Use this short story and slide deck next week to review standards! Recommended for grades 5-9.
As Thanksgiving approaches, there’s no better time to weave a little humor and warmth into your classroom while reviewing key standards. “The Great Thanksgiving Mix-Up” by Evelyn Thornewood is a delightful short story that captures the spirit of gratitude in a family’s hilariously imperfect Thanksgiving dinner. Written in a style reminiscent of classic authors, this story offers a rich and engaging way to teach key reading literature standards.
In this tale, Grandma Betty’s well-intentioned family members bring a variety of “creative” dishes to Thanksgiving dinner, resulting in a series of unexpected mishaps. Through the protagonist’s reactions, the story showcases themes of family, loyalty, and the importance of cherishing the imperfect moments.
Here’s the text and the digital reading response journal:
“The Great Thanksgiving Mix-Up” by Evelyn Thornewood (Google doc)
“The Great Thanksgiving Mix-Up” reading response journal (Google slides)
Both are set to “View Only” so you’ll need to go to “File” and then “Make a Copy” to save it to your drive so you can edit it or post it in your Google classroom.
I recommend modeling and thinking aloud for one of the questions, letting students complete some with a partner, and then they can finish the rest on their own.
You could extend this lesson by giving students blank bingo cards and letting them fill it in with words from the text. Here are words and clues for Bingo.
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
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