Feelin' Like a Turkey: Funnies and a FREEBIE {Jeannine}

Want a good laugh with your little turkeys just before the holiday?

Hi everyone! It's Jeannine from Creative Lesson Cafe.

 I'm here to share a favorite activity with you that is sure to bring some laughter into the classroom! It all starts with the teacher wearing a turkey hat!

I love the use of props to get my students' attention. I picked up this one for my collection at the Target Dollar Spot. So, I put on the silly hat before the lesson and just parade around for a minute. Right away, the giggles start.

Then we get serious for a while as I explain about the meaning of the phrase~feeling like a turkey... and the focus for the writing activity, but it doesn't last for long...

I don't know about you, but I have had plenty of embarrassing moments.  I always share a few of  my not-so-proud moments with my kiddos~ like the time I walked around all day with a hot roller still in my hair. They have a good crack-up over it all!

After the students have a good laugh at my expense, it's their turn to brainstorm things that have happened to them and share out if they choose. They come up with the FUNNIEST ideas and then it's my chance to have a good laugh!

image source

We always turn these hilarious ideas into a writing piece and have them displayed somehow for parents at conferences. These pieces make for a great class book!

When I'm busy preparing for conferences, I take the work smarter approach to making books to set out for parents to browse through and just create one in a thin binder. It's SO easy to just slip in a cover and hole-punch student writing pages. I save the covers from year to year and just change out the writing for next year's class.

 So back to the activity...
After sharing time, it's photo shoot time! 

A few years back, my teammate had the great idea take a picture of each child wearing the goofy hat. It's been our second grade tradition ever since. This cute photo can be added to their writing page. The kiddos LOVE it and the parents do too! If you can't get out to find a turkey hat, a quick turkey headband made from a paper plate like in the image above will do. A turkey stuffed animal plopped on their head works as well!

If you think you might like to make a class book with your little turkeys before the holiday, you can grab this FREEBIE {here}!

It's a good thing we can all laugh at the goofy things we do. 

If you dare to share in the comments below, we'd love to giggle along with one of your embarrassing moments!

Enjoy the holiday and gobble 'till you wobble!

A Jar Full of Thanks {Aimee}

Hey everyone!  It's Aimee from Primarily Speaking.  In November, many of us encourage our students to think about the things they are thankful for.  It's the perfect tie in to Thanksgiving, of course!  I thought it would be fun to share one of the ways I'm doing this in my classroom this year.  It's a quick and easy idea, I promise!

Introducing our "thankful jar."

This super fancy "jar" is a place for students to share their thankful thoughts.  To make the jar, I took an empty tissue box and wrapped it in brown construction paper. Then, I cut out a turkey head and some feathers and glued them as shown.  It took less than 10 minutes to create.  But, if crafty projects aren't your thing, a simple (actual) jar or a small basket would do just fine!

I placed small strips of paper next to our thankful jar and told the students they could use them to write a sentence about what they are thankful for.  I'm not limiting the students as to how many thankful thoughts they are allowed to share.  I say, be as thankful as you want and share as much as you can!

Nothing fancy, or even cute about these slips of paper. ;)  We read a few thankful thoughts here and there throughout the day, and the kids love it!  Here's a look at some of the things they are thankful for.

I hope you are able to use this quick and easy idea to encourage your students to think about what they are thankful for!

Main Idea and Details: Turkey Style FREEBIE

Hello SUPER Fans! It's Jaime from Bright Concepts 4 Teachers! Today, I am sharing a fun and festive way to review main idea and details in your classroom.

 I am always teaching and reteaching main idea and details to my kiddos throughout the year. Seems like they can never get enough practice with this skill. Any way I can change it up and make it seem like a fun thing to learn, then I am "all over it!" Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I decided to merge turkeys and main idea together for this review lesson. 

The kids worked in partners with a short passage. Some were informational text. Some were fictional text. On their white boards, they wrote what they thought the main idea and details from the story were. Next, they shared their ideas out to the other partners at their table. Finally, they made their turkeys.

The kids wrote the main idea on the body of the turkey. Then, they chose 4 important details to write on each of the feathers and assembled their turkeys. I displayed them with the common core standards for my grade level .

If you would like a festive way to review main idea and details with your kiddos, you can grab this activity for FREE by clicking on  the link below.

Gobbling Up Main Idea and Details FREEBIE