November is definitely a whirlwind in the school community. The month is short and packed. It’s nice to be able to take some time to slow down and enjoy your students. Here are some engaging Thanksgiving ELA activities for upper elementary students that you can implement in your classroom.
November lends itself to reflecting on gratitude. Our lives and our students lives can be so overwhelming. Giving your 4th & 5th grade students time to reflect on things they are grateful can help and uplift our classroom community.
1. Gratitude Pumpkins and Turkeys
These water bottle turkeys and pumpkins are a fun activity. They are both adorable keepsakes and work well as place cards for a class Thanksgiving feast.
Materials Needed:
- small water bottles
- cardstock paper
- glue
- scissors
- marker
Directions:
- Give each student a dry mini water bottle (or have them bring one in from home).
- Give each student strips of cardstock paper.
- Have them write things they are thankful for on each one.
- Have them stuff the strips into the water bottles and close them up.
- Students then decorate the outside of the bottle. (Green leaf with their name and date for the pumpkin. Different colored feather shaped paper for the turkey.)
Extension Activity Ideas:
- You may have students write a paragraph of the things they are grateful for and why.
- Have students share what they are thankful for with the class or small groups.
2. Book Bites: A Book Tasting Activity
Introducing students to new genres and different choices of books can help motivate and get them excited about reading. Turning it into a Fall book tasting activity can really set the stage to engage.
Materials:
- Books
- Genre Tags
Setting up your Book Bites:
- Set up a different genre at each station or group of desks. Placing a sign or tag.
- Place a pile of books related to the genre in the middle or in a basket (make sure to have a few more books than students so that everyone gets to choose and isn’t ‘stuck’ with a book).
- Give each student a recording sheet to write down the title of their book and a sentence or two about it.
- After a few minutes, have the students rotate to the next station. Continue moving them on until they have had a chance to visit each of the genres you have set up.
3. Turkey Story Map
Being able to create a story map after reading a book allows students to analyze a story closely. It also gives them the information needed to compose a summary of the story.
Materials Needed:
- books
- story map
Several Activity Options:
- Read a story aloud and work on the story map together as a class
- Assign a book to pairs of students and have them complete a story map together
- Allow students to choose a book of their own and complete their own story map
4. Thanksgiving Themed Vocabulary Words
Take some time to break away from your regular vocabulary wordlist and introduce your students to words related to Thanksgiving.
I like to choose words they may not have heard about before and can use throughout the year.
Implementing:
- Give students the meaning of these new words and discuss them.
- Then, show them how to search for synonyms and antonyms using a dictionary or online resources.
- Next, help them identify when to use the words by creating brainstorming webs.
- Finally, have them create sentences and illustrations related to the words.
- Once students are finished, have them share their sentences and illustrations with a partner.
- Assess their understanding with a quick quiz.
These words can be taught one per day or as a vocabulary boot camp on a single day.
5. Thanksgiving Themed Idioms
Students naturally love working with idioms, so Thanksgiving week is a great time to implement a lesson.
Implementing:
- Introduce students to Thanksgiving themed idioms.
- Have them write the figurative meaning of the idiom.
- Have students write the idiom in a sentence.
- Lastly, have them draw a picture.
- Have the students turn their work into a pumpkin vine or booklet.
I hope these ELA Thanksgiving Activities for elementary students help you keep your students engaged. Wishing you a blessed holiday season.
6. Thanksgiving Themed Grammar Review Worksheets
The month of November is short and filled with tons of activities. It is a difficult time to start teaching new concepts, but a great time to help keep taught information fresh in students’ minds. One way to do that is to have students work on Thanksgiving themed grammar practice worksheets.
Ways to use these grammar practice worksheets:
- Morning work: provides meaningful activities as students come into class
- Center activities: independent work while you assist students during teacher-led center
- Sub plans: allows you to leave meaningful work without having to over plan lessons
- Home learning: provides review opportunities
7. Thanksgiving Themed Spelling Practice Activities
Having Thanksgiving themed spelling practice worksheets in hand is a fun way to get students practicing their spelling.
They are perfect for this time of the year because:
- They make quick and engaging center activities.
- They are an easy activity to give to students when others are being pulled out to practice for holiday shows and other timely activities.
- They can be given to any substitute who walks in to cover your class as a fun and meaningful activity.
Hopefully you have been inspired by some of these Thanksgiving activities for the classroom and have found some fun alternatives you can implement into your classroom this December.
8. Thanksgiving Reading Response Sheets
Giving students the opportunity to respond to reading is important. Whether you’ve shared a Thanksgiving read aloud or allowed students to do some independent reading, give your students a fun way to respond to what they’ve read.
Offer them different Thanksgiving themed reading response sheets to choose from. These response sheets cover 4th and 5th grade ELA standards such as: summarizing, identifying the plot of the story, character analysis, and more.
9. Grammar Sorting Pies
A fun ELA center activity option is grammar sorting pies. Have your students review different grammar skills by sorting pie pieces onto the correct pie trays.
Hopefully you have been inspired by these Thanksgiving activities for the classroom and have found some fun alternatives you can implement into your classroom this November.
