Pre-K and K Classroom Thanksgiving Celebration: Days 4 & 5 With Activities, Game and Circle Time

Pre-K and K Classroom Thanksgiving Celebration: Days 4 & 5 With Activities, Game and Circle Time
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Thursday: Celebration Preparation

You and your students will prepare for a classroom Thanksgiving celebration in today’s lesson. If possible, invite parents to enjoy the day and help to manage the celebration. All of the work on Thursday will be in preparation for tomorrow’s celebration. There will be no math skills or language skills in this lesson for that reason.

You will not need materials to prepare for the lesson today. If parents will be invited, the classroom should be decorated with the seasonal projects created by the children.

Circle Time Discussion

Provide children with a piece of construction paper and a crayon or pencil.

Instruct the children to listen to the following story carefully and follow directions.

This is the story of “Turkey Lake”

1. Long ago, there was a beautiful lake on the prairie.

(instruct children to draw a circle in the middle of the paper)

2. Fish swam in the lake.

(instruct children to draw several “w’s” inside the circle)

3. Duck and geese came to the lake.

(instruct children to draw several “v’s” inside the circle)

4. Sometimes the Indian people set up their teepees and camped near the lake.

(instruct the children to draw two triangles, side by side, right underneath the circle)

5. They walked to the lake to get fresh water.

(instruct the children to draw a straight line from the bottom of the circle to each triangle)

6. One day a family of pilgrims built a house near the lake and built a fence around it.

(instruct the children to draw a small circle to the left of the large circle)

7. They too walked to the lake to get water and to catch fish.

(instruct the children to draw two lines from the small circle to the large one)

8. One day, they looked out the little round window in the wall of their house.

(instruct the children to draw a tiny circle inside the smaller one)

9. “Oh no!” they shouted. “The ducks and geese are flying south for the winter! Now what will we eat?

(instruct the children to draw curved lines coming out of the large circle)

10. Then they saw a bird tastier than a duck or geese!

What did they see?

The completed picture should be that of a turkey.

Optional

If it is not possible to invite families to the celebration, then get together with another class and have a Thanksgiving celebration.

Turkey Celebration Friday (Day 5)

Today’s lesson will consist of a Thanksgiving celebration for either the class, invited parents, or another class in the school. Whoever celebrates with your class, it is sure to be a success. The activities listed here will add a fun and festive element to the class, and your guests are sure to enjoy it.

Activities

Turkey Bingo

Materials Needed: Bingo cards and mini turkey cut outs for space covers.

Play a few rounds of bingo with your students and their party guests.

When a person wins bingo, they should holler “Gobble! Gobble!”

What was the First Thanksgiving?

Encourage children to tell the story of the first Thanksgiving in their own words. If guests are in the room, some children may be uncomfortable with public speaking. Encourage a child, but never force them to speak in public.

Additional Games

Play Turkey, Turkey, Goose! Children should sit in a circle and play the game of Duck, Duck, Goose…with a Thanksgiving twist! Pin The Feather On The Turkey: Adhere a pre-printed poster of a turkey to a convenient location on the wall. Provide a construction paper feather for the game. Blind fold each child and guest so that they may have a turn putting the feather in the right location on the turkey.

Songs and Fingerplays

5 Little Turkeys

Five little turkeys flew up in a tree. (hold one hand up)

The first one said, “There’s a man I see!” (point to thumb)

The second one said “He’s coming this way” (point to pointer finger)

The third on said “It’s Thanksgiving Day.” (point to middle finger)

The fourth one said, “What’s he going to do?” (point to ring finger)

The fifth one said, “He’s coming after you!” (point to little finger)

Bang! Bang! went the gun just as they flew away.(shoot finger into the air)

The man had to keep hunting on that Thanksgiving Day!

Thankful For Our Land

(to the tune of “I’m A Little Teapot”)

Many years ago, the Pilgrims found our land.

We thank them for discovering this country so grand.

Today we are as thankful as can be,

For this land where we are free!

Reading Suggestions

Read <em>A Turkey For Thanksgiving</em> by Eve Bunting

Read <em>A Charlie Brown&rsquo;s Thanksgiving</em> by Charles Schultz

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s been a week-long journey that I hope culminated in a fun celebration of festivities and activities with your students and invited guests. Let us know how you celebrate Thanksgiving with your classroom!

This post is part of the series: Kindergarten Harvest Lesson Plans: Turkeys

This is a series of harvest lesson plans designed for the kindergarten classroom. In this portion of the series, the children will learn about turkeys. The lesson is presented by activites, math and language skills, as well as art projects.

  1. Kindergarten Teaching Unit on Turkeys &amp; Thanksgiving: Lesson One
  2. Kindergarten Unit on Thanksgiving: Day 2
  3. Kindergarten Unit on Thanksgiving &amp; Harvest: Day 3
  4. Preparation &amp; Celebration: Thanksgiving Unit for Kindergarten, Days 4 &amp; 5