5 activities to do with your students this Thanksgiving

<!– 5 activities to do with your students this Thanksgiving –>

It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving is just around the corner. A holiday known for spending time with family and friends, gathered around a table full of food, it is also a celebration of a feast shared by the colonists of Plymouth and Wampanoag.

Help your students learn more about the origin of the holiday, as well as, express gratitude for loved ones using the activities below. Each activity is ranked for age-appropriateness, starting with younger grades and ending with more sophisticated ideas for middle to high school students.

  1. Turkey hand drawing and descriptive poem: Students draw an outline of their hand on a piece of paper and color a face, feathers, and gobbler to create a turkey out of their hand. Snap a picture and upload to Kidblog. Add the image to a Kidblog post and write a poem describing your turkey. Publish for your classmates to view!
  2. My Thanksgiving recipe: Create a Thanksgiving cookbook! Each student will share his or her favorite Thanksgiving recipe. Be sure to include a proper ingredient list and step-by-step directions. Add pictures of the dish to help those attempting to make this at home know exactly what the finished product should look like. If you would like to include a video with step-by-step instructions (your own cooking show), go for it!
  3. A letter of gratitude: Students will publish a letter to the person or item they are most grateful for this year. They will answer questions such as: Who are you grateful for this Thanksgiving? Why? What can you do to express your gratitude for this person or thing? Publish the letter in a Kidblog post. We encourage students publish for the “Public” audience, so they may share their final letter with that person.
  4. A Pilgrim family conversation: Share the story of the first Thanksgiving with your class. Then, have a discussion about how they believe the Pilgrims felt when they first landed at Plymouth. What were the Pilgrims thinking? What were they feeling? Students will create an imaginary dialogue between a Pilgrim family and publish to Kidblog. They may choose to make up Pilgrim names, or can refer to this list of Mayflower passengers.
  5. A seat at the table: If you could invite one person (any person in the world!) to your family’s Thanksgiving dinner table this year, who would that be? Share both who this is and why they are special to you. Include pictures and videos.

 

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