Count On Turkeys

This engaging activity is easy to prepare and requires minimal materials; making it perfect for the season and these crazy times!

Provide practice or review with the count on strategy for addition in kindergarten, first, or second grades. Frequent practice and review also help to develop fluency with these facts.

Try it in the classroom or send it home.

Although this activity is designed to be completed with a partner or in a small group, each student uses his/ her own materials and can engage from a distance. While not quite as much fun, you can also complete it individually.

Get It Prepared

There are three separate count on and color sheets. There is one each for counting on one, counting on two, and counting on three. Directions are provided on each sheet.

Choose the one(s) that best fits your instructional needs. Assign the same one to all of your students or assign them based on individual needs.

Everything is black and white. Just print it on paper.

You will need:

• one copy of Count Up and Color for each student
• one copy of the optional recording sheet for each student
• a pencil and a paper clip for each student
• crayons

Get ‘Em Engaged With Count On Turkeys

Decide if you want your students to record the equations. Do you want them to record each equation or just the unique ones?

They can write the equations on the optional recording sheet, a whiteboard, or a piece of paper.

Use a pencil and a paper clip to spin.

Play with a partner or in a small group. Take turns.

• Spin. (ex. 9)
• Add 1, 2, or 3 to your number. (depends on the sheet you have)
• Record the addition equation. (ex. 9 + 2 = 11)
• Find the space on your turkey with the sum. (i.e. 11)
• Color that space. If the numbered space is part of a feather, color the entire feather.
• If all the spaces with that number are colored, you lose your turn.
• Who can be the first to finish coloring all the numbered spaces?

Based on experience, I know the trickiest part for your students will be to color the sum of the equation and not the number they spin! Just something you’ll want to keep an eye out for.

Click on the highlighted words, Count On Turkeys, to download your free copy.

Looking For More Resources…

Check out these turkey-themed blog posts. You’ll find a link to a freebie in each one.

• Encourage Engagement With High-Frequency Words (includes a freebie for pre-primer words)
• Have a Little Turkey Fun (a free activity for preschool, kindergarten, and early first grade)
• A Rafter of Timely and Terrific Turkey Resources (free Turkey Feathers Even & Odd Numbers activity for 1st and 2nd grades)

Find some thematic or skill-related resources in my TpT store.

• Turkey-Themed Resources
• Addition Fact Strategy Resources

Keep Calm and Carry On

We think of Thanksgiving as a time to give thanks. However, the experts tell us to practice gratitude every day. Why?

We’ll find meaning through giving thanks. This can have a positive effect on both our mental and physical health.

It can be akin to exercise, though, particularly during these trying times. You might be reluctant to get started and exert the effort today, but it will pay off in the end.

While reading about gratitude during a pandemic, I encountered an interesting tidbit in this article from Psychology Today about the saying “Keep Calm and Carry On”. It actually originated during World War II in Britain. Who knew?

This expression was one of three key wartime messages created (but never implemented) by their Ministry of Information in 1939. Satisfy your curiosity by reading more about its history at the University of London and Keep Calm and Carry On sites.

This year, I am grateful that…

• My friends and family are all safe and finding ways to cope.
• I can step out my door and go for a walk, encountering few (if any) neighbors, all at a safe distance and offering friendly greetings.
• My new range has been installed, at last! I can cook a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner, even if it will only be for my husband and me instead of the usual gathering of friends and family.

And finally, find a Thanksgiving Gratitude Game from Happy Go Lucky that is perfect for adults or kids, at home or at school, and even by Zoom. It caught my attention because it requires M & M’s!

Take time to think, write in a journal, or share in the comments below what you are thankful for and/ or ways to express your gratitude.

Photo in title image by NataPhoto.

The post Who Wants a Free and Easy Count On Turkey Activity? appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

As soon as I saw these word turkeys, I knew I needed to create a resource centered around them. To start, I designed a game for practicing recognition of high-frequency words. Then, I decided those turkey word cards were also perfect for a spell, read, build, and write activity.

So here’s a free resource for you with 16 pre-primer high-frequency turkey word cards and a mat! This is not an original idea but those irresistible turkeys will be sure to reel your students in. You can find additional turkey word cards to use with this mat for purchase in my TpT store.

Have your students practice reading and spelling these oh-so-important high-frequency words as part of your small group instruction or in an independent literacy center.

How to Prepare This High-Frequency Words Activity

• Choose the color or black/ gray/ white option. There is also a black/ white mat.
• Print and laminate the word cards and mat(s). Use card stock for durability. You will need one mat for each student.
• Cut out the wordy turkey cards, trimming around the background.
• Store the cards in a baggie or seasonal container.
• Supply letters or play dough for building the words. Try letter tiles, letter beads, and magnetic, plastic, or wooden letters. Check beforehand to be sure your letters will fit in the middle space.

How to Use This Wordy Turkeys Activity

Pick a word card. Place it in the top box on your mat. Trace the letters with your finger, the eraser end of a pencil, or a dry erase marker. Say each letter out loud while you trace it. Read the word.

Build your word with letters or playdough in the middle space. Say each letter out loud. Then, read the word.

In the bottom space, write the word with dry erase markers or crayons. Once again, say the letters out loud and read the word.

This is a multi-sensory activity. The visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile senses should all be actively engaged. Please don’t skip the tracing and naming or naming and reading out loud. Let there be purposeful noise!

Click the highlighted words to download your free copy of Wordy Turkeys Spell, Read, Build, and Write.

Looking for more high-frequency words to use with the mat?

