Thanksgiving presents a perfect opportunity to help children of all ages and grade levels develop better writing skills. Use the ideas below to encourage children think about Thanksgiving, and the meaning behind this holiday, while learning and practicing essential writing skills.
Thanksgiving Sentences
Kids in this age group are learning basic sentence structure and how to put together complete sentences that make a statement, ask a question, or express a thought/idea.
Use sentence starters to help kids in this age group learn to build all kinds of sentences.
Giving children some examples of how they could write each sentence below will help them catch on to the idea.
Thanksgiving Story Teller
Since children at this age may still have difficulty with the motor skills involved in writing, another good activity to do with them is to write a story together. Have a large piece of easel paper and a marker nearby to write the story as the children tell it. Sit in a large circle on the floor if possible. Begin with a story starter below. Going around the circle, have each child add one complete sentence to the story. Write down each child’s sentence as the story unfolds. Be sure to read the whole story back to the group when it is finished.
Kids in this age group are learning parts of speech, proper sentence structure, and the elements of writing. They are able to follow more specific instructions when putting together a piece of writing. Use any of the ideas below to help children with writing skills as well as expressing their thoughts, feelings and ideas about Thanksgiving in a creative way.
Creative writing opportunities abound for older students. Encourage thoughtful expression and creative use of language. In this age group, students should be able to logically explain and clarify an idea through the use of structured writing assignments. Assign pieces that will challenge the students thinking or expand their knowledge on a subject. Some ideas include: