Teachers often turn to fun crafts and activities to celebrate holidays and provide information to their students. While making hand tracings into turkeys can be a blast, it's useful to have an extra layer of learning involved. It's easy to find ways to relate the Common Core to activities like this. Here are a few festive ways to teach about Thanksgiving in your class that align with the Core:
Ask the turkey to dinner
No matter what the main dish is at your students' homes for Thanksgiving, they're all familiar with the tradition of enjoying a massive turkey. Teachers Pay Teachers created an activity in which the educator asks the students to pretend they're the turkey. You ask, "Mr. Turkey, Mr. Turkey, won't you come to dinner?" Then, your students come up with different excuses for why they won't attend. (In reality, Mr. Turkey doesn't want to get eaten!)
The students will use their imaginations as well as speaking and listening skills which are all important parts of the Common Core. You may be surprised what silly reasons your class can come up with, like, "I already ate!" or "I have to wash the dog!" You can even have the class draw their own versions of the turkey declining dinner, complete with their written excuses to further delve into Common Core skills like writing and using visual tools.
Talk about the feast
Thanksgiving is a time for food as everyone brings their own dish and enjoys one another's company. Your students probably have favorite and least favorite parts of this meal. Brussels sprouts, for example, may not be a popular option, whereas pie and its delectable whipped cream topping are likely high on your students' lists. Hold a discussion about everyone's upcoming feasts. Encourage your students to talk about what they're excited and not-so-stoked about when it comes to food.
You can even take a survey and manually or digitally create infographics sharing what your class's most coveted and least-enjoyed Thanksgiving dishes are. This is a fun activity to get other classes involved in too, as you can learn about everyone's preferences when you post visual representations outside in the hallway. If you have access to tablets and devices, consider having your class create graphs and tables using online tools. This skill will come in handy at higher grade levels and improves analytical thinking, an important part of the Common Core.
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