Thanksgiving Reading Activities & STEM Activity | A Plump and Perky Turkey, ELA
Engage your students with exciting Thanksgiving reading activities and a creative Thanksgiving STEM activity using the beloved book, A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman (book not included). This resource combines hands-on learning and literacy with Thanksgiving ELA activities designed to keep students engaged. Perfect for 1st grade, students will interact with the text through reading comprehension, story structure, and vocabulary tasks, while also planning and designing their own clever turkey disguises!
Why You’ll Love This Resource
Interactive and Engaging: Students will love retelling the Thanksgiving story of how Pete the turkey outsmarts the town, while exploring STEM challenges through turkey disguises.
Combines ELA and STEM: This resource blends Thanksgiving reading activities with a fun STEM activity, allowing students to practice key comprehension skills and exercise their creativity through engineering and design.
Perfect for 1st Grade: Aligned with K-2 standards, this resource supports early literacy development and provides an exciting way to celebrate Thanksgiving in the classroom.
What's Included:
Comprehension Questions: Focus on key elements of the story, encouraging students to think critically and improve comprehension.
Comprehension Bookmarks: Help students stay focused as they read, highlighting important parts of the text.
Vocabulary Cards: Use in fun games like Headbanz or Charades, or display to reinforce important vocabulary words from the Thanksgiving story.
Retelling and Main Idea Activities: Three differentiated options to help students summarize and understand the main idea.
Story Structure Activities: Activities that focus on the beginning, middle, and end of the story, helping students understand the story's structure.
STEM Maker Activity: A hands-on Thanksgiving STEM challenge where students design and create turkey disguises, encouraging problem-solving and creative thinking.
Examples of Turkey Disguises: Inspire students with sample ideas for disguising turkeys, supporting their creativity.
Planning Sheet for Turkey Activity: Students plan their turkey designs before building, promoting organized thinking.
Writing Extensions: Students reflect on their designs with fun writing prompts like "All About My Turkey" or "My Turkey Disguise."
Presentation Points: Guides students through presenting their turkey disguises, building confidence in speaking and listening skills.
Compare and Contrast Activity: Students analyze different turkey designs, helping them develop critical thinking skills.
How to Use This Resource:
Thanksgiving Read Aloud: Begin with a read-aloud of A Plump and Perky Turkey (available on Amazon) and engage students in comprehension and vocabulary activities.
ELA and STEM Centers: Use the Thanksgiving ELA activities in centers, followed by the STEM challenge where students create their own turkey disguises.
Interactive STEM Activity: After reading the story, guide students through the engineering process to design, build, and improve their turkey disguises.
This Thanksgiving reading and STEM activity resource is perfect for your Thanksgiving centers or whole-group instruction. With a mix of reading comprehension, story structure work, and a creative STEM challenge, your students will be excited and engaged while celebrating Thanksgiving!