November can be tricky: you want students to stay engaged with learning, but you’re also facing a much-needed long break. How can you incorporate holiday-themed activities without sacrificing academic rigor? Well, teacher friend, this post has the answer! Below you will find fresh ideas for Thanksgiving activities with upper elementary students.
Plus grab a Thanksgiving reading freebie to use in your classroom this month.
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What Type of Thanksgiving Activities Can I Do With Upper Elementary Students?
Autumn and winter present back-to-back holidays that can be incorporated into classroom learning.
Even though it may seem like these seasonal events compete with learning, I think they actually enhance it.
Especially holidays like Thanksgiving.
There are so many different types of Thanksgiving activities you can do!
Whether virtual or in-person, you can add a holiday-themed twist to your existing centers and lessons to jazz them up even more.
Let’s dive into a few examples of fun Thanksgiving ideas to try with your kiddos.
Dive into a FUN Thanksgiving Inference Riddles Activity
Kicking off our list of Thanksgiving activities with upper elementary students is this hilarious riddles set. Over the years, I’ve noticed that my students love solving a good mystery.
Each mini-inferencing passage gives clues about popular Thanksgiving and Fall-themed symbols. Students must use background knowledge + the context clues to figure out what each passage is about. This activity offers a variety of ways you can use these around Fall Break:
– π Fall Reading Centers: Infuse some festive spirit into your reading stations.
– π€ Small Group Activity: Encourage teamwork and riddle-solving discussions.
– π Whole Class Work: The perfect activity as Thanksgiving break nears–it has a SCOOT game too!
– π Homework Challenge: A riddle a day keeps boredom at bay!
– π’ Bell Ringer Work: A daily riddle to kickstart their day with enthusiasm.
– π Early Finisher Activity: Keep those fast thinkers on their toes.
My favorite one is the one-riddle-a-day option. With 20 task cards total in digital + printable versions, you can easily make this a quick way to start the day. That gives your kiddos something fun to look forward to each November morning.
Complete a Math and ELA Review Mystery Pictures Thanksgiving Activity
Since many schools close for a longer Thanksgiving break, I like to include review activities the week before and after the holiday.
So I found lots of fun pictures that represent Thanksgiving and digitally “cut them up” into strips and blocks.
Students need to solve math problems to put the pictures back together.
Mystery pictures like this are great because they can used whether you teach virtually or in-person.
Not only that, but I really like that my students get to see a variety of items and cultural elements while reviewing important math skills.
Plus, students can work on this independently during math centers since the answer keys are provided for students to check their own work.
This Thanksgiving activity for upper elementary students is available in our store. You can edit the math questions to fit your students’ needs.
Twas’ the Night Before Thanksgiving Reading Center
If you’ve spent anytime on my blog, you know how much I love using books in connection with holiday learning.
A really cute, but clever Thanksgiving read-aloud is Twas’ the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey.
This book makes a wonderful character education mentor text on empathy and compassion.
A group of kids visit a turkey farm for a class field trip, but are shocked that the turkeys will be eaten for Thanksgiving.
So they hatch a clever plan to “save” the turkeys.
It’s so much fun reading this book because of the poetry style of writing Pilkey uses.
I’ve read this book so many times that I created a companion guide that aligns with the book. It includes:
- a turkey poetry writing craftivity
- text-aligned reading comprehension questions
- QR-Code vocabulary activity
- and graphic organizers that students can use after reading the book
Even if you assign the book virtually, you can use the Google slides version of the activity set to make this Thanksgiving reading activity more engaging!
“Would You Rather…?” Thanksgiving Edition
In my 12 years of teaching, I’ve honestly not met a class that didn’t enjoy a good “Would You Rather…” activity.
So I brought the idea over to a new, free digital tool called Easel assessments by Teachers Pay Teachers.
But this time–with a Thanksgiving twist!
After enjoying our read-aloud, students can now complete a digital version of “Would You Rather” where I’ve uploaded images in the question section.
Then using the poll style question format of Easel Assessments, students select which option they’d rather have for Thanksgiving.
For example, “Would you rather eat cranberry sauce all day or eat gravy all day?”
These type of school holiday activities are not only funny, but they offer a chance to build social-emotional connections as students get to see which classmates picked the same answers.
You can extend this into a discussion where students explain why they picked certain options.
Plus, these type of Thanksgiving activities for upper elementary students can be completed quickly and easily!
Gratitude Writing Prompt Cards for November
The Thanksgiving holiday presents a wonderful opportunity to help students focus on being grateful.
Which is why I strongly recommend using this time of the year to reflect on thankfulness with your students.
Some of the gratitude writing prompts can include:
- “Today I Am Grateful For…”
- “Here’s what it means to be thankful. ________”
- “I Can Show An Attitude of Gratitude by…”
Practicing gratitude in the classroom yields so many benefits for teachers and students.
I believe so strongly in teaching and practicing gratitude that I designed a Gratitude Writing Activity Set.
It features:
- reflection activities so that students know how to show thankfulness
- graphic organizers that can be used with Thanksgiving read-alouds
- gratitude writing prompts
- thank you letter writing templates so that students can write a note of thanks to others
It’s an excellent center activity to help you teach students about having an attitude of gratitude!
Engage in Nonfiction Reading about Popular Events in November
Thanksgiving isn’t the only holiday to celebrate in November.
The month is filled with amazing cultural celebrations within and outside of America too.
Not only that, but I strongly believe in teaching history accurately. This is why I always include informational text passages about what really happened during Thanksgiving.
Many images of Native Americans wearing feathers sitting to eat peacefully with the Pilgrims are disrespectful and racist towards Indigenous People.
Because that’s not how it really happened!
We unknowingly encourage racism in the classroom when we don’t combat these inaccurate images and stories.
So, I engage in nonfiction reading about truthful history and other popular events in November.
My informational text passages for November include:
1– Why We Celebrate Veterans Day
2–The Truth About Thanksgiving
3–How Did Black Friday Begin?
4–Diwali: Festival of Lights
5–Turkeys: This is No Ordinary Bird!
6–Dia de los Muertos: Day of the Dead
7–Hanukkah
8–Native American Heritage Month
9–Peanut Butter Lovers Month
10–National Origami Day
Cultivating a multicultural classroom environment by celebrating the truth of other cultures can lead to many interesting Thanksgiving activities with upper elementary students.
More Thanksgiving Activities with Upper Elementary Students
Hopefully one of the fresh ideas above will help you get the ball rolling on your Thanksgiving lesson planning.
Once you check out the activities mentioned above, you will also enjoy this post with tips on How Gratitude Can Improve Your Classroom Environment.
Don’t forget to grab your free Thanksgiving nonfiction reading passages.
Happy Thanksgiving Teaching!
