ACTIVITY:
Tell students that they will be able to review the story that was just read, as they move through the stations practicing various motor skills. Demonstrate what is to be done at each station. Have the students line up at the first station, and when the first student has a good start on the scooter (about 1/3 of the way through the “field trip,”) start the next student. Remind students not to crowd each other at each station, and to wait for the person in front of them to finish before they go on to the next station. After students go through the course once, you will be able to see if adjustments need to be made, such as making the field trip shorter or longer, adding to the number of leaps across the river, shortening or lengthening the distance between the “turkey pen” and the “bus.” The goal is to have all students actively participating, not standing around waiting in line.
Station 1: “Field Trip”- Equipment and set up: Scooter and cones. Place cones in a windy path. Use other materials for decorating the path to make it look like an autumn field trip in a school bus. Directions: Students will move around various obstacles on the scooters.
Station 2: “Over the River” – Equipment and set up: Two long ropes. Place the ropes on the floor, close together at one end and gradually spreading apart to a greater distance at the other end. This gives the students the opportunity to jump or leap over the amount of space that they are comfortable with. Directions: Students will jump or leap from one side of the “river” to the other, 4-5 times.
Station 3: “Down the Hill”- Equipment and set up: Incline mat. If an incline (wedge) mat is unavailable, use a regular mat, with folded mats stacked underneath to form an incline. Directions: Students will roll down the “hill,” pretending to be Farmer Mack Nuggett and the teacher, fetching water for the children.
Station 4: “Turkey Escape!”- Equipment and set up: Beach balls, foam hands or lollipop handles, 2 goals (ie., floor hockey goals) set up opposite each other. Directions: Students will roll the beach balls (turkeys) using the foam hands or lollipop paddles, starting at one goal (the turkey pen) and moving them to the other goal (the school bus.)
Station 5: “Turkey Feast”- Equipment and set up: Obtain an assortment of plastic food, including items from each food group. Check with the Kindergarten or Early Childhood classrooms to see if you can borrow items. You could also cut out pictures from magazines or draw items on paper. Lay a big poster of the Food Pyramid on the floor. Have a container holding the food items. Directions: Students will place the food items from a container to the correct category space on the food pyramid. Each student should place 3-4 items, then move to the next station. When the container of items is depleted, instruct students to clear the pyramid and start over.
Turkey shoot
Materials Needed: "Turkeys" (potato chip can, tennis ball can, or plastic bowling pin with a turkey cut-out taped to it), 5"-7" foam balls. Have enough so each group of two students has a turkey and a ball.
Description of Idea
Set up:
Place "turkeys" along one side of the playing area, at least 2 feet apart. One student will stand behind the "turkey" while the partner stands 8-10 feet away with the foam ball, facing the "turkey."
Instructions:
After reviewing the skill of rolling a ball (eye on the target, step with opposite foot, bend knees and lower to the ground, release ball close to the floor), explain to the students that they are trying to knock over the turkey. One of them will stand behind the turkey to set it up again if knocked down and to retrieve the ball. The other will stand about 8 feet away and will roll the ball towards the target. After each attempt, they will switch positions. After a few minutes, have students stop briefly to listen again to the cues, so they know what the teacher is looking for in the skill attempt.
Name of Activity: Stuff the Turkey Tag
Prerequisites: The ability to move safely in general space; to change speed and pathways to avoid others; skill work in throwing underhand to a target.
Suggested Grade Level: 1-2
Materials Needed: 8 poly spots; 1 milk crate (or similar type container); a picture of a turkey to attach to the container; 8 bean bags (koosh balls, yarn balls, etc.); cones to mark the boundaries of your play space; 4 pinnies.
Description of Idea
Use cones to mark off a safe activity area. Select 4 students to be the "Pilgrims" and designate them with pinnies. On your signal the activity begins with the locomotor skill of walking. If a student is tagged by a "Pilgrim", they must leave the game and go "stuff the turkey" for Thanksgiving dinner. The way this works is the tagged student goes to the outside of the area, picks up a bean bag, stands on one of the several poly spots that encircle the milk crate ("Turkey" which is as far away as you wish it to be), and underhand throws the bean bag into the crate. If the student misses the crate, they have to retrieve their bean bag and continue trying until they successfully get it in the crate ("stuff the turkey"). Once they have "stuffed the turkey", they may return to the game. After a few minutes choose new Pilgrims and play again.
