Today in room 10 it's CRANBERRY DAY!!!  This is a fun day to work with this beautiful seasonal fruit.  The kids will be reading about cranberries, watching videos and slide shows about cranberries and how they are harvested, completing cranberry estimation, cranberry cursive, cranberry observations with a microscope, creating a cranberry wreath, cranberry taste testing, cranberry math problems and a cranberry science lesson on sinking and floating!  It will be a busy day!!

Here are some cranberry ideas for you to share with your child at home!



Cranberry Garland

Who says garlands aren’t a Thanksgiving decoration? Try stringing them on doorways or around windows. After you’re finished, decorate a bush outside. Birds and squirrels will eat them up!

• Fresh cranberries
• Air popped popcorn, or microwave popcorn with no butter or salt on it
• Raisins
• Toothpick and thread (use a needle instead of a toothpick if it's OK with your parents)

Attach the string to the toothpick. Cut the thread at the other end and tie two knots on top of each other as close to the end as possible. Put the toothpick through a cranberry and push the berry all the way to the bottom of the thread. The knot you made should keep it from falling off. Next, do the same thing with a piece of popcorn. It might take you a few tries to keep the popcorn from breaking apart. You can put the cranberries, popcorn, and raisins into whatever order you like, or you can do a garland of all cranberries. When you’re finished, cut the string by the toothpick and tie two knots to keep the berries from falling off.

Cranberry Smoothie
This is a delicious drink that’s easy to make. Try it for breakfast. The recipe makes two cups.

• 1 very ripe banana
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 1 cup milk
• 3 ice cubes

Put in a blender and mix until smooth.

Berry-licious Trail Mix
You can try making this mix with different kinds of nuts or dried fruit. It’s an easy snack to take to school or on a car trip.

• 2 cups toasted wheat cereal squares
• 2 cups raisins1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup yogurt covered pretzels
• ½ cup peanuts

Mix all the ingredients together and put in an airtight container. Makes about 14 servings.

Frozen Cranberry Banana Salad

• 1 20-ounce can of pineapple tidbits, with juice drained out
• 4 or 5 firm bananas, halved and sliced
• 1 16-ounce can of whole berry cranberry sauce
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 12-ounce container of frozen whipped topping, thawed
• ¼ cup walnuts, chopped (you can leave these out if you want)

In a large bowl, combine the cranberry sauce and sugar. Add the bananas, pineapples, whipped topping, and walnuts. Pour the mixture into a 13 by 9 inch pan and freeze until solid. When ready to eat, take the salad out and let it sit for 15 minutes. Cut the salad into squares. You should have 12-16 squares, depending on the size you cut them.


Enjoy!!!