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 BOOKS
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! {See below!}
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 “Thank You, Sarah” as a jumping off point for writing persuasive letters, which you can do with this free Thanksgiving writing activity. 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 collaborative poster
I always use the month of November to focus on gratitude and thankfulness. We co-create a Thanksgiving collaborative poster, as well as focus some attention on who or what we are thankful for during this season.
This poster is easy to create and makes for a great bulletin board around Thanksgiving – or really any time of year!
All of the activities below are included with the Gratitude Collaborative Poster – so you’re plans for the day will be completely covered!
THANKSGIVING PLATE math 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!
You can grab the Thanksgiving Price List {here}. It’s free and updated with cuter pictures!
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 activities 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!
