Celebrating Thanksgiving with Freebies!

I'm Queen of the DEAL and when it comes to teaching, I'm a Friend of the FREEBIE!  I love them.  In fact my entire TPT store is FREE.  Our school doesn't give classroom stipends and my husband complains when I spend $$ on my classroom, so the FREEBIE is my BFF!  

Friday we had a 1/2 Day and our afternoon was spent doing Parent-Teacher Conferences.  Now I'm out of school for the week, but if you still have to control wild cats next week, these ideas might help you out (or you could put them in a file for next year).  This was tested and proven...I actually heard "Ughh, I don't want to go home."  Now, my day had to be re-arranged from the "plan" because our copier died this week!!  We're teachers, we have to adjust and be flexible.

When students entered the room, they found a note on their desk. Erica Bohrer's Your Teacher is Thankful for You Certificates.  I printed these at home on colored paper.  

 

Then, I read Turkey Bowl.  

This was a freebie too because I ordered it with my Scholastic Points.  It was an okay read in my opinion.  We live in TX and don't EVER get snow during Thanksgiving so I think it was hard for my students to identify with the story.  My plan was to use Ashley Reed's Story Map from this Freebie.  Of course, I had no copier, so instead we did it orally.  

Then, we worked on Kimberly Santana's Turkey Day Family Project. 

I caught it in her Flash Freebie. Kimberly doesn't know it, but we're virtual Bestie's.  I stalk love her stuff!  I love her blog and would consider going back to 2nd grade so I could use all of her things.  I try to modify them for 3rd grade when I can;) She sent this home for a family project, but my 3rd graders could complete it on their own.  My plan was to replace the Tummy with Things I am Thankful For, but since the copier was out...I didn't change a thing.  My kiddos loved it.  In fact, the other 3rd grade classes were Ooh-ing and Ahh-ing all over them.  

 

My kids went to Specials but before they left, I pulled out these...

and put them on my teacher's table.  I saw these on someone's blog (if it's you, please let me know!).  They were adorable, but I couldn't find candy corn, so instead I used gumdrops & toothpicks.  My kiddos didn't care one bit!  They loved it.  Again, I found a freebie that allowed my students to practice procedural text.  Well, I had to improvise.  

 The outside was our title and illustration.  

On the inside, students listed ingredients when they got their baggie.  

On the right side, students wrote their steps to make their turkey.   At the bottom they included a little note such as "enjoy your snack" or "gobble up your turkey".

I didn't do a step-by-step.  Instead, I used this time to incorporate some problem solving.  I showed a final product and let them have at it.  Everyone was able to re-produce and only 1 turkey crumbled (luckily, I had extras).  

 

 

  My kiddos ate lunch in the classroom and I passed out extras so students could have a snack.  We watched a tumblebook, packed up and went home.  

This Little Piggy hopes you have the week off, too!