A Week of Thanksgiving in my Classroom
Thanksgiving in the classroom is such a fun time! It is a great time to remember what we are thankful for. This was especially important this school year. There are also so many great read alouds and activities to do in the classroom. Here is a peek into a week of Thanksgiving in my classroom! Watch the video above to check it all out in action!
Monday: Thanksgiving Read-Alouds
On Monday, I shared my favorite Thanksgiving read alouds that we read throughout the week. I have many more but these are my top five Thanksgiving stories! Check out the youtube video for a detailed description of each story!
- How to Catch a Turkey: https://amzn.to/2UWb0kY
- If You Were a Kid at the First Thanksgiving: https://amzn.to/2V8x7F3
- There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey!: https://amzn.to/2IZCumZ
- Balloons Over Broadway: https://amzn.to/3ftBGTu
- No Turkey For Thanksgiving: https://amzn.to/33ccY5n **affiliate links
Tuesday: Read-Aloud Rap
Tuesday I read There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey. While I was reading the story, I realized that there was a rhyming pattern. I told my students that I would rap the video and the rest was history.
It took a while to find a beat that I like but I finally settled on the instrumental version on Pop Star by Drake and DJ Khaled. Unbeknownst to me, one of my students recorded me, but I’m glad she did. Now we have that class memory forever!
Wednesday: *cricket, cricket*
Wednesday not too many classroom activities took place pertaining to Thanksgiving. It was my student-teacher’s last day in the classroom. We wanted to celebrate her and make the most out of our time left with her.
Thursday: Thanksgiving Fraction Feast Task Cards
Thursday was a lot of fun! Our Fraction Feast activities began! In math, my students worked on Fraction Feast Task Cards. These task cards addressed various 5th grade fraction skills like adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators and multiplying decimals (5.NF1, 5.NF.2, 5.NF.4, and 5.NF.6).
Because I am teaching in a hybrid setting, I had to be sure to make the task cards accessible for all of my students.
My in-person students complete the task cards by walking around the room. I had the task cards taped around the room so that students would be socially distant while solving. I also told my students that one person was allowed at a task card at one time.
For my digital learners, I offered them the same task cards in a digital format. I made the task cards into a Google Form. I assigned it to our Google Classroom and students were able to get instant feedback for their work.
Grab these task cards by clicking the picture below!
Friday: Thanksgiving FRACTION FEAST!!!
Friday was the most fun!! We held our annual Fraction Feast!
I arranged the desks into socially distant dinner tables! I teach two blocks, so for each block, students were spaced every other desk and no one sat directly across from one another. The tables were covered in white butcher paper and I made the students individual placemats with their names out of black construction paper. The last step was to add Thanksgiving scatter to the table to add the full effect.
My students worked in collaborative zoom groups so that roomies and zoomies could work together. Thank God for Zoom Breakout Rooms!! My students took Thanksgiving recipes and doubled and halved them for various amounts of guests coming to Thanksgiving dinner.
This activity allowed my students to practice multiplying fractions by fractions and whole numbers (5.NF.4). Recipes naturally lend themselves well because there are so many fractions in the ingredients. The real-world application is also unmatched!
My students had such a great time working together and adjusting the recipes. It was the best way to end our week and send us off to our Thanksgiving Break!
Click on the picture below to grab the Fraction Feast: Thanksgiving Activity!
These are just a bit of the Thanksgiving Activities we do in my classroom! Let me know in the comments what you do for Thanksgiving in your classroom! Be sure to check out my other blog posts!
