Are You Turkied Out Yet?

I love turkeys, but feel they've taken over my holiday!!!  Poor Pilgrims and Native Americans....but turkeys are so cute and fun - I just can't help myself!  Also, I am one who will still do a few more Thanksgiving-themed things after the holiday, so I'll make it up to the Pilgrims then. :)

Today's FREEBIE actually comes from Mailbox magazine.  I must admit that I have let my subscription lapse since I discovered Pinterest.  I simply don't have time to read it anymore!  However, I still have good ideas stashed in files, and this was one of them!

We are learning about related facts, and this came along at the right time!  The template for the turkey is from Mailbox.  Unfortunately, it was one of those things I copied long ago....but I took a picture of the template and downloaded it to a PDF.  You can download it and the turkey call template (below)  {here}.

One last idea I do for Thanksgiving comes from the National Wild Turkey Federation.  Years ago, I attended a state fair and received the teacher packet for free!  Now, I notice it's $50 on the site, but if you can get your school to fund it (and maybe share or put as a resource in a Science lab) it is definitely worth it!

Two of the things I use the most are the CD-ROM which has actual turkey sounds, and the video (VHS...does that tell you how long ago I got it?).  It teaches the kids a LOT about turkeys in a fun way.  After we watch the videos, (it's a series of 3 short videos), then we make turkey calls!

Simple and easy:  plastic cup (like a Solo cup), twine, and a toothpick. 

*Poke a hole through the top of the cup (it's easier to have the cups stack and use an adult pair of scissors to poke the hole).

*Thread the twine through.

*Tie a toothpick to the top of the twine so it doesn't go all the way through the cup.

To make a "cutting" sound for a turkey, tug firmly in short bursts (not too hard!).  The kids love this and I actually had a former student take it turkey hunting!  He competed in national competitions for turkey calling, so I thought it was funny when he gave it his seal of approval! :)

I know it's a little late posting Thanksgiving ideas, but I figure you can put this away for next year! I'll also be posting the photos on Pinterest, if you'd like to repin, or you can pin straight from this post! 

I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving and good luck to all the Black Friday shoppers out there! Don't forget for teachers, both Teacher's Notebook AND Teachers Pay Teachers are having their sales! :)