Do the cranberries bounce?

3. Video: Growing and harvesting cranberries

4. Drying Cranberries

5. Using Cranberry Dye

6. Stringing Cranberries (Make a popcorn and cranberry garland)

7. Observe Cranberries Using Your 5 Senses


We will also complete a "Can, Have, Are" sheet which we will use later during our writing period
and complete a Class Graph to determine who did and did not like the taste of fresh cranberries.

They will also read a little Did You Know? Cranberry Facts book I created using facts I gathered for the Ocean Spray website. It includes facts about Cranberry Day, how cranberries were used by the Native Americans, where and when cranberries are grown and harvested, how they were served at the Pilgrims feast, and more.


The booklet and other activities I created to help me implement the activities listed above are available now in my TPT store. Check it out!

You can grab a FREEBIE page from the packet HERE as well.

Happy Cranberry Day!