This past week there has been a lot of talk about turkeys in our classroom. In my family the turkey was always called "the bird". My mom or grandma would say, "The bird is in the oven" or "How much longer until the bird is done?". In our discussion about turkeys, we learned that in some families, when looking in the fridge for left over turkey, the person looking would call, "Here turkey, turkey, where are you?". Sometimes the turkey even had a nickname; like "Tom Turkey". Some of the kids didn't know what the word "alias" meant. So we talked about that for a bit too- turkeys having an alias name.
After we talked about nicknames for turkey in our families, we of course talked about how we liked to eat turkey! Some liked everything on it; cranberry sauce, gravy, and stuffing! <ew!> Others, didn't like anything at all on it - no gravy -nothing!
Finally we discussed how we would feel if we were the turkey and were supposed to be dinner. Of course everyone said they would run away and hide!
That led us right into my new little easy reader, "Turkeys in Disguise". First, I read it to them out loud. Later, we took turns reading through the pages of the book together. If you haven't read it yet, your gonna love it, it's such a cute little story:)
Of course as a teacher, EVERYTHING has to do with learning - even turkey:) So... we have turkeys disguising themselves so they won't become turkey pie. What else might they disguise? How about words? Yep, that was our next learning adventure - disguised words - contractions! These cute little turkeys not only disguise themselves, but words too! There are two hidden words in each contraction. That was our introduction to contractions. We had to find the two words these clever little turkeys had hidden in each contraction. It turned out to be a pretty good illustration - the kids had fun and I think they "got it" too:)
Wrapping up toward the end of the week we made "Turkeys in Disguise" headbands.
They of course had a learning purpose - Reader's Theater! Yep, reading fluency can also be taught to the turkey theme:)
Finally I sent them off with some "homework". Turkeys in Disguise reward posters!
It was fun to see what they came up with:) Here are a few:
This one is a little hard to read. It says "Eggbert" is "1 hour old" and he was last seen "in his mother's nest!" He is wanted because "his mother misses him":)
This Turkey's name is "Sparkles" and she has lots of glitter! (Sorry, I was having a hard time capturing the cuteness of some of these with my camera:()
This turkey is disguised as a Laker and he was last seen playing basketball. If you have any information about his whereabouts you are encouraged to call lakersnation.com. It also says he is wanted by the owner of the turkey pie factory - oh no - lol!!
I gave them all the option to use "googly eyes". Everyone decided to use them - it sure does give the turkeys a funny look!:)
This turkey was done by one of my older kids. He actually went with a historical theme. He called his turkey Alexander the Turkey. Apparently he was fleeing from Darius II, who knew?
This is "Bull Fighter Turkey"!
So now I'm curious - Does your family have a nickname for turkey? What is it? How do you like to eat your turkey? (Personally, I love my turkey smothered in lots of gravy:)
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