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Thanksgiving Activities for Upper Elementary

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! I love sharing it with my family and my students. Over the years, I’ve found or created a few Thanksgiving activities for upper elementary students that keep the learning going but are still fun!

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THANKSGIVING PLATES ACTIVITY

When I taught third grade, this Thanksgiving plate activity was a huge hit! Students used the “Thanksgiving Price List” to choose their favorites. Each person was “given” $10.00 to spend on their own personal Thanksgiving meal. They figured out what they wanted to “eat” and used adding and subtracting to figure out how much they had left. Once they decided what they wanted on their plate and how much it would cost, they created their plate!

We hung these in the hall and they made a great bulletin board!

You can grab the Thanksgiving Price List {here}. It’s free and updated with cuter pictures!

THANKSGIVING READ ALOUDS

A favorite read aloud before Thanksgiving is this fantastic book by Laurie Halse Anderson. Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving, is a great read about Sarah Hale, the woman who helped make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Click {here} to grab yourself a copy!

The entertaining illustrations grab kids’ attention and this book paves the way for a fun writing prompt about saving Thanksgiving!

This is a cool book about the creator of the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons! The illustrations are awesome and the story is fascinating. Click {here} to grab this one!

THANKSGIVING PERSUASIVE WRITING

I use this book as a jumping off point for writing persuasive letters, which you can do with this activity that is free in my store. Students write a persuasive letter to convince their families that Thanksgiving should not be cancelled!This is a great way to tie in your writing standards with the Thanksgiving holiday.

THANKSGIVING MATH

If you teach older kids, like I do now, this Thanksgiving themed math resource might be just what you are looking for. I have used this resource to keep my students engaged and practicing grade level standards! This resource has everything from Thanksgiving themed word problems to color-by-codes, and they are all great practice for decimal operations. In fifth grade, we still plan our Thanksgiving meal, but they just use the price list and they don’t make the crafty plate. (BUT they totally could and use more challenging money amounts instead!)

My students love working on these pages with a partner! You can grab a copy of this resource right {here}.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope these Thanksgiving activities for upper elementary students give you a fun way to celebrate with your class, and I hope you have a fabulous Thanksgiving break full of family, friends, and delicious food!

Looking for activities to get back on track after a long break? Check out some ideas here!

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