• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Mrs.Beers ELA Classroom

Mrs. Beers Language Arts Classroom

My middle school ELA blog featuring student engagement strategies, classroom ideas, and lesson plans for language arts teachers.

  • TPT Store
  • BLOG
  • ELA Resources
  • About

Thanksgiving ELA Ideas for Middle Grades

November 11, 2021 by Erin Beers
Thanksgiving for middle school

Thanksgiving is always an exciting time. The school is buzzing with excitement for various reasons…mainly a 5-day break.  Fall conferences have ended, the second quarter is in full swing, and the winter holidays are also right around the corner.

As much as it is essential to keep everything “business as usual,” it is tricky.  We teachers are just as excited as the students for all of those things. Here are a few thanksgiving activities for middle school students I use to balance learning with seasonality. You can also find more November ELA activities here.

I love to share read-alouds with my students and a perfect Thanksgiving story for grades 4-8 is How Many Days to America? by Eve Bunting.

How Many Days to America? by Eve Bunting

This story is about a family that is fleeing their country.  They live in a village where soldiers led by the government of their country arrive at their door.  They are soldiers that “do not think the way we think,” according to the family’s patriarch. The family leaves all of their possessions and on a wing and a prayer, take a boat across the ocean to America.

It is a dangerous and scary journey, but after much time at sea, the family arrives in America. The author, Eve Bunting, never tells the readers from which country the family is fleeing, but it is the perfect text for students to make inferences based on what they know about geography. The family arrives in America on Thanksgiving Day and is able to celebrate with others with a special Thanksgiving meal. It is an amazing story to share with students about immigration to help them better understand that these people are willing to risk their lives to get out of their current living situation in other countries in order to make a new life, out of nothing, in America.

While it can stand alone as its own perfect read aloud and invoke great discussion about all we have to be thankful for as American citizens, it can be utilized with other great stories of immigration as well.  Grab this How Many Days to America inferring activity and anchor chart FREEBIE.

thanksgiving stories for middle school

Also during this time in November, I like to keep my students writing.  With Thanksgiving, it is easy to tackle essay writing-5-paragraph style.  If you are looking for a successful tool for teaching the 5-paragraph essay, grab this FREEBIE…it is 11 pages of the tried and true BING, BANG, BONGO method.

Essay Writing Made Easy FREEBIE

This essay pack will help you take your students from the brainstorm stage to the publishing stage of essay writing.  Your students may even return from college one day to thank you for teaching them this essay strategy!  Click here and download for free!

Here are some Thanksgiving essay topic ideas:

  1. What are three foods you can’t live without on Thanksgiving?
  2. What are three foods you would rather poke your eyes out than eat on Thanksgiving?
  3. What three things are you most thankful for this year?
  4. What three people (famous, non-living, animated, etc.) do you wish could join your Thanksgiving table?

Finally, if you need a Thanksgiving lesson plan idea that will get your students thinking about ways they can “give”…check this out!  The reader’s theater lesson plan featured below includes word work, reader response questions, and 2-journal topics that will inspire your students to find ways to give.

Thanksgiving Reader's Theater for middle school

Because I am a bit ashamed for not doing more Thanksgiving-themed stuff with my “big” kids, I created this The Gift of Time Reader’s Theater Fun Pack. I adore using reader’s theater scripts with my students because my 6th graders love to perform and many need fluency practice. In addition, I also need them to be able to respond to text, use context clues, and write.

This Thanksgiving Fun Pack includes:

  • 8-page, 13-character script
  • clear directions for immediate, seamless implementation
  • reader response questions
  • context clue word work
  • post-reading journal prompts
  • Estimated Lexile Measurement is 750.

This 8-page, 13-character script focuses on a group of students looking forward to the Holiday Food Strive, the annual school-wide food drive to support the City Food Pantry. The problem is that the students are more focused on bringing in the most items so they can win an ice cream and pizza party, and not focused on the act of GIVING.

This Common Core tool is the perfect item for your middle grades to middle school classroom to get ready for Thanksgiving and the winter holidays. They might even be inspired enough to come up with a school-wide giving event of their own.

Hope these ideas help make this time of year a productive and thankful time for your students.

Share
Pin141
Tweet
Email
WhatsApp
141 Shares
READER’S THEATER
ELA SUB PLANS
50 BEST BOOKS
ELA WORD WALL
CLASSROOM SETUP
25 CLASSROOM MUST-HAVES
ELA FREEBIES
POETRY ANALYSIS
NOVEL UNITS
TASK CARDS
AMAZON ESSENTIALS
CLOSE READING

POPULAR POSTS:

diversity books for middle school

5 Diverse Books for Middle School

READ MORE5 Diverse Books for Middle School

Interactive Reading Logs using Pictures

READ MOREInteractive Reading Logs using Pictures
  • middle school book projects
  • context clue task cards
  • middle school ELA sub plans
  • readers theater bundle for middle grades

Sidebar

About Mrs. Beers

erin beers language arts teacher

I am a 7th grade language arts teacher in Cincinnati. 2022 marks my 22nd year in the classroom!
⭐ Visit My TPT Store
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

teaching close reading

Recent Posts

  • 5 Diverse Books for Middle School
  • The Perfect Summer Reads: Rules by Cynthia Lord
  • Reader’s Theater Scripts for Middle School

Middle School ELA

  • My Classroom Setup
  • Reader's Theater Scripts
  • Best Books for Middle School
  • ELA Word Wall Activities
  • Emergency Sub Plans
  • Novel Study Unit Essentials
  • ELA Freebies
  • Poetry Analysis

Blog Posts

  • Favorites
  • Classroom Management
  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Teaching Tips

Resources

  • My TPT Store
  • Top ELA Resources
  • Reader’s Theater
  • Emergency Sub Plans
  • Novel Study Units

About

  • About Mrs. Beers
  • My Reader’s Theater Scripts
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap

Copyright © 2022 · Mrs. Beers Language Arts Classroom · All Rights Reserved