Name of Activity: Turkey Strut
Purpose of Activity: For students to have fun participating in a holiday game while working on their locomotor skills.
Prerequisites: The ability to move safely through general space.
Suggested Grade Level: K-2
Materials Needed: 26 hula hoops, 26 small cones; 2 sets of small alphabet cards and/or alphabet bean bags (1 set for basket and 1 set for hula hoops), fun music, CD or Cassette Player, basket/box for letters, cones or other markers to designate a large rectangular play area, paper "turkeys" (can be drawn, or cut from an Ellison die machine).
Description of Idea
Scatter the hula hoops out in the play area. Place a different letter in each hoop (using one set of either laminated poster board cards or the alphabet bean bags).
Explain the activity as follows: Students will begin moving around the general space using the locomotor movement which you call out, while avoiding stepping inside the hoops. When the music stops they will need to find a hoop to stand in, a la "musical chairs" (more than one student is allowed to stand in each hoop). The teacher then chooses a student to come over and choose a letterfrom the basket; the student then calls out the letter. The student(s) standing in that hoop all receive a "turkey". The student who called out the letter then takes a cone over to that hoop and places the cone in the hoop; students may no longer stand in this hoop when the music stops (be sure to set this now-used letter aside). The student then re-enters the activity; the music and movement begin again. When there are too few hoops to allow everyone to safely have at least one foot in a hoop, then begin the game again (take the cones out of the hoops). The student who collects the most turkeys at the end of the game can get to line up first or have some other similar "reward". Make sure students correctly understand the activity, then begin play!
Name of Activity: Turkey Bowl
Purpose of Activity: The purpose of this activity is to develop eye-hand coordination by rolling a ball towards a stationary object. Students will practice mature ball-rolling technique as they attempt to hit an object with the ball.
Prerequisites: Students have previously been taught the mature stage of ball-rolling (lead with one foot, ball held with one or both hands on the dominant side of the body, weight transfer from back to front, release ball as it passes forward foot, follow-through, eyes on target).
Suggested Grade Level: K-2
Materials Needed: 20-30 bowling pins, pictures of turkeys taped to the bowling pins, softie balls for at least 1/2 the class
Description of Idea
Begin this lesson with a review of the ball-rolling technique. Line up all the turkeys (bowling pins) against one side wall. Have students get with a partner and practice rolling the ball to the “turkey” from 10-15 feet away. One student rolls the ball while the partner retrieves the ball and sets up the “turkey.” Switch roles until each has had several chances to practice rolling the ball.
Before playing the Turkey Bowl game, talk to the students about the first Thanksgiving, who was there and what they might have eaten. The class is then divided into two groups, one being the Pilgrims and the other the Indians. Each group stays on one half of the gym, with the center line being the boundary. The bowling pins with the turkeys are placed behind each team against the wall. The balls are distributed and the students begin rolling the balls trying to "catch" a turkey by knocking it over. After a few minutes, stop rolling the balls and see which group knocked over the most turkeys. That group will be the ones who bring the turkey to the Thanksgiving feast. The pins are set up again to begin a new round. Students are allowed to pick up the balls before they knock over a turkey.
Name of Activity: Turkey Trot
Purpose of Activity: The purpose of this activity is to have students practice locomotor skills while using various game strategies that will make the team more successful, including: 1) Remembering what cones you and your teammates visited, 2) remembering what cones the opposing teams visited, and 3) hustling to and from a cone. Throughout this lesson, cooperation with the teacher and classmates is encouraged and expected.
Prerequisites: Students have previously learned the fundamental locomotor skills.
Suggested Grade Level: K-2
Materials Needed: 5-8 large cones, 30-40 small to medium sized cones, laminated turkeys (one for each team), 30-40 laminated feathers. If real feathers are available, make a "styrofoam turkey" using a large styrofoam ball for the body, chenille wire (pipe cleaners) for the legs and feet, and a paper head. As the feathers are collected, they can be stuck into the styrofoam ball.
Description of Idea
Preparation and set up:
Either the playground or the gymnasium can be used for the playing area. Designate a “home base” for each team with the large cones, along the boundary of the playing area. Each team will place their Turkey near the cone. Set up the small or medium size cones in a scatter formation, placing a feather under each cone.
