In Ohio, November is short and sweet. We have conferences, Election day, and Thanksgiving break off. I do love to squeeze in as many Thanksgiving turkey activities as I can. Here are my top 5 turkey activities along with a few honorable mentions.
1. Turkey Reading Comprehension Fiction Guided Reading with a Purpose Unit
In this unit, we read adorable turkey-themed stories and focus on characters and their feelings. We read 5 anchor text for the week: A Plump & Perky Turkey, ‘Twas the Night before Thanksgiving, A Turkey for Thanksgiving, Turkey Trouble, and Bear says Thanks.
These are my favorite Thanksgiving reading activities. They all lend themselves to focusing on the characters. Not only are they loaded with comprehension activities, but they also come with crafts, writing, word work activities, and a few math games. You can find these turkey books in my Amazon store.
2. Solve the Mystery of the Missing Turkey
It was the day before Thanksgiving and Jordan and Maya invited Turkey over for dinner. Unfortunately, turkey has gone missing. This fun task card activity will take your students on a mystery adventure to find out where turkey went. It begins with a short video to present the problem. Then, students get busy solving the task cards to earn clues. They need to find out who took Turkey, when, and where they took him. Your students will beg for more adventures.
3. Nonfiction Turkey Activities Unit
I love to mesh fiction with nonfiction learning. Children love learning about animals and their brains are like sponges – they soak up all the facts. This unit comes with a colorful digital book with real photos and a matching little paper reader for the children. It is a fun way to teach all the informational text standards. This unit is filled with a variety of activities that you can differentiate for all your learners.
4. Turkey in a Cup
We love making snacks in class. This snack dip can be paired with veggies or veggie straws to make a yummy treat that looks like a turkey. You can make it together using the mini booklet. There are opportunities to write, sequence, craft, and graph while making Turkey in a Cup. This would pair nicely with Pumpkin Pie in a Cup too!
5. Turkey Movement Breaks
We all need to get our wiggles out. These fun movement breaks will do just that and practice decoding blends, place value, 10 more than a number, and doubles. I have a whole line of movement breaks including some autumn ones too!
Turkey Activity Honorable Mentions
I do have a few honorable mention turkey activities, too. We love playing Turkey True or False after learning all about turkeys. We always make Pumpkin Pie in a Cup. On the day before Thanksgiving break, we do my paper Turkey Theme Day activities and my Digital Thanksgiving Day activities too. We also enjoy playing Thanksgiving Bingo.
Here are a few things teachers had to say about these resources:
“Gobble! Gobble! We love this! Thank you for saving me time and keeping students interested this time of year.”
“What a FUN activity to do the week of Thanksgiving break! The video is simple and quick, perfect to introduce the activity. The tasks are right on target for that time of year. The class I used it with needed some help working together so this was perfect to build teamwork within them. I think their favorite part was the journal! 🙂 I appreciated the answer key and the awards/crown options for when they complete the mystery. Great resource, I highly recommend!”
Turkey Guided Reading Comprehension Unit
“I love how these resources include more than one standard and you can adjust the lessons to match where you are on the pacing guide. The lessons are very well thought out and my students always enjoy the crafts that go along with the lessons”
Looking for more Thanksgiving activities for the classroom? Be sure to check out my Solve the Mystery of the Missing Pumpkin Pie activity or read more about how I make Pumpkin Pie in a Cup with my students.
I hope you have a terrific turkey day!
