Thanksgiving lesson: write a how-to paper on preparing a Thanksgiving feast
Thanksgiving is the season for giving thanks…but your students have written thanks-themed pieces every year. Why not try something different? Challenge your students to write a paper on how to make Thanksgiving dinner. The results will be hilarious, and the piece will become a family favorite for years to come.
Plan for your students to spend at least an hour on this project. They’ll want to brainstorm (as a class), write, then decorate their paper. It’s really important that you have students do this project on a paper they decorate. One, it makes a better Thanksgiving souvenir. Two, decorating the paper makes kids want to spend a little more time on their writing.
You’ll probably need to brainstorm as a class. Have the kids list common Thanksgiving dishes. Don’t let them crowd source tips on how to make the dinner. You don’t want a practical child ruining a family’s fun. You want parents cackling as they read naive tips on how to prepare a feast. (Heat the oven to 1000 degrees, cook the turkey in the microwave, etc.)
You can make this project simple or complex. The simple version is to focus on preparing the turkey. That’s good for kindergarten-first grade. Older kids should tackle the whole feast. That way, they’ll have more opportunities to write something unintentionally hilarious.
This writing assignment is perfect for a buddy-class project. Older kids can help younger kids type the assignment, or older kids can do the writing or help with spelling.
Click here for printable Thanksgiving stationery. Click here for Thanksgiving stationery files. (Perfect for the computer lab with your buddy class.)
Other ClassAntics posts about Thanksgiving: