Turkey Theme Teaching

November is a great month to talk turkey in the classroom. I love connecting turkeys to student learning because it brings back childhood memories of growing up on a farm, which included thousands of turkeys.

As a kid, I loved riding the turkey feeders around the barns, walking in the pens with thousands of turkeys following behind, picking up turkey feathers to use for anything and everything, listening to thousands of turkeys gobble on command, or just watching the fascinating life of a turkey.

I love sharing with my students facts about these fascinating birds that are native to North America. In fact, did you know that Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the turkey, not the Bald Eagle, our national bird!

Turkey was a favorite meal for early colonists as they found it to be a extremely plentiful, very scrumptious bird. It became the meal of choice when Thanksgiving became a national holiday in 1863. Since that declaration, Americans have made turkey the number one choice for their Thanksgiving plate. Because of this, turkey farms have sprung up across the United States, just like the one I lived on as a young girl.

So, bring on some turkey talk into your classroom and expand your students knowledge-base about America’s favorite domesticated dinner.

Of course, I begin all of my units with a song, and my study of turkeys is no different! I have a lot of favorite turkey songs, here is one that you might like to try.

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A Turkey Game

Try this turkey game: Make a large turkey body out of butcher paper. Cut multi-colored turkey feathers. On each feather, put a strip of alphabet letters, sight words, fry phrases, or just about any phonics concept that you want your students to practice.

On the student’s turn, they draw a feather, read the print fluently, and then add that feather to the turkey. The group cooperates to get the turkey looking his best for Thanksgiving day.

To add extra fun to the game, add one feather with an OOPS tail. When drawn, all feathers return back to the pile! Kids love this game, especially if you keep the pace going at a “fluent” rate.

Having students complete a turkey report is a fun way to teach the concept of research to your students. To make the report, you can use our purchased sheets, or simply make a cover and collect “everything turkey” that you complete throughout the study.

Creating a Turkey Report with kindergarten students.