You can find the complete set of pre-primer wordy turkey cards as well as the sets of primer, first, and second-grade cards for sale in my TpT store. These cards are designed to play a game but work equally well for this spell, read, build, and write activity.

Looking for more turkey activities?

Check out these blog posts or the Thanksgiving category in my TpT store for more turkey-themed activities!

The turkey photo in the title image is by Teacher Gameroom.

The post How to Encourage Engagement With High-Frequency Words appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

Even with all the Christmas hype, there’s still time and opportunity for Thanksgiving in the classroom… learning about the history of the first Thanksgiving, contrasting the differences between long ago and today, and focusing on gratitude.

Turkey Graphic by Sarah Pecorino Illustration

Oh, and don’t forget to have a little turkey fun! I was surprised to discover that Turkey Lover’s Day is the third Sunday in June with June designated as Turkey Lovers Month.

I adore this Turkey Collect & Sort activity for several reasons.

• The same activity can be used to focus on different skills with different kids.
• It is relatively easy to prepare.
• This is a hands-on learning activity designed to engage.
• This activity can be repeated across the seasons with different themes.

Turkey Collect & Sort, a free download, is a partner activity crafted to engage preschoolers, kindergarteners, and beginning first graders on several levels. Your youngest learners can enhance their fine motor skills and match/ identify colors. Older learners can count, write numbers, represent quantities with ten frames and tally marks, graph, and compare quantities.

You will need:

• Cardstock or paper for printing selected pages, Turkey Collect & Sort
• Laminator, optional
• 25 one-half to seven-eighths inch counters (pompoms, buttons, or M & M’s) in red, brown, and yellow for each pair of players, with a more or less even color distribution

To prepare:

To play Turkey Collect & Sort:

• Place 25 red, brown, and yellow counters in the spaces on the turkey mat.
• Take turns with a partner.
• Spin or roll.
• Collect one counter that matches your color. Place the counter on your sorting mat, if using. If all the counters that match your color have been collected, you lose your turn.
• Play until all the counters have been collected.

Count to find out how many of each color you collected. Which color did you collect the most of and the fewest of? Count to find out how many counters you collected in all. Who collected the most or the fewest?

Recording Sheets:

Follow-up with one or both of the recording sheets. If desired, color the circles to match the color words.

• Count how many of each color you collected. Write the number. Color spaces on the ten frame to match each quantity. Draw tally marks to match each quantity.
• Count how many of each color you collected. Color the bars on the graph to match each quantity. Use the data on the graph to complete the statements.

Read my blog posts about this same activity with a candy corn or American flag theme.

Additional Turkey Resources:

Click on a link below to find more turkey-themed and Thanksgiving resources, suitable for kindergarten, first, second, or third grade, in my TpT store! I recently gave the turkey comparison, emergent reader, and sentence construction resources a cosmetic makeover.

• Number Sense Activity Turkey Fun 1-10, Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten
• Number Sense Activity Turkey Trottin’ Teens 10-19, Kindergarten and First Grade
• Place Value Activity Tens and Ones Turkeys in the Kitchen, First and Second Grade
• Place Value Activity Base Ten Turkeys Hundreds, Tens, and Ones, Second and Third Grade
• Turkey Comparisons Two-Digit Numbers, First and Second Grade
• Turkey Comparisons Three-Digit Numbers, Second and Third Grade
• Ordering Numbers 0-120 Turkey Feathers, Kindergarten, First and Second Grade
• Even and Odd Number Turkey Feathers, First and Second Grade
• Thanksgiving Dinner Emergent Reader Plus More, Kindergarten
• Thanksgiving Dinner Questions & Answers Sentence Construction Activity, Kindergarten and First Grade

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The post How to Have a Little Turkey Fun appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

The last time we saw turkeys in their natural habitat was driving along a primary road, which winds through farmland and vineyards, about 20 miles from home. I had to stop and wait for a large flock, including little ones, to leisurely walk across the road. This unexpected experience certainly brightened my day!

Be sure to check out the links below for interesting facts about turkeys.

As Thanksgiving rapidly approaches, I have been busy revising old and creating new turkey-themed resources.

Even and Odd Turkey Feathers

This free Turkey Feather Even & Odd Numbers companion resource can be downloaded from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

It is an easy to prepare color, cut, and glue activity appropriate for first and second graders. There are sets of feathers for sorting even and odd numbers 1-10, 11-20, and 1-99. Simply print and give each student a pair of bodies and a set of feathers.

First, students color and cut the bodies and feathers. Next, they sort the feathers by even and odd numbers. Then, they glue the correct feathers to each body. The completed turkeys can be used as a bulletin board or wall display. They can also be glued onto paper.

Turkey Feathers in Order 0-120

I also created an open-ended resource, Turkey Feathers in Order, which is available to purchase in my TpT store, for sequencing numbers 0-120 in a variety of ways.

This resource includes color and black/ white options for creating math stations.

Ideas for sequencing numbers include consecutive numbers within a decade (24, 25, 26, 27, 28), consecutive numbers across a decade (67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73), nonconsecutive numbers (18, 35, 41, 58, 75), counting by 2’s, 5’s, or 10’s (30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60), and counting by tens off the decade (42, 52, 62, 72, 82).

I added (November 2019) a second set of ready to use, easy prep black/ white feathers with a variety of sequences, mixed-up within each set of five numbers (consecutive numbers 0-10, 0-20, within a decade 21-120, across a decade 21-120; and non-consecutive numbers 0-10, 11-20, 0-20, within a decade 21-120, and 11-120).

Use these for a color, cut, and glue activity.

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