Spread Kindness as You Countdown to Thanksgiving Break

Inside: Countdown to Thanksgiving Break and focus on kindness at the same time by using this Kindness Countdown to Thanksgiving Break Paper Chain.

October to December for any school year is especially crazy as we all try to teach all the things and celebrate all the holidays. Halloween to Winter Break can often feel like a blur as we sneak in Pilgrims and bats and witches and learning how others celebrate December holidays.

And fall can often times get pushed past to get to the excitement of the winter holidays which are right around the corner.

To lean into fall, we love connecting fall with kindness and social emotional learning with our Kindness Pumpkins Kind or Unkind Sort, our Kindness Leaves Kind or Unkind Sort, and our Kindness Apples Kind or Unkind Sort.

We can also use our Fall Kindness Challenge, our Fall Kindness Bucket List, our October Volunteer Challenge, and our November Volunteer Challenge.

Because what most parents and educators especially love during fall is the fact that we’re getting closer and closer to a week off: Thanksgiving Break.

No alarm clocks. No school lunches packed. Vacations away or vacations on the couch.

To help countdown to our coveted Thanksgiving Break and spread acts of kindness at the same time, we use our Thanksgiving Break Kindness Paper Chain Countdown Calendar.

How to Focus on Kindness During Fall

Fall is the perfect time to focus on gratitude, kindness and giving to others so we can also start focusing on social-emotional learning and kindness with our students.

And since fall is chock-full of holidays, it’s easy to spread kindness during each of the holidays. We start with our Fall Kindness Notes we can pass out to friends and neighbors.

In October, we can spread kindness on Halloween with our Halloween Kindness Notes and practice being kind with our Halloween Kindness Role Playing Cards and play games with our Pumpkin Kind or Unkind Sort.

In November , we can practice kindness leading up to Thanksgiving with our Thanksgiving Role Playing Cards and our Kindness Leaves Kind or Unkind Sort. We can focus on gratitude and everything we’re thankful for with our Gratitude Pumpkin Printables and our Gratitude Kindess Notes.

We also use this Thanksgiving Kindness Emergent Reader to focus on all the ways be can be kind and helpful to our family during Thanksgiving dinner.

But we can also spread kindness every day as we countdown to Thanksgiving Break, no matter when your Thanksgiving Break starts.

Each day as we speak and act with kindness and freely giveaway our kindness to others, we’ll focus a little less on ourselves and more on others.

Daily kindness reminders like this make kindness more of a habit and less of a one-time, big grand gesture.

And it sets them up to want to be kind more often, setting the new season on the right foot…on a kinder foot.

Supplies Needed for the Countdown to Thanksgiving Break Paper Chain

1 ½-inch by 11-inch construction paper strips (the number of strips you need will be dependent on the number of days your kids have left until Thanksgiving break) We used brown, orange and yellow paper.
Stapler
Glue stick
Printable countdown activities (download it below).

How to Use the Kindness Paper Chain Countdown to Thanksgiving Break

1. Download and print the paper chain countdown printables (download it below).

2. Cut each of the activities. Choose the best ones for you and the number you need depending on when you start and how many days are left until Thanksgiving Break.

3. Glue each of the activities on one strip of the construction paper.

4. Loop the strip into a circle, with the activity facing in, and carefully staple the ends together.

5. Make another kindness activity strip. Put it through the first circle, loop it into its own circle, and then staple the ends together.

6. Continue with each construction paper strip, gluing the kindness activities down, and linking them all together.

The last strip in the link will be their last day before Thanksgiving Break!

7. Hang up the countdown to Thanksgiving Break calendar where it can be easily seen so it’s a visual representation of how many days left until break.

8. Each day, rip off the top loop, do the kindness activity and celebrate them for focusing on kindness.

As the strip gets shorter and shorter, so will the days in school.

So when your kids ask, “How many days until Thanksgiving Break starts?” you can point to the paper chain and count the links left on your countdown chain.

And after focusing on spreading kindness, you’ll know you’re almost there to the days off!

And once you make it to Thanksgiving Break, you’re super close to Winter break!

Related: Get ready for the next break! Countdown to Winter Break here with our Kindness Paper Chain