Turkey Time Traditions {Amna from Teach Two Reach}

Thanksgiving has already come and gone! And what? It’s going to be December tomorrow? Well, I’ll be closing out the Turkey Time posts for this month's Elementary Entourage theme. And although the time has past, maybe this post will help with some ideas for next year!

Reading Turkey Trouble can never go wrong. Students always love this silly book  about a turkey trying different disguises to escape being dinner. It’s the perfect time to do a Disguise the Turkey activity if you like doing that in your classroom. The book is a great one to start off the unit. Students also get to really dissect the book and work on comprehension skills with this Turkey Trouble tab booklet.

Around this time, we get to do our Thanksgiving HandwritingScoot. Handwriting Scoot is something I created when I realized, sheesh, students really need to work on their writing! Handwriting gets focused on less and less as the years go by. So I try to do these themed Scoots where students learn relavent vocabulary and play a handwriting game. They love it!

Speaking of games, why not incorporate Thanksgiving related sentences and practice sentence structure as well. So we do our noun and verbroam the room games.

Of course my favorite time is Thanksgiving lunch/dinner with the family. And here is a little freebie for you to practice fact families. It's a cute little project using a "place setting," to write out four fact family sentences. 

See you all next month!!

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Turkey Time Traditions {with Kim from For a Love of Teaching}

I can't believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone so quickly! It seems like just yesterday I was starting a new school year, and now I'm switching gears to get ready for Christmas! Has your year flown by as fast as mine has? 

I know Thanksgiving is over, but I have several traditions to share with you ranging from a favorite classroom activity to our family and home traditions. Be sure to pin some of these ideas to save for later!

In the Classroom

In the classroom, we have a tradition of writing Turkey Tall Tales. My 4th graders always loved this writing activity. It never failed to get their creative juices flowing, because tall tales are so much fun to write and read! It also makes the perfect November bulletin board, or wall/door display.

Click to PIN for next year!

I also LOVE to go to my daughters classroom to see her Thanksgiving play each year. At our school, it's definitely a tradition for grades Kindergarten through Second to perform a Thanksgiving play for parents. Since she is in 2nd grade this year, it is probably the last Thanksgiving play I'll get to see her in which made it even more special!

I loved her writing about her favorite Thanksgiving memories with our family!

In the Computer Lab

Since I've taken on the new role of Technology Facilitator at my school I get to help teachers in so many ways! This year I created PowerPoint Slideshows for each classroom in grades Kindergarten through Second. Each student created their own turkey in KidPix, told me what they were most thankful for, and then I recorded their voice saying what they were thankful for onto each slide. Teachers used these to show parents before or during their classroom Thanksgiving plays. They turned out so cute! The teachers, parents, and students loved them! I feel certain that this will become a tradition!

At Home

My daughter, Korah loves to help me in the kitchen. It's a family tradition (and always a request from other family members) to make Oreo Cookie Cake with turkeys on top! Korah loves to use Oreos and leftover Candy Corn to make the cutest little turkeys to put on the top of our cake. I know it's not a traditional Thanksgiving dessert, but it's always a hit with the kids and adults, too!

These bottom pictures were taken 3 years ago. She's grown so much, and still helps me today!

On the Road

For me, Thanksgiving is a time to get together with family. It's really our first BIG family get together for the year. Everyone tries to be there, and we all bring a dish or two to share. We hit the road early on Thanksgiving day to visit family and obviously stuff ourselves with turkey and all the fixings. 

Last year it snowed on Thanksgiving day and the kids built a snowman after we ate! 

And last...

It's a family tradition to put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. As soon as Thanksgiving is over the fall decorations come down, and the Christmas decorations go up! After the tree is decorated we kick and watch a Christmas movie together. Christmas is my favorite time of the year!

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Turkey Time Traditions in Pre-K! {with All Y'all Need}

Is it just me or did November fly by this year?!? My Pre-K class were busy little "turkeys" during the month of November. We discussed Native Americans, Pilgrims, Turkeys, and all things Thanksgiving. Here are a few of my absolute favorite turkey time projects: 

Thankful Plates: 

Every year, I have kiddos complete this home project and bring it to school. Each student gets to present their thankful plate to the class. I just love hearing what they cherish the most and still cry every time they say that they are thankful for their school family. 

Catch Me If You Can!

This year, we had a Pre-K Turkey Run! Laura's son, Josh, graciously volunteered to dress in a Turkey suit and let the Pre-K kiddos chase him all over the playground. Ok... there might've been some bribing going to get him to dress up as a turkey. Nevertheless, the turkey run was a success and will be reoccurring next year! 

Classroom Turkey

I got this idea from my one of my amazing coworkers and I absolutely love it! Each child was given a turkey feather and water colors to paint however they like. The picture truly doesn't do it justice. It was beautiful, unique, and something my kids loved taking ownership of. 

"T is for Turkey"

I'm going to go ahead and say I got this idea off of Pinterest, but I honestly meshed a couple of ideas to create my own version. 

