It is that time of year again! The holidays are upon us which creates fun and exciting new ways to teach in the classroom. I love to incorporate holiday books into my plans because students enjoy them and they provide a fun way to learn. In November, the book Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano is always on my lesson plans. I’m excited to share with you how I use this fun book in my classroom. These are the Turkey Trouble book activities I love to use year after year!
The book Turkey Trouble is a cute book I love to read around Thanksgiving time. Turkey Trouble provides a funny look at a turkey who puts on different disguises so he doesn’t end up as the farmers’ Thanksgiving meal! The quick-thinking turkey dresses up as a horse, pig, and sheep to try and look like something other than a tasty turkey.
In a turn of events, he ends up deciding to dress as a pizza boy and brings a delicious, hot pizza to the farmer’s door for the Thanksgiving meal. Kids will love this witty, silly book with lots of fun illustrations!
This book is perfect for a week long book study or just a focused day of turkey fun! A great addition to a turkey unit too! However you choose to use this book I know your students will love these interactive Turkey Trouble activities.
Using Read Alouds for Reading Comprehension
One of the things I love the most about book studies is the ability to work on a variety of reading comprehension skills. Reading comprehension skills and vocabulary are all concepts we work on in each and every book study.
But before we jump into any of that we always start with a first reading of the book. This first reading is the perfect way for students to sit back and enjoy the story.
Vocabulary
After the first reading I love diving into vocabulary. Not only are students exposed to new words but learning these words help them gain a better understanding of the story.
You know how much I love anchor charts, so it shouldn’t surprise you that we start with an interactive vocabulary anchor chart. This is always followed up by an individual student activity. I like this approach because it gives students an opportunity to assimilate the information in their minds.
These individual vocabulary activities can include a printable cut and past activity or this digital vocabulary matching and sentence writing activity.
Turkey Trouble Comprehension Tri-Fold
When introducing a new book to the class the main goal is always reading comprehension. I am always looking for fun, new ways to help children learn key concepts of the book and work on comprehension. Helping students grasp key comprehension skills doesn’t have to be a chore, that is one reason I love this tri-fold activity!
This activity is hands-on and pretty versatile, you can use it to help with reading comprehension strategies or as an overview of how students are understanding and grasping certain concepts.
Students absolutely love this activity because they get to create their own unique brochure while also answering questions from the story! In addition to answering the questions on the tri-fold, students can get extra creative and draw their own pictures to go along with it.
This is a fun project to complete and then send home for them to share with their family! They will be proud to show off their creation and talk about the new book they read!
Problem and Solution Craft
In the book Turkey Trouble, the key reading skill we focus on is problem and solution. Using problem and solution strategies is a great way to really dive deeper into this story and allow students to use those critical thinking skills. In this activity, students will look at the problems presented in the story and what the solution was. They will write this out on a sheet that will end up being part of a fun turkey craft!
After students are done with the problem and solution part, the fun begins! Now they can work on this guided craft that will turn out to be the turkey character from the story. In the middle of the turkey, they will place their problem/solution sheet. This craft gives the best of both worlds. It allows students to be creative and make a fun craft. But they will also dig deep into the story practicing comprehension skills with the problem/solution worksheet!
More Turkey Trouble Activities!
Any time we dive into a book I love to connect the book to as many things as possible. In the case of Turkey Trouble I always teach it along side our cross-curricular turkey unit. Additionally, any related activities that I can add to bring our story and its characters into centers or other activities is great too. The students really love this connected learning and wait expectantly to see when their beloved characters will show up next.
Turkey Trouble Directed Drawing
I love directed drawing activities to go along with books. They seem like just another fun activity, but really help develop lots of key skills for students! This directed drawing is of the main character in the story, the turkey, who is trying to stay in disguise!
Students will be guided in drawing the turkey while using fine motor skills, working on shapes, and showing off their creativity. Even though this is a directed drawing, each turkey will turn out different and unique. This can be done as a class art project or simply give instructions and students can work quietly at their desks. When this project is done, you can hang them up and display them on the classroom bulletin board! It is so fun to see how each turkey turns out and students will be so proud of their special creation!
Thanksgiving Themed Writing
This book poses a great opportunity to connect our learning to writing. There are so many fun things to write about that I have multiple writing activities. Some are fun and others more serious, but all will get students writing about all things turkeys and Thanksgiving.
Hundreds Chart Mystery Picture
You can never go wrong with a hundreds chart mystery picture to give students some number sense practice. There are so many patterns that can be discovered as students interact with a hundreds chart. And they LOVE trying to guess what the picture will be. I love adding this activity to a math center or using as a morning work activity one day during the week.
Grab Your Turkey Trouble Book Activities
If these Turkey Time Book Activities seem like they would work out awesome for you, head over to the Emily Education store and grab them up! The best part is, this resource has so much more to offer! All of the activities listed above, and more are included. You get the printable activities as well as digital activities for both Google and SeeSaw. Lots of activities, lots of versatility and lots of fun!
Save These Turkey Trouble Book Activities for Later!
Save these engaging book activities to your favorite classroom Pinterest board so you can quickly and easily find them later!
[…] The best part is, I have an entire bundle of hands-on and engaging activities to go along with the book Turkey Trouble! You can check out the Turkey Trouble book activities here. […]