Finding unique Thanksgiving activities for elementary aged students can be a challenge! I’ve compiled several Thanksgiving enrichment activities to give your usual Thanksgiving activities at school a boost!
First Thanksgiving History
When planning to teach about the first Thanksgiving, I used to have trouble coming up with something that my students enjoyed while challenging them.
Then, one day I received an email from Scholastic linking to some incredible webinars they recorded. Ever since then, teaching the first Thanksgiving history has been something I look forward to each year!
I first like to give my students an assessment to see what they already know *or think they know* about the first Thanksgiving. The misconceptions that come up from my pre-assessment have made for some great conversations!
With my 2nd graders, we usually watch 2 of the videos on separate days and I encourage students to try to write down important things in their social studies interactive notebooks.
I keep a list of important things on the board, and we pause and discuss as needed throughout the videos.
Once they have enough information and I know my students are ready for the challenge, I have them complete a depth and complexity frame about the First Thanksgiving. Grab your free frame below!
Something about these videos makes the First Thanksgiving history real and engaging for my students year after year!
Thankful Poem
Once November comes around, we always seem to focus on Thanksgiving activities at school with gratitude as a focus.
I like to combine gratitude with some creative thinking by having students write a “Thankful Poem” with at least 5 analogies.
Rather than saying “I am thankful for the sky,” students brainstorm something that would also be thankful for the sky, and write “I am like a bird because I am thankful for the sky.”
In order to do this well, I suggest students set up a t-chart on their planning page. On one side, students list several things they are thankful for. One the other side, students list things in the world that would be particularly grateful for this same thing.
They should spend some time analyzing their ideas, then picking the best one before typing their poems.
Here’s a Google Slides presentation you can use with your students for brainstorming:
Here’s a Google Doc you can copy with an example and template to use for your students.
Thanksgiving Bookmark Activity
And speaking of showing gratitude, I like to take November as a reminder and opportunity to show my students just how thankful I am for them!
Rather than spending money on a toy they may lose on the way home from school, I choose to make my students thankful bookmarks. I put each of their names on the front, type a little note for each student on the back, then print and laminate them.
Here’s a template for you to use if you’d like to make them, too! Just copy the slides for as many students as you need.
I like to print them on cardstock, and then laminate with my personal laminator and film. It lasts much longer than the lamination we have in our teacher workroom.
Thanksgiving Task Card Math Review
I find that my students enjoy when I use holiday themed activities as we get closer to big holidays like Thanksgiving.
I created a math review scoot/task card set with two different levels of difficulty. You can check it out by clicking the picture below.
If you enjoy scoots, you may want to check out this one as well.
Favorite Thanksgiving Read Alouds
If you’re looking for some fun read alouds that lend themselves to some fun, creative discussions and fun Thanksgiving activities at school, you’ll want to check out these:
November High Level Thinking Morning Work
If you’d like to provide your students with logic puzzles and creative thinking challenges every day this month, you’ll want to check out my November Morning Work.
It can be used for your entire class or just for your few students who need more of a challenge.
I created this for my class of gifted 2nd graders, but they have worked well for me up to 4th grade.
If you really like the idea of these daily puzzles and challenges, you may want to look into the Growing Bundle. As of typing this blogpost, I have sets through November. Grab your bundle now so you can have access to each set as it’s added, but without a higher price tag!
Let Me Help You Turn Your Students into Thinkers!
If you have a passion for getting your kids to think, you’ll love my FREE Guide. It’s about 4 simple strategies to bump up the thinking in any lesson. Download it for free and stay in touch to get classroom-tested ideas straight to your inbox!
Keep those kids thinking!
Colleen Patton
Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. I may get a small commission if you purchase these, but hey that helps me to keep offering some awesome freebies for you!
