I love inspiring my students to write using seasonal themes and resources! In the days leading up to Thanksgiving we read lots of books and discuss its origins and the traditions surrounding it. Several years ago, I scoured the internet to find a fun activity that I could display in the hallway outside the classroom, but couldn't find anything just right. So, I created this...
I began this mini-unit by teaching my students about the parts of the paragraph. I decided to adapt the OREO model I kept seeing on Pinterest to the needs of my own students, and came up with this:
It's not perfect, but totally resonated with my students! Next, I made our learning goal and success criteria explicitly clear:
And now, the fun begins! I read the book "The Great Turkey Race" to my kiddos.
They LOVED it!! My students thought the silly turkeys in the story who were vying to become THE Thanksgiving turkey were hilarious!
When the story was finished, we discussed what it would be like to be a Thanksgiving turkey at this time of the year. What a fun chat that was! Their ideas were so cute!!
Were they ever ready to write after this!!
Finally, we prepared our own Thanksgiving turkeys... really!! I took a photo of each student and had them developed prior to this lesson. We cut out their faces and THEY became the turkeys! They had so much fun decorating these! Take a look at the final products! (I wish I could show their little faces!)
You can grab a copy of this package for use in your own classroom NOW!
Find more Thanksgiving activities and resources on this Pinterest board:
Happy Thanksgiving!!! Enjoy your 4 day weekend holiday! As usual, you're very creative. What a great way to discuss perspective! I love it!
ReplyDeleteNajda
We're working on traditions and celebrations right now as well! I love how you incorporated it into language!
ReplyDeleteAlso, our success criteria for writing right now are pretty much the same as yours!
These are so cute! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete:) Shelley
Super cute idea! We usually at soccer and then have turkey dinner. This is followed by making a huge pot of turkey soup.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this Erin!!! I would love to do this and turn it into this week's class big book! So cute :)
ReplyDeleteWill he doing this! My family thanksgiving will be spent with everyone celebrating my daughters 16th birthday and how thankful we are!
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