It’s not easy to find Thanksgiving activities that are fun AND standard-aligned. But look no more! Check out these FOUR standard-aligned Thanksgiving activities from The Sparkly Notebook!
Thanksgiving is upon us and it’s another holiday we can have some fun with!
I know! I know! We have a lot of curriculum to get to and it’s hard to set aside some time for fun activities…but what if those activities were standard-aligned?
It could be a win-win for both the students and yourself!
Check out these FOUR standard-aligned Thanksgiving activities for middle school ELA
#1 Turkey Pardoning Activity
This is one of my favorite standard-aligned Thanksgiving activities to do with my students around the Thanksgiving holiday!
This Thanksgiving narrative writing activity is about the presidential pardoning of turkeys, something that is not often covered in the classroom. It takes on a different angle of the holiday and the kids always have so much fun with it! Check it out! You will LOVE it!
#2 Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension Escape Room
Escape rooms are such a student pleaser around the holidays. They want to do something a little more fun and a little more interactive, which is why I love escape rooms so much!
A classroom digital escape room uses technology to steer the students through different problems and/or scenarios in order to solve a puzzle. Just like an entertainment escape room, the goal is to solve one problem, which leads to the next problem, and so on…with the ultimate goal of “escaping” the challenge.
This Common Core-aligned escape room focuses on reading comprehension skills and includes tasks that involve information about the Mayflower voyage, a tale of the terrified turkey, and a Thanksgiving timeline.
#3 Thanksgiving Word Choice Activity
Vocabulary can be such a struggle for middle school students. I am always trying to incorporate diction support into our day-to-day, encouraging students to choose stronger words in both their academic and personal conversations.
This Thanksgiving ELA activity is the perfect opportunity for word choice practice. It specifically focuses on the L3 standard: Choose language that expresses ideas precisely and concisely, recognizing and eliminating wordiness and redundancy.
#4 Thanksgiving Figurative Language Escape Room
Teachers LOVE digital escape rooms so I went ahead and made this second Thanksgiving digital escape room. It covers figurative language, but as always, is still core-aligned.
Sign Up for a FREE plot structure digital escape room!
As Thanksgiving approaches…
Remember to sit back and remember all that you are thankful for! I am so grateful for my family, my health, and my evolving career in education. It has led me to so many amazing opportunities.
I am also thankful for you, my dear reader! Thank you for being such an amazing teacher and always aspiring to be better.
The world needs many like you, and so from the bottom of my heart…
Thank you!