The following activity is from the Giving Thanks Unit of Study, Early Learning Success
curriculum, © Early Learning Success, LLC. The Unit is available at
http://earlylearningsuccess.net/product/giving-thanks/
Activity: Turkey Tails
Getting Ready
Setting the stage for
excited and engaged
learning
Activity
Directions should be
adapted to fit the
individual skills of
children
Reflection
Extending the
learning, encouraging
critical thinking
Development
Domains
Main development
focus of activity
Directions
Materials Needed
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Poster board
Makers
Paper
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Thanksgiving books
Turkey feather template
– feathers should be
large enough for turkey
on poster board
Copies of feather
Dot painters
Markers
Scissors
Picture of turkey to make
copies for school-agers
Make a drawing of a turkey on poster board
Have children guess how many feathers will be
needed to complete the turkey tail – chart their
answers
 Let children know that for every Thanksgiving
book read, a feather can be added to the
turkey’s tail
PS-K
 Children use crayons to color large turkey on
poster board
 Children use dot painters and markers to color
feathers
 Cut out feathers when done
 Put completed feathers in a basket to use when
books are read
 Read Thanksgiving books – see list for
suggestions
 For every book read, write title on feather and
add to poster board turkey
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School-Age
 School-age children create their own ‘Turkey
Tail’ based on the books they read about
Thanksgiving
 Color turkey with colored pencils
 Add titles of books to feathers when read
Things to reflect on
 What is your favorite part about Thanksgiving?
 How does your family celebrate Thanksgiving?
Primary Focus: Language & Literacy
Preschool – Emergent Reading: : Initiates stories and responds to stories told or
read aloud
School-age – Reading: Shows interest in books and reading
Secondary Focus: Cognitive – Social Systems Understanding
Preschool – Understanding the World: Begins to recall recent and past events
© Early Learning Success, LLC, 2014
www.earlylearningsuccess.net
School-age – Family: Recognizes similarities and differences between individuals,
families, and cultures
Approaches to Learning
STEM Education
Function
School/life
Readiness Skill
Development
Preschool – Curiosity: Shows interest in discovering and learning new things
School-age – Interest in Learning: Displays comfort with exploring and discovering
new things
Problem-solvers – able to define questions and problems, design investigations
to gather data, collect and organize data, draw conclusions, and then apply
understandings to new and novel situations
Preschoolers can learn a lot about their world through reading books. Nurturing a
love of reading in young children can become a life-long habit. The more we read,
the more knowledge we have and the wider our world becomes.
School-agers may struggle with reading books themselves although they may
love to have books read to them. Again, nurturing a love of reading can only help
school-agers in their school career. After third grade, most school-agers are using
their reading skills to gain knowledge in other subjects. Better reading skills
supports more learning in other areas, both in school and later in life.
© Early Learning Success, LLC, 2014
www.earlylearningsuccess.net
Turkey Tails
© Early Learning Success, LLC, 2014
www.earlylearningsuccess.net
© Early Learning Success, LLC, 2014
www.earlylearningsuccess.net