Make Your Thanksgiving Activity
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Words used in these worksheets (20)
carve the turkey
corn
cornucopia
cranberry sauce
eat everything
fall harvest
gravy
mashed potatoes
Mayflower
Native American
Pilgrims
play in the leaves
pumpkin pie
scarecrow
squash
stuffing
turkey
turkey dinner
watch football
wishbone
Need different words? Remove words or add more from the full Thanksgiving set. Your saved custom list is not changed.
More quick worksheets and games
Useful phrases for Thanksgiving
Pair the vocabulary with one sentence pattern at a time. Each level builds on the one before.
Starting out
First lessons, once students know the words- What's this? It's a cornucopia.
- Do you like pumpkin pie?
- Happy Thanksgiving!
Next step
Building on the basics- I'm thankful for ___.
- What do you want to eat? I want turkey and ___.
- Who's going to carve the turkey?
Challenge
For older or more advanced students- Before dinner, we ___. After dinner, we ___.
- The Pilgrims came to America on the Mayflower.
- What's your favorite holiday meal?
Teaching tips for Thanksgiving
Teach the food first
Much of the set is Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie. Food words are easy to picture and easy to talk about, so start there before the history words.
Add the action words
The list includes things people do on the day, like carve the turkey, watch football and play in the leaves. They're useful for "going to" and for sequencing a day: first, then, after that.
Give it a little history
Mayflower, Pilgrims and Native American open the door to a short story about the first harvest feast. Keep it simple for young learners and save the deeper history for older classes.
Talk about family traditions
Every family has its own big holiday meal and traditions. Asking students what their family eats and does on a special day is great speaking practice, whether or not they celebrate Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving lesson and party ideas
Thankful turkey
Draw a big turkey on the board. Each student writes one "I'm thankful for ___" sentence on a paper feather and adds it to the tail.
Thanksgiving menu
Students use the vocabulary sheet to design a dinner menu, then take orders from classmates: "Would you like turkey or ham?"
Turkey mazes
MES English has four printable turkey mazes. They make a good quiet activity after a vocabulary game, or a reward for finishing early.
A one-week Thanksgiving unit
Flashcards and the vocabulary sheet on day 1, word search on day 2, crossword on day 3, then a bingo party on the last day before the holiday.
More Thanksgiving resources from MES
- Thanksgiving flashcards two sets, including cooking verbs, plus turkey mazes
- Thanksgiving certificates awards to print
- Thanksgiving cards and invitations customizable cards
- Thanksgiving coloring pages from MES English
All Thanksgiving images (37)
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Build once. Make everything.
Planning a full unit? The Custom List Maker lets you mix words from any category, save your list, and make 19 different worksheets and games from it all week long.