Have you ever had a Friendsgiving with your first graders? I’m going to give you 7 Fantastic Friendsgiving Ideas for First Grade that will “melt your butter!” Read on to find out how I do it!
7 Fantastic Friendsgiving Ideas for First Grade
1.) Reading Turkey Mentor Texts
2.) Singing Silly Turkey Songs
3.) Writing About How to Catch a Turkey and Turkey Trouble
4.) Turkey Math Activities
5.) Making Turkey Puppets and Placemats for Art
6.) Making Butter in Science
7.) Learning Thanksgiving Traditions in Social Studies
So let’s dive a little deeper into these 7 fantastic Friendsgiving Ideas! I hope you get excited to try some of these with your class this week!
1.) Reading Turkey Mentor Texts
Here are some of my favorite turkey books that I LOVE to read to my first graders! I just love reading turkey books because they are so fun and the kids get so excited!
A Turkey For Thanksgiving By Eve Bunting
Run Turkey Run By: Diane Mayr
Turkey Trouble By Wendi Silvano
A Plump and Perky Turkey By Teresa Bateman
The Great Turkey Race By: Steve Metzer
How to Catch a Turkey By: Adam Wallace
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey By Lucille Colondro
10 Fat Turkeys By: Tony Johnson
2.) Singing Silly Turkey Songs
We sing: Run Little Turkey Run Away. It’s to the tune of Lou, Lou Skip to My Lou. Here’s a FREE copy of it! We gather together as a grade level and perform our songs to each other. It’s so fun to see what the other classes come up with!
3.) Writing How to Catch a Turkey and Turkey Trouble
And, of course, the students can write a procedural story about How to Catch a Turkey. I’ve created a sequence page first, and then the students can rewrite it on their template. I’ve also added a research page where your students can find information about turkeys by reading a non-fiction turkey book. They really are fascinating birds! If you’re interested in this resource, click here.
Your students can make a turkey disguise and write clues about their disguise on the template below. You can discuss what an inference is and how you can draw conclusions by using clues that the author gives you! You can have your students tell each other their clues and see if they can guess the disguise correctly! Plus, this craftivity looks super cute in your hallway! If you’re interested in this resource, click here.
4.) Turkey Math Activities
Of course, this week isn’t complete without some turkey math activities! One activity you can do with your students is this Turkey Math template that is super easy to prep! You can copy it on colored paper and laminate it, and have your students complete it as an independent practice at your teacher table, or as an interactive notebook! Grab your FREEBIE here!
5.) Making Placemats and Turkey Puppets
We all know that the week before Thanksgiving can be crazy! But, now you can have something to fill up your week! Make a Thanksgiving Placemat and write about what we’re thankful for:
I’ve also created activities that are so fun! You create a turkey out of a lunch paper bag, glue on the feathers, eyes, beak, and wobble, and then your students can write what they are thankful for on the template and glue it on the bottom of the bag! It turned out so cute! If you wanted to, you could have your students put on a reader’s theater play with their paper bag puppets!
6.) Make Butter
Make butter with whipping cream! Put your students in a circle and have them shake a mason jar filled with whipping cream for a minute each. Only fill the jar with half whipping cream so it won’t take so long to turn into butter. Do this around the circle about 4 times! Then, spread the butter on some bread!
7.) Learning Thanksgiving Traditions in Social Studies
We gather together and watch “Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving” with our placemats on the floor. We make a “Friendsgiving Snack” from the movie with popcorn, pretzels, jelly beans, buttered toast, and chocolate chips. The students love being together with the whole first grade! It’s a memory that they will never forget!
I hope you got some great ideas and extension activities that you can try with your class after reading this fun and entertaining book! If you are interested in checking out my Linking Literature packet, click below. Happy Thanksgiving! If you’re interested in checking out my blog post about my Cross-Curricular Day in First Grade, click here.
