While the holiday season is fun, it’s sometimes hard to find lessons that hold our students’ interest while they’re dreaming of Thanksgiving dinner! These are my favorite Thanksgiving activities for the high school English classroom that keep my students learning, but also having fun! Try using a few of these easy, but engaging activities to keep your students focused during the final days before fall break.
I absolutely LOVE holidays! I am the girl who will buy a special outfit, make treat bags, and decorate all the things at the drop of a hat. I like for my students to enjoy the holidays, too! I feel like the “big kids” often get looked over when it comes to holidays. However, I’ve found that they are JUST AS EXCITED over a hand turkey as the littles!
1. Teach students the art of a thank you note
I’ve found that a thank you note can totally change someone’s day for the better. I like to have my high school English classroom write thank you notes to their teachers and I’ll simply slip the note into the teacher’s mailbox at the end of the day. It’s a great way to build relationships, too! I like to ask my students to incorporate the literary element in their note (You’re a sweet as sugar, Mrs. Gates!) just to keep it extra ELA. 🙂 Here’s a great article you could use from Time magazine about the power of thank you notes over our mental health. You can also check out my mini-thank you note lesson here.
2. Make a literary hand turkey.
This is one of my all-time favorite Thanksgiving activities for the high school English classroom! I love it because it can work with ANY text. So, you can use it with a Thanksgiving-themed short story OR incorporate the activity with a novel/short story/poem that you’re already reading in class. Each “feather” of the turkey represents a different type of literary analysis such as theme, symbolism, and character development. Using this activity is a great way to keep your students engaged – and also creatively enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday!
3. Start a Gratitude Journal
The month of November is a great time to show students about the art of journaling and the power it has to positively affect their mental health! There are so many great resources out there about gratitude journaling such as this article which includes ideas and templates or this piece from The Huffington Post on how to maintain a gratitude journal for living your best life. You can also check out the gratitude journal that I use with my own students here.
4. Teach students about gratitude – and its powerful effects!
I always knew that it was great to practice a spirit of gratitude in my everyday life. However, I didn’t realize just how important it was to my overall health until I started learning more about how gratitude can literally be transformative! At the beginning of November, I like to give my high school English students this engaging reading comprehension passage with questions on the power of gratitude. There’s also standards-based questions, vocabulary, and critical thinking questions! This piece has helped so many of my students realize how important it is to be grateful for what they have on a daily basis.
5. Use a reading comprehension passage with questions on a hot topic – Black Friday shopping!
Do you know how Black Friday shopping originated? I didn’t either until I researched and found that the holiday actually has much darker origins than finding a good deal! Give students a short reading comprehension passage on the history of Black Friday and then have them debate over whether Thanksgiving has started to focus on greed rather than gratitude.
I love doing any kind of creative projects with my high school English class – especially during the holidays – so, let me know if you’ve got anything to add to the mix!
