I just love reading holiday books with my students. They are always so excited when holidays are approaching and I find that they become so engaged with holiday books. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we are spotlighting Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’ because it makes a great read aloud. Students will be laughing out loud as you read this book! We love that it also can be used to teach so many great concepts, especially the importance of honesty. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’ tells the story of the Tappleton family’s Thanksgiving. Each family member was in charge of getting part of the meal ready. However, everyone made a mistake with their part of the meal: Mrs. Tappleton dropped the turkey, Mr. Tappleton couldn’t get pie, and Kenny fed the salad to his class pet. Each member of the family keeps their mistake a secret. When it is time to eat, everyone is surprised to find that there is no food! Everyone must admit to the mistakes they made. The Tappleton family must come together to make a meal out of food that is in the house. The children learn that Thanksgiving is not about the food but instead being with family.
Students will enjoy this silly Thanksgiving read while learning the importance of family and honesty.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
No matter what you are currently teaching, chances are you can use Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’ to enhance your lessons. Check out some examples below!
- Practice sequencing the events of the book after reading. This strategy helps students to retell the events of a story.
- Examine the cause and effect of different actions in the story.
- Integrate the book into your narrative writing and have students write about their connections to the story.
- Practice creative writing by adding pages to the book or adding to the ending.
- Teach a lesson on the different types of sentences included in the book.
- Identify different examples of plural nouns in the book.
- Discuss the importance of honesty.
- Explore how characters in the book were problem solvers.
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
November is always such a busy time of year for teachers. Not only do I have enough going on in my personal life with Thanksgiving around the corner, but at work I have conferences and report cards! Planning a great read aloud is honestly the last thing on my to-do list. Thankfully, teachers can now use our Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’ book companion to make things so much easier! ] Make things easier for yourself and check out this resource!
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano
- Cranberry Thanksgivingย by Harry Devlin and Wende Devlin
- A Turkey For Thanksgivingย by Eve Bunting
- One is Feast Forย Mouseย by Judy Cox
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!
