Thanksgiving at the Tappletons activities and lesson plan ideas

Our Thanksgiving At the Tappletons' are now digital for distance learning with editable teaching slides and worksheets based on Eileen Spinelli's book. Read aloud the holiday picture book then use the printables or go paperless with Google or Seesaw to practice standards-based skills.

THIS READING UNIT FOCUSES ON USING THE MENTOR TEXT TO TEACH:

◼️ READING STRATEGIES

☐ analyzing setting

☐ visualizing

☐ plot | problem - solution

☐ figurative language

☐ sequencing

☐ identifying theme | message | moral

◼️ SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING TOPICS

☐ honesty

☐ problem-solving

◼️ GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE CONCEPTS

☐ multiple meaning words

☐ types of sentences

☐ interjections

☐ plural nouns

SUMMARY OF THE MENTOR TEXT:

THANKSGIVING AT THE TAPPLETONS'’ tells the story of the Tappleton family’s Thanksgiving. Each family member is in charge of getting part of the meal ready. However, everyone makes a mistake with their part of the meal. Mrs. Tappleton dropped the turkey, Mr. Tappleton couldn’t get pie, and Kenny fed the salad to his class pet. Each member of the family keeps their mistake a secret. When it is time to eat, everyone is surprised to find that there is no food! Everyone must admit to the mistakes they made. The Tappleton family must come together to make a meal out of food that is in the house. The children learn that Thanksgiving is not about the food but instead about being with family.

Students will enjoy this silly Thanksgiving read while learning the importance of family and honesty.

THIS COLLECTION OF ACTIVITIES and LESSON IDEAS INCLUDES:

➜ Comprehension Questions categorized by reading strategy; text-dependent
➜ Social-Emotional Learning guidance lesson ideas & discussion topics based on the story
➜ Vocabulary Activities with kid-friendly definitions
➜ Grammar Topics selected to align with the text
➜ Focus Sentences use the book & author's craft as a mentor text to improve writing
➜ Lesson Planner summary, background info and planning space

➜ Story Mapping Printable identify character, setting, problem and solution

➜ Making Words Activity Page use any word from the book

➜ Focus Sentence copy work, identifying elements of the sentence, rewriting)

➜ Design a New Book Cover demonstrate understanding of the text by creating an illustration

➜ Predicting Activity primary-ruled and wider-ruled versions
➜ Summarizing Somebody → Wanted → But → Then → Finally

➜ Comparing and Contrasting using a Venn Diagram

➜ Cause and Effect analyze how events affect one another

➜ Visualization illustrate visualizations from the story and support thinking with text-based evidence

➜ Making Connections identify text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections

➜ Thematic Writing Paper Use with the Writing Prompts... Makes a Great Bulletin Board

➜ 2 Sequencing Activities First → Next → Then → Last and Beginning → Middle → End

➜ 2 Vocabulary Activities Vocabulary Booklet and Word Mapping

➜ 2 Character Trait Activities listing traits and supporting traits with text-based evidence
➜ 30 Text-Based Writing Prompts 3 prompts for each of the following types of writing:

• narrative
• persuasive / opinion
• descriptive
• expository / informative
• creative / story writing
• procedure / how-to
• list-making
• letter / postcard writing
• poem
• book reviews

INCLUDED DIGITAL ACTIVITIES:

➜ 5 Teaching Slides to use for instruction (add questions, vocabulary, instructions, etc)

➜ 15 Student Pages for use in Google™️ Classroom or as editable files to create customized printables