Today we are spotlighting a classic Thanksgiving read aloud, A Thanksgiving Turkey. We chose this book because it is loved by students and teachers year after year. It is an engaging read with a surprise ending that will get students excited. This book is a great way to teach the meaning of Thanksgiving to students while incorporating other academic skills. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
In the book A Thanksgiving Turkey, Mr. and Mrs. Moose are getting ready to have their friends over for Thanksgiving dinner. When everything is set up Mrs. Moose is disappointed she does not have a turkey at dinner, so Mr. Moose decides to go out and find her one. As Mr. Moose wanders around looking for a turkey, he runs into friends along the way. Each friend joins him in the search. When they come upon a turkey’s nest, the friends try to catch the turkey. Mr. Moose pushes the frightened turkey home to Mrs. Moose. When they return home, Mrs. Moose is so happy to have Turkey at dinner. She makes sure there is food he likes to eat and sits him right next to her. Turkey is relieved to find that he is sitting at the table and not on it. All of the friends enjoy eating their Thanksgiving dinner together.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
A Turkey for Thanksgiving has a surprise ending which makes it a great book to teach a variety of skills. Take a look at some of our favorite things to teach with this book.
- Practice the important skill of synthesizing as students read. It is important for students to form an opinion as they read and reflect on how their opinion changes over time.
- Make inferences about the characters and actions throughout the book.
- Engage students in letter writing, either to characters from the book or their own friends.
- Let students have fun writing as they write Thanksgiving lists.
- Examine why writers put some words in all capital letters.
- Categorize and sort nouns.
- Discuss the importance of friendship and kindness.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
To make planning easier, we have created a book companion for A Thanksgiving Turkey. You will love how easy we’ve made it to teach this book in your classroom.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano
- Turk and Runt by Lisa Wheeler
- A Plump and Turkey Turkey by Teresa Bateman
- Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende Devlint
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
