Let's Talk About Turkeys Nonfiction Study + Freebie!

Gobble Gobble!!

 

Thanksgiving is coming near! I don't know about you, but I am in desperate need of a few extra days of R & R, turkey, and some retail therapy!

Until then, we are waddling into our nonfiction study on TURKEYS!!!

Not only are the holidays fun for the obvious reasons, but I just love to bring nonfiction studies into this time of year. My students are so excited and engaged to learn about nonfiction topics, such as pumpkins and turkeys.

In our Let's Talk About  Turkeys nonfiction unit, we begin by discussing important vocabulary that pertains to turkeys, as well as study nonfiction books and pictures about turkeys.

 We use our close reading posters to learn about each aspect of turkeys, including general information, habitat, offspring, features, the history of how turkeys evolve, differences and similarities between turkeys and chickens, and some fun trivia facts about turkeys (such as...did you know that turkeys have heart attacks?- My students get a kick out of that one!).

 

Throughout our studies, we use several graphic organizers to display our learning, such as circle, tree, bubble, and double bubble thinking maps. Then we take those organizers and transform our thoughts into writing.



 

 

The best part about this is the fact keeper booklet that they create as a keepsake to take home after this unit is complete. In their Fact Keeper is a vocabulary section, label a turkey, and several pages that they have to complete the sentences with the correct vocabulary for each topic learned about turkeys.

To change things up a little, we also create a turkeys fact craftivity booklet with turkey facts that we have learned! :) Who doesn't like craftivities right?!? We proudly display these on our writing bulletin board in the hallway.

 

 

Here is a bubble map freebie that goes along perfectly for any nonfiction turkey study!

 

All of this is included in my Let's Talk About Turkeys nonfiction pack. Click on the picture below to learn more! Happy learning!

 



Holidays Around the Blog!

Happy November 1st friends!,

 

I hope your littles had fun trick or treating last night! I'm still in recovery mode, but it was so heartwarming to see everyone dressed up so cute and excited.

Now the real fun begins...did you know there's only 53 days until Christmas?!?!

Yikes I know, but there's no better time to begin to collect your ideas. Today I'm joining Amy from Learning Lessons With Mrs. Labrasciano for her Holidays Around the Blog linky.

One of the highlights of the holiday season for my students is celebrating Holidays Around the World. I love to expose my students to different cultures and how they celebrate. It's so engaging for them to learn about.

Last year, I thought, "Why not place our Holidays Around the World lessons in a keepsake file?" So the Holidays Around the World Interactive Student Notebook was born!

Throughout the entire month of December, we learn about a different country each day to make it through 15 different countries/customs by Winter Break.

We use several books to supplement our unit. One is a Holidays Around the World book from Reading A-Z.

One of my favorites to read while we are studying Hanukkah is "Latkes and Applesauce"!

Here are a few other recommendations:

 

 

 



We begin by receiving our boarding pass to place in our ISN's:

 

Then we glue our passport in our ISN's so we can glue a stamp on it as we go along learning about each tradition.

Each day, we read about each country's traditions and glue it on the left side of the notebook. My students interact with it by underlining the pertinent information indicated at the bottom of each page.

Then my students create a foldable/craft for the right side of their notebook that relates to the country that we are studying. Here is an example for Italy:

 

Here are some various pictures throughout of our Holidays Around the World Interactive Student Notebook unit:

 If this is something that may interest you, click on the picture above to check it out!

Come and see all of the other wonderful ideas to kick off your Christmas season!