Get excited for the season with these fall and Thanksgiving-themed resources for upper elementary.
With the fall weather comes fall holidays and celebrations, and those celebrations can be full of planning and preparation.
I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping that I will have time to get the house cleaned and the shelves dusted before the family and friends all arrive, but in reality, I’ll just be thrilled if I remember to put the stuffing and turkey in the oven on time.
With so much to prepare on a personal level, it is not a great time of the year to be prepping and organizing in the classroom as well. That is why I always search for fun fall and Thanksgiving resources for upper elementary well before the season starts. If I can find activities similar to others that we’ve already done in class…even better.
With so many moving parts, the fall and holiday seasons can become a bit of a jumble, so today we are going to lay it all out there nice and neat.
Without further ado, let us present to you 7 fall and Thanksgiving-themed resources for upper elementary that you can use to celebrate the fall season.
This list includes a series of digital resources as well as some that students can create themselves.
The first four resources are all digital, self-checking resources to help you save prep time. They are great for individual, partner, or small-group work.
The last three resources are hands-on, creative resources that give your students time to color, draw, and use their fine-motor skills while also learning about the Thanksgiving season and reviewing some common upper elementary skills and standards.
We hope this list will help to ease some of the tension this season, so you can sit back and focus on having a little fall fun!
Fall and Thanksgiving-Themed Resources for Upper Elementary (Digital)
#1 | Thanksgiving Reading Skills Digital Jigsaw
How can you put together a great Thanksgiving puzzle when you’re missing all the pieces? In this self-checking, digital activity, your students will earn their puzzle pieces one at a time by answering questions based on Thanksgiving-themed reading passages.
While working through the Thanksgiving Reading Skills Digital Jigsaw, students will practice many reading skills including identifying character traits, making inferences, identifying the main idea, using context clues, and sequencing.
#2 | Thanksgiving Digital Escape Tale
This Thanksgiving Digital Escape Tale is an adventure story that gives your students an opportunity to practice math skills in a fun way! In this adventure, students will escape obstacles by solving complex patterns and number puzzlers. Each correct answer will “unlock” the next part of the adventure!
If you are looking for fall and Thanksgiving-themed resources for upper elementary that take students on a journey while also asking them to use their math skills, then the Thanksgiving Digital Escape Tale is going to be one of your favorites!
#3 | Build-a-Turkey: Thanksgiving 2-Step Problems
Students will earn the pieces to build their own turkey as they solve 2-step problems in this Build-a-Turkey Thanksgiving Digital Resource.
2-step problems are great to practice year-round with students, but not all your students will be at the same level. That is why we created this Build-a-Turkey Thanksgiving resource to include 3 different levels that teachers can assign to students as they see fit. The 3 levels are suitable for grades 3-5 and give teachers some options for differentiation.
If you love these Build-It style digital activities, and you want to use more of them in your classroom, check out the Seasonal Build-It bundle where you can get a Build-It digital activity for many different holidays and seasons.
#4 | Thanksgiving Digital Puzzles
Students will need a bit of perseverance to push through and find the solution to these Digital Thanksgiving Puzzles.
Your students will need to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, plus use logical thinking and visual discrimination skills if they are going to figure out how much a turkey cupcake is worth, or how many pumpkin pie slices are needed to solve the equation. Although the symbols may seem a little silly, it’s these kinds of unexpected graphics that make these fall and Thanksgiving-themed resources for upper elementary so much fun this time of the year.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are interested in getting your hands on one or several of the above resources, you are in luck. They are all available in a Thanksgiving Digital Learning Bundle at a discount!
Fall and Thanksgiving-Themed Resources for Upper Elementary (Hands-On)
#5 | Thanksgiving Bag Book
Learn a little bit about the history of Thanksgiving while also comparing and contrasting the first Thanksgiving with the Thanksgiving some of our students celebrate today. This Thanksgiving Bag Book will help keep your students’ notes organized, and give your students a great keepsake that they can take home and share with their families. For a deeper look into this Thanksgiving-themed resource, watch this video where I go through the resource step-by-step.
Want to learn how to make a bag book? Check out this blog post where I go through each step.
#6 | November Puzzle of the Day
I love these November Puzzles to start the day and get students in the mood for some learning. Each puzzle included in this November Puzzle of the Day resource includes a fall or Thanksgiving-themed puzzle that will get your students practicing skills and using their brains. With 20 puzzles/brainteasers in the resource, you can do a puzzle every school day!
#7 | Thanksgiving Lockbox Challenge
With just a few short hours until the Thanksgiving Feast, the oven breaks down. No problem, we will just use the manual to fix it, but where is the manual!?!
Unfortunately, it’s locked in a lockbox, and the only way to get to it is by solving a series of puzzles and riddles. Luckily, your students are well-equipped to help with this kind of issue, but will they be able to get to the manual in time?
This Thanksgiving Lockbox Challenge will keep your students on their toes as they unscramble letters, use their multiplication skills, decipher codes, and research Thanksgiving events all in an effort to save the Thanksgiving feast!
If you want even more ideas about how to celebrate Thanksgiving in your classroom, take a peek at this blog post called Noodles and Turkeys where I talk about a few other activities I have used with students.