Turkey Glyphs 

Pre-K teachers were inspired to do a glyph after seeing the kindergarteners in our building create adorable scarecrow glyphs. For the turkey glyph, the feathers symbolized the students age and the bow/ bow tie symbolized whether they were a boy or a girl. Not too shabby for our first glyph! 

Turkey Roll!

This was my kiddos' absolute favorite game!

Materials Needed:
Turkey clip art (I used Creative Clips)
Colanders (I found mine at Dollar Tree)
Packaging Tape
Dice
Feathers

To play the game, the students would roll the dice, count out the number of feathers that they rolled, and place them in a hole on the colander. It was a great game to work on counting and fine motor. Plus, my kids thought it was hilarious to place the colanders on their heads and wear them as a hat!

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Turkey Time Traditions {with Core Inspiration by Laura Santos}

Thanksgiving is the perfect time of year to get a little sentimental in the classroom. By November, community is strong and students are feeling more comfortable sharing their feelings and personal stories.

My favorite November classroom tradition was born from the simple idea that we should thank the people we love for the little things they do everyday to help us live happy lives. Each year this project evolves a little and becomes more meaningful to my students. Your heart will be genuinely warmed when you read the thoughtful ideas shared with classmates and loved ones as a result of a little tradition I call Letters of Thanks.

This writing project begins with a discussion about the difference between being thankful for physical object versus being thankful for feelings and experiences.

Once students have a clear understanding of this difference, you can introduce different categories to guide a brainstorm about giving thanks for feelings and experiences. This brainstorm session will boost the flow of the letter writing process in the next step.

After your class brainstorm session, hang the brainstorm posters in a central location and encourage students to visit the posters as needed when they write their letters of thanks.

Taking the time to introduce the meaning behind the project and building a strong collection of ideas through brainstorming makes the letter writing itself a breeze. A peaceful focus blankets the room as students write voraciously about the moments and feelings they are grateful for. It is always a teacher’s gift when their young writers are busy jotting away and we can peek over each and every shoulder to read the thoughts that are near and dear to our students’ hearts.

After each letter is signed with love, it’s time to add a touch of cuteness to this Thanksgiving gift. An adorable turkey card is the perfect packaging for your students to deliver their letter in.

This project is sure to be a parent favorite and a keepsake for the scrapbook. It is also the perfect way to take a break from assessments, report cards, and conferences that consume so much of the daily schedule this time of year.

You can download the stationary template for Letters ofThanks as a freebie here. If you are interested in my full activity lesson plan along with instructions for the adorable turkey card craftivity, download Lettersof Thanks – A Thanksgiving Writing Project and Craftivity here.

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Turkey Time Traditions {with Lauren from Mrs. Thompson's Treaures}

Happy Thanksgiving!! This year our family is celebrating across the world, away from family. While it is a hard time to be away, we are striving to continue to count our blessings and remember the things we are thankful for.

Anything that involves technology is sure to be a win with the kids! This year, I sent the 2 older kids on a photo scavenger hunt with my phone. I made a list of 10 different categories, and they had to find something they were thankful for in that category and take a picture. They had a lot of fun and it helped them see all the little things they have in daily life that are easy to take for granted.

 



 

This would be a great activity to try today with any kids you have at your Thanksgiving gathering. Just make up some categories and let them be creative! You can always have them draw pictures instead of using a phone or camera if they are too young.

 

Click on the pictures below to find more fun and FREE Thanksgiving activities!

 

 

 

Have a fun-filled and yummy day!!

 

 

 

 



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Turkey Time Traditions {with The McGrew Crew}

Is everyone as excited about this time of year as I am?! This is my absolute favorite time of year and I can not believe it's almost Thanksgiving! I'm going to share a couple of fall crafts our family enjoys, plus a yummy recipe!

Our family loves camping! We have all boys in my house and they LOVE the outdoors and love to collect things! We picked some pine cones on this particular camping trip and decorated them with glue and glitter, added a fun ribbon and put it on our Christmas tree. I love how the glitter sparkles under the tree lights!

This next activity is one we try to do every year...A Thanksgiving Tree. You can easily find some free leaf patterns on Pinterest. We add one thing we are thankful for each day until Thanksgiving and add it to our tree. {See original post HERE}

I also wanted to share my most favorite Fall recipe! Chicken & Dumplings! I know there are so many ways to make this popular dish, so I thought I'd share mine:

Chicken and Dumplings (Crock Pot Recipe)

3-4 chicken breasts

3-4 cups water

1-2 cups milk

1 can (14 oz) chicken broth

2 cans cream of something (celery, potato, chicken, etc.) I usually use celery or potato

3-4 celery stalks chopped

3-4 carrots chopped

1 small onion chopped

Salt and Pepper

Bisquick and Milk for dumplings OR 1 package of refrigerated biscuits

Use a Crock Pot Liner for easy clean-up! Place chicken, carrots, onions and celery in crock pot. Mix water, milk, chicken broth and creams in a bowl then add to the pot. Cook on low for about 6 hours. About 30 minutes before serving turn the slow cooker on high. Remove chicken, shred it and return it to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pinch off bits of dough and place in pot. Cook about 20 minutes or until they are not raw in the middle!   

*Adjust the ingredients as necessary

Happy Thanksgiving!

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