Are you looking for a fun read-aloud for November? Turkey Trouble is a great option! Not only is it an engaging story for students to enjoy, but it’s also a perfect read-aloud for comprehension practice! Keep reading for some of my favorite Turkey Trouble activities for kindergarten and first grade.
The Importance of Read-Alouds
Read-alouds are an important part of the early elementary curriculum since they allow students to practice important comprehension skills while they’re still learning how to decode. Read-alouds allow you to do the reading work while the students do the thinking work!
As you can see in Hollis Scarborough’s Reading Rope infographic, language comprehension is an essential strand that intertwines with other foundational skills, leading to skilled reading. This is why it’s so important to include read-alouds and comprehension activities in the early elementary classroom!
10 Turkey Trouble Activities for Kindergarten and First Grade
Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano is a great read-aloud for November. In this story, Thanksgiving is right around the corner and turkey needs to hide. So he comes up with an idea!
You and your class will have fun reading and responding to this story! Here are ten of my favorite companion activities for this book, which will help students practice important comprehension skills!
1. Making Predictions
The first time you read a story with your students is the perfect time to practice making predictions!
After reading a few pages of the story, stop and have students make a prediction. What will Turkey do now that he has an idea from Cow?
Once students have had a chance to document their predictions, you can finish reading the story and have students record what actually happened.
2. Story Retelling
Another comprehension strategy that you can practice with Turkey Trouble is story retelling. You can practice this skill in many different ways! For example, you can start by retelling the story as a whole group. Students can take turns adding story retell cards to an anchor chart.
You could also do this as a drag-and-drop digital activity with your whole group.
After that, students can do the same thing independently. This is great sequencing practice! After they have put the story events in order, they can use the visual to help them retell the story to a partner.
3. Vocabulary
Another great thing about read-alouds is that our students are able to see new vocabulary words in action!
You can take time to discuss these new vocabulary words with your students! These vocabulary cards are a helpful way for students to record the definition, synonyms, and a sentence for each new vocabulary word.
4. All About Turkeys
One of my favorite ways to enhance the read-aloud experience is to pair a fictional story with non-fiction text. As students learn more about turkeys, they can use a schema chart to organize these facts.
Students can then document what they already know and what they’re learning on their own worksheets.
5. Writing Informational Text
Writing is such a helpful way for students to apply what they’re learning, which then solidifies those new concepts.
After learning more about turkeys, invite students to map out the facts that they would like to include in their own turkey informational books.
6. Turkey Directed Drawing
I LOVE directed drawings! They give you a good opportunity to use some of the vocabulary students have been learning as you give them directions to follow. Another great thing about directed drawings is that they give students more confidence in their ability to draw. As an added bonus, the final product is always so cute!
7. Turkey Craft
For some additional fine motor practice, this craft is another fun addition to your Turkey Trouble unit! Students can improve their hand strength and coordination as they cut and assemble this adorable turkey craft.
These colorful turkeys look so festive on a Thanksgiving bulletin board. Students are always so excited to see their work on display!
All of the activities I’ve shared up to this point are included in an Engaging Readers Unit for Turkey Trouble. I’ll share more details about this product at the end of this post. For now, I thought I’d share a few more turkey-themed activities that are the perfect companion to your Turkey Trouble read aloud!
8. Turkey Literacy Centers
First, you can incorporate the turkey theme into your literacy centers. For example, this Thanksgiving themed activity invites students to sort different pie slices based on the word family.
This word sort with a turkey twist gives students the chance to read and sort words with different digraphs. They will look at each picture under the turkey, and then find and attach the corresponding word.
9. Turkey Math Centers
Your students can also practice important math concepts during centers time with some turkey-themed activities.
For example, students can practice adding one or five to a number with this game. They will roll a die and then add either one or five to the number depending on the game. They will then add their playing piece to a turkey with that number.
Students can also using printable worksheets during centers time to help them practice skills like counting on from a given number and adding doubles.
10. Turkey Science Activity
If you have a force and motion science standard, this turkey feather activity is perfect for your week of Turkey Trouble fun!
Students can experiment with feathers to see how the motion of each feather is impacted by the amount of force used.
The centers and science activity mentioned in this post are included in the Science, Math, and More Unit for November.
Printable Turkey Trouble Activities for Kindergarten and First Grade
The remainder of the activities that I shared in this post are included in my Engaging Readers Unit for Turkey Trouble. This resource includes everything you need to bring engaging comprehension practice to your read-aloud of this fun story!
This resource includes scripted, research-based lesson plans so you can take the guesswork out of planning an engaging and meaningful read-aloud for your students this November! Just head over to my TPT store to take a closer look at everything included in this resource.
Save These Turkey Trouble Ideas
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