Do you enjoy November as much as I do as a teacher? There is kind of something magical about it! It’s second quarter of the school year, the students have the classroom routines down and now the learning can start to blossom even more! It’s definitely one of my favorite times of the year for fun and crafts! Here are 5 fun Thanksgiving activities for elementary students to help you plan for the month!
I did link some supplies that I use in my own room when necessary. Those links below are all affiliate links.
5 Fun Thanksgiving Activities for Elementary Students
1. November Class Books
November is a really great time to make class books together. Students have a better understanding of the writing process and are starting to feel more confident in their skills and ability. Around Thanksgiving, it’s so fun to make a class book about what everyone is thankful for and then put it into your classroom library for students to read. You could also make and send a copy home with each student for them to enjoy with their families. In this November Class Book Set, there are actually 10 writing prompts to use for the month, including writing about your favorite Thanksgiving foods and writing about your family’s Thanksgiving traditions. Print off the pages for the month and your writing center will be all prepped for the month of November for some fun Thanksgiving activities!
2. Pumpkin Pie Graphing Craft
Do you love when you can tie two classroom subjects together in ONE activity? That is definitely the case with this Thanksgiving pumpkin pie graphing activity. Doing this activity in November is always fun because you can do a pumpkin pie and whipped cream taste test with your students! Students then need to decide if they enjoy their pumpkin pie with whipped cream, without whipped cream or that they don’t really like pumpkin pie at all. Once they make that decision, they should graph their choice on the board and then complete an individual graph about the class results.
After this, you can discuss what an opinion is and that leads into the writing activity! Print off the corresponding lined paper for your students and have them write 1-3 sentences about how they liked their pie and create a piece of pumpkin pie in craft form to go with it. They make a great bulletin board display during conference time in November.
3. Turkey Craft
Elementary teachers and students love a good turkey craft to make during the month of the November, am I right? This turkey craft is one of my favorites! You can find my favorite book that I liked to use with this November activity plus more November literature picks in this post. After reading, we would follow up with this writing activity and craft.
*TEACHER TIP: Decide ahead of time if you are going to have your students cut out everything or use a parent volunteer to do this for you. (Check out my Helping Hands/ Volunteer Bag System to save you time in the future on activities like this!)
Simply choose the type of writing paper that best fits your student’s needs and print off. Complete the writing portion first and then let students make their adorable turkey. The students writing is always so creative for this activity!
4. November Hands-on Kits
Kids need time to play, explore and create during the day! These hands-on kits can be used for morning work, indoor recess or just when you feel like pulling them out for some fun during the month of November! There are three sets of different types of cards in this set: make it, build it or draw it. The only supplies that you need are play dough, legos and a mini drawing board.
The really great thing about these November kits is that each child can have his or her OWN kit, which makes them super germ friendly for the colder months! The great thing about this too is that you can also use these as an early finisher activity throughout the month. If you want these kits for every month, there is a Hands-on Kit BUNDLE available so you can easily change out the activity cards each month once the supplies are in each student’s kit.
5. November Classroom Management Ideas
November is a fun month during the school year and there are tons of fun activities to do with your elementary students. However, sometimes we need some help making sure our classroom management is under control as we approach winter break. Here are two effective tools that you can use this month to make sure your classroom management is positive and under control.
Fall Call and Response Cards
Do you ever feel like you need a fun, yet effective way to get your class’ attention without having to yell? Then, you’re going love using the Attention Grabbers Call & Response Cards!! It comes with 80+ call backs for you to use with your class all year long! Simply pick one call response to teach at a time. Train students that their job is to freeze and put eyes and ears on you when they respond to the attention signal. Once you have taught multiple attention grabbers, you can change them out daily, weekly or monthly with students to always keep them on their toes and listening. There are 10 fall themed attention grabbers in this pack to use, including a fun turkey one for Thanksgiving!
November Positive Notes
A positive note can go a long way for our students! These 74 Positive Notes For Students are an easy and fun way to encourage and send notes home with your class all year long. There are notes to use specifically for the fall season and November, as well as general notes for other times throughout the school year. Using these on a weekly basis is just one of the simple things that I would do during the year to build positive relationships with students. You can hand out the notes in class or send a digital copy. It even comes with a notes tracker so that you can keep track of who you have given a note to!
GRAB THESE FUN THANKSGIVING ACTIVITIES FOR ELEMENTARY STUDENTS BELOW!:
Do you have any exciting Thanksgiving activities for your elementary students planned this year?
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