Thanksgiving in the Classroom

Family Turkey Time!

As the holidays get closer, each year we get busier and busier. Quality family time is valuable and important! The week of Halloween each first grade teacher sent home a simple brown turkey to each family. The request was that they, as a family, spend time together decorating their family turkey using items around their home. The creativity always blows me away and the student were so proud of their work (so were the parents when they were on display for conferences)! 

Bulletin Board information (as per request)!
The black background is actually fabric! It is sold on a tube through Amazon and will last me several years! It makes everything pop when hung on there!

I used my Cricut to cut the letters for the board! I download a lot of free fonts to make them a little more eye catching. I recommend cutting letter on card stock and laminating before you hang! I like to save them in a ziplock bag to reuse in the future. This stack of Astrobrights card stock is my favorite combination of colors! 

Fonts: 
KG Second Chances Sketch 

Tricky Turkey Hunt

Do you have a phonics program? We use FUNdations, and as great as it is.... sometimes it needs a little more fun. For this activity a team member simply printed our FUNdation Trick Words, on a turkey image, on card stock. We hung them throughout the hallway and students went hunting for turkeys, having to find all numbered turkeys and writing down the trick word! 

American Education Visit 

Our American Education celebration happens to be the week before Thanksgiving, busy month! We loved reading the book Turk and Runt, by Lisa Wheeler, as a class. It was a quick and fun story about a family of turkeys on the farm around Thanksgiving time.

​We talked about what may happen to the "chosen turkeys" and made a connection to Chick-fil-a. THEN, students worked with their parents to create a turkey and convince our school to "Save a Turkey! Eat more _______!" It was an amazing opportunity to welcome parents into our room, but also to let parents see how their child works in school. Some responses may just have you considering pizza for your next Thanksgiving meal! 

Thanksgiving School Feast!

Does your school do a Thanksgiving Feast? Our first grade does and it is a lot of fun. We do themed activities leading up the celebration. We talk a lot about the things we have to be thankful for each and every day. When we gather for our meal we first thank those who prepared it and appreciate the people we share the meal with. 

Each class comes with accessories. You will see pilgrim hats, bonnets, and collars. Some classrooms come as turkeys! Each student makes a placemat that is special to them. It has a thankful poem in the center of turkey, and they students draw symbols all around the edges to represent themselves, their family, and their lives. 
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