Directions:
Tell the students they are going on a Turkey Trot. The objective of the Trot is to find feathers in the playing area and bring them back to their team to “feather” their turkey. Have as many teams as it takes to have only 3 members on a team. You want to maximize participation while still allowing for teams to strategize and cooperate. One person from each team will go into the field at a time. They will choose a cone. The cone they touch will be the one they have to pick up. If there is a feather underneath, they will pick it up, take it back to their Turkey, “high five” the next person in line, and go to the end of the line. Then it is the next person’s turn to go into the playing area. If a feather is not found under the cone, the student simply returns to his/her team and lets the next person go. When all the feathers are collected, count up how many feathers each team has found for their turkey. Discuss the strategies used throughout the game, questioning the students on why they selected certain cones, what they watched for, etc. Play several rounds, selecting a different locomotor skill each time.
Name of Activity: Thanksgiving Tag
Purpose of Activity: Students will have some holiday fun while working on the skills of dodging and fleeing and getting a good cardio workout.
Prerequisites: None
Suggested Grade Level: K-2
Materials Needed: Three different colored pinnies or another way to identify the taggers.
Description of Idea
Give students the following scenario: The family is getting ready for Thanksgiving. There are three taggers: Mom, Dad, and baby, who will wear the colored pinnies. Everyone else is a turkey. The family is trying to catch the turkeys so that they can eat them for Thanksgiving dinner, while the turkeys are trying to get away. The turkeys can save themselves by going down on one knee and calling out the name of another food the family can eat for Thanksgiving, such as mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, and so on. If they can do this before they are tagged, they are safe for three seconds before needing to get up and run again. If they do get tagged, they must stand on one foot like a turkey, frozen in place until another turkey comes over and gives them a "high five."
Name of Activity: Thanksgiving Stations
Purpose of Activity: To pre-assess younger students abilities in three areas--in particular throwing.
Suggested Grade Level: K-2
Materials Needed: Fleece balls, Turkey targets (plastic door decorations with a hole cut into it), Stepping stones (Flaghouse catalog), Balloons, Lollipop paddles, Poly-spots
Description of Idea
Set up the following three stations in your activity area. You can have more stations if you wish and not limit them to only these three. For this particular lesson I used it as a pre-assessment to determine the basic ability of my students' overhand throw. I was looking for those who have no or poor skill concept of how to throw a ball. This helped me to determine the level of my classes and the basis of the activities within the throwing unit.
Station #1: "THANKS"
Set up large pieces of paper with 1 letter on each piece to spell "THANKS". Place polyspots on the floor for throwers to stay behind.
Object is to throw the fleece ball at the "T". Once students have hit the "T" they move down to the "H" and so on to hit every letter and spell out the word THANKS.
Station #2: "STUFF THE TURKEY"
Place polyspots on the floor for throwers to stay behind. For a target use a plastic turkey door decoration and cut a hole into the middle of it. Vary the size of the hole for different ability levels.
Object is to throw the stuffing (fleece ball) into the turkey target to stuff him for Thanksgiving Day.
Station #3: "MASH POTATOES"
Scatter the stepping stones in a small area of the floor.
The object is to have the students jump from one potato to the next to mash them. The students love this station because the stepping stones make a squeak noise and immediately regain their shape.
Station #4: "CAPTURE THE TURKEY"
Set up the balloons as the turkeys. I prefer white balloons so with a magic marker I can draw on a face and colored tail feathers). Place boxes or crates for the turkey's pen. Set out the lollipop paddles. The object is to use the foam paddle to guide--not hit-- the turkey into it's pen. If they hit the turkey he will go up into the air and fly away so you have to guide him and keep him close to the ground. Only the paddle can touch the turkey - no body part may help.
Artsy
Oreo Turkeys
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/11/oreo-turkeys-and-cookie-pilgrim-hats/
Apple turkeys
http://littlepageturners.blogspot.com/2009/11/turkey-day-apple-turkeys.html
No bake pumpkin pie
http://lajollamom.com/2011/11/kids-recipe-no-bake-pumpkin-pie-mousse/
Turkey appetizer centerpiece
http://pistolsandpixiedust.com/blog/2013/12/17/healthy-thanksgiving-turkey-snack/
Make turkey hats
http://bunchfamily.ca/gobble-gobble-turkey-hat/
Calm
Read books
'Twas the night before thanksgiving
10 fat turkeys
Turkey trouble
Thankerchief
"Thankerchief, thankerchief around you go---
Where you stop, nobody knows
But when you do someone must say
What they are thankful for this day"
Candy corn bingo
http://cf.crazylittleprojects.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Thanksgivingbingoboards.pdf
