Teacher’s Brain

Teaching Thanksgiving to Kindergarten

Pilgrims and Thanksgiving

I love teaching in November!  I know that I have so much to be thankful for this time of year!  Young students should learn about Thanksgiving by focusing on being thankful, spending time with family, the First Thanksgiving, and the Mayflower Voyage.  You can even teach about teamwork of how the pilgrims had to work together to build a common house.  Every year I would perform a Thankful Festival for parents.  The performance focuses on being thankful, family and the feast.  I use music by Jack Hartmann.  He is my favorite children’s musical artist! We invite the families in to see us sing songs, and eat together.  Sometimes we do traditional food, but  I’ve done breakfast instead, if the timing of the show was early in the morning.

I use this time of year as an opportunity to talk about family traditions, sharing, cooking together, and teaching where food comes from.  Of course there is always the traditional turkey hand print that goes home every year and other turkey crafts.  I like to invite guest readers during this time too.  The holidays can make students a little excited, so a fresh new voice reading a book usually is just what the Dr. ordered to keep their attention.

School Plays for Children - Thanksgiving Activities

Turkey Craft Table Centerpiece

Turkey in Disguise Family Project

By far my favorite home project all year is Operation Disguise Turkey! We send a letter home with a turkey printable for the family to help disguise the turkey so it is not on the table for Thanksgiving.  Students also have to write a few sentences about the disguise.  The families are always creative! My son made his into a dog.  My daughter made hers into a vampire. Yes, a vampire.  I guess she still had Halloween on her mind.  The projects make a great conversational piece during the celebration with the family.

My Daughter’s Disguised Turkey

Turkey in Disguise Project  

Great Turkey Stories

I have two favorite turkey stories I read during Thanksgiving.  Turkey Trouble and A Plump and Perky Turkey.  Students compare and contrast food, write about how to trick a turkey, summarize, practice comprehension, and learn new vocabulary words with these stories.  If you have not read these adorable books,  I suggest you buy the books or find it at your local library.  They are my “Must Haves” for November.

A Plump and Perky Turkey Lesson Plan on Summarizing and Activities