Leaves are changing color. Fall is here! It’s time to break out the fall and Thanksgiving learning tools. Here is a fantastic resource list of 54 things to help with lesson planning.
You’ll find math freebies, language arts free downloads plus fun and fast ideas like how to make a Thanksgiving retell bracelet.
There’s no shortage of great featured ideas on Teach Junkie! Be sure to also check out these 13 Thanksgiving Games and Worksheets for Kids to see what else you didn’t know you needed. {wink}
Fall Graphing
Graphing Fall Leaves – Tally the class and graph everyone’s favorite fall leaf colors. Take a walk around the school property to see how many color varieties can be found.
Spin and Graph Worksheet – Create a unique graph with this spinner and recording worksheet.
Basic Addition and Subtraction
Addition Cross Out – Play a fun addition game with fall themes like Halloween, Thanksgiving and Football!
Turkey in the Pot – Collect points as you sort equations to make 10.
Adding One Autumn Days – Students roll and add one. First one to cover up 8 spaces on the game board wins.
Turkey Time – Roll a die and determine what is needed to make 10. Students cover the game board trying to use ten tokens to win!
Basic Subtraction Coloring Worksheet – Use the color by number code to color in the turkey.
Take it Away Pilgrim Worksheets – Created for first grade there are addition, subtraction and ordering number worksheets.
Adding Doubles Runaway Pumpkin – A Hi-Ho Cherry-O version of adding and subtracting using pumpkins in a wagon.
Subtraction Doubles Center Game – Play a memory or matching game and record the answers on a foldable.
Adding and Subtracting Larger Numbers
Adding and Subtracting Two Digit Numbers Coloring Page – Add or subtract 10 from a 2-digit number and color by number to create a cornucopia.
Gobble and Add/Subtract – These second and third grade addition and subtraction games work with three digit numbers.
Subtraction With Regrouping (2 Downloads) – Use place value blacks and disks to model subtraction problems.
Adding With Regrouping Perfect Pilgrims – Use place value blocks to model each addition problem with regrouping.
Regrouping Problem Cards – Use place value disks to model regrouping with addition and subtraction.
More Math
Place Value Falling Leaves Cover Up – Students use spinners to create a number with tens and ones and then race to get four in a row.
Rounding Numbers – Round to the nearest ten and nearest hundred.
Turkey Bump Addition – Use three dice and linking cubes to place this classic addition fluency game.
Skipping Turkey Patterns – Draw cards and sort based on skip counting by 5, 10 or 100.
Pilgrim Patterns – Basic patterning practice for kindergarten with a worksheet.
Multiplication
Turkey Trot Multiplication – Players race each other to cover playing boards by multiplying two dice.
Bear Facts Game Board – Students use multiplication equations and the flip of a coin to move along a fall themed game board.
Talking Turkey (Division Introduction) – Sort the equations and expressions to see how they are related.
Reading for Fall and Thanksgiving
I Can Count Leaves Booklet – Designed for kindergarten, this is a new printable reader.
Five Little Turkeys Sitting on a Plate – Here is a fun printable book to use as a quick Thanksgiving retell activity.
5 Thanksgiving Free Emergent Readers – Printable books for beginning readers with easy patterns to pick up.
Five Fat Turkeys – You may love giving this easy reader to your students following a class read aloud of 10 Fat Turkeys.
Turk and Runt Lesson Plan – Students draw at stopping points along the read aloud of this fun Thanksgiving story. Plus, here is a Venn Diagram to compare the two characters.
Work Work
Fall Leaves Syllable Sort – Sort the multi-syllabic words with a fall themed printable.
Long and Short Vowel Words – A connect-4 style reading game with and without silent e words.
Thanksgiving and Fall Writing
Thanksgiving Letter Writing – Guide students to focus on the non-material things at Thanksgiving and write a note on free Thanksgiving stationary. Here is a good version for kindergarten.
Thankful Writing Template – A quick template to jot down thankful thoughts.
Thankful Writing – Create a story with a beginning, middle and end by pulling out Thanksgiving-themed items from a bag. This is my favorite from this entire list!
Fall and Thanksgiving Grammar
Thankful for Verbs – Combine writing sentences with identifying verbs with cute Thanksgiving characters.
Turkey Plurals – Students race against themselves to see how many plurals they can get correctly in a limited time.
Turkey’s Possessive Nouns – Students sort and record and highlight apostrophes.
Possessive Nouns are a Hoot – Use highlighters to help see base words and apostrophe endings.
Proper Nouns Activities
Pilgrim Proper Nouns Review – Sort nouns and use correct capitalization with Pilgrim-themed noun cards.
Proper Pumpkins – Sort, organize and record holidays, geographic names and product names.
Cornucopia Proper Noun Sort – Sort noun cards or cut and paste them from a magazine onto a Thanksgiving themed foldable.
Pocket Chart Sentences
Thanksgiving Sentences – Create sentences using a pocket chart as a class or in a center with models or create your own.
Fall Sentences Pocket Chart Match Up – These sentence strips can be added to a pocket chart for students to match.
Sight Words and Vocab Words
Sight Words Game – Partners take turns moving around the leaf pile reading sight words and flipping a penny.
Roll, Say, Keep Fry Words – Fry word list on cards become the way to earn points and win this reading game.
Scrambled Thanksgiving Words – Unscramble the Thanksgiving-themed words with this free spelling practice worksheet.
Tier 2 Word Scramble – See how many smaller words can be made up of these discussion words: hardship, cooperation and gratitude.
November Vocabulary Game – Read the November words ans use them in a sentence. You’re in luck if you land on a turkey!
Fast and Fun Themed Activities
Making Inferences With Fun Fall Riddles – Break out the inferring skills with these thinking cap-ready riddles.
Easy Fall Paper Bag Tree {Tutorial} – Here is a fall tree craft made from a paper bag. If you’ve got a lunch sized paper bag, glue and fall colored paper – you’re set to go.
Pumpkin Spiced Playdough – Perfect for word work, word lists and math manipulatives in primary grades. Change it up with scented play dough for the fall.
How To Make a Pilgrim Hat – Cut a black pilgrim hat with this simple template. Or you could make a pilgrim bonnet instead.
Thanksgiving Retell Bracelet – Make a beaded bracelet to retell the story of the First Thanksgiving.
There you have it! A fantastic list of 54 fall and Thanksgiving-themed ideas for kindergarten, first grade, second grade and third grade. I hope you found this collection helpful and followed the links to a few new resources to add to your lesson plans.
Thanks talented teachers – your fall and Thanksgiving ideas are great! Feel free to grab the “I’m a Featured Teach Junkie” blog button as your creations are definitely worth the shout out. {{high fives}}
More Helpful Collections
- 13 Printable Calendar Numbers {Free Download Sets}
- 27 Classroom Poster Sets: Free and Fantastic
- 22 Apple-licious Classroom Activities and Freebies
- 98 First Grade-Friendly Teaching Ideas
Leslie {aka the original Teach Junkie} loves learning new things to make teaching easier and more effective. She enjoys featuring creative classroom fun when she's not designing teacher shirts, making kindergarten lesson plans or planning her family's next trip to Disney World.