• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Having Fun First

Helping you to creatively reach all your unique learners

Subscribe

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Shop
    • Shop Website
    • Teachers Pay Teachers
    • Amazon Storefront
  • FREEBIE
  • Curriculum
  • Contact

on November 20, 2019 · Leave a Comment

How to Catch a Turkey – Thanksgiving STEM Challenge

Hey there friends!
We’re on the home stretch to Thanksgiving break and I know I’m looking forward to it! Fun with family and friends and time to relax and reset what could be better? The kids are also in need of a break, which means having to work a little harder to engage our students, and it’s a little tricky when our brains are so worn out ha! I would love to share a fun Thanksgiving STEM challenge sure to keep your students on task and having fun.
How to Catch a Turkey Thanksgiving STEM challenge
I don’t know if you have seen the “How to Catch a …” series by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton but they are hilarious, brightly illustrated, and naturally lend to a fun STEM challenge. When I saw “How to Catch a Turkey” on the shelves I knew I had to use it to create an exciting activity.
I read the book with my own boys and after seeing all of the turkey’s attempts to escape, we decided to make catapults! You can imagine how excited they were to make things that launch, and mom was cool with it!
Now, if you haven’t done a STEM project with your kids before, prepare to be amazed at the engagement and pure excitement that comes with it. I kicked myself for not incorporating them sooner when I did my snowman traps last winter. I couldn’t believe the different design ideas and the growth mindset the kids displayed throughout the design and engineering process.
Now with every unit, I make I try to give myself multiple options to extend and support the learning. If you are anything like me, you love to keep it new and fresh each year. Having multiple choices on how to deliver the standards keeps it new and fresh for me and keeping me engaged is important too. Ha!
Thanksgiving STEM challenge steps
Thanksgiving STEM challenge catapults
sequencing Thanksgiving STEM challenge

Thanksgiving STEM Challenge

Ok, so what does this Thanksgiving STEM challenge involve?

Materials

When I’m planning a STEM unit, I always brainstorm all the materials that kiddos might need to create their ideal design. The materials don’t need to be fancy. Look around your house and try to think outside the box. (I include suggested materials inside all my units) I then make a list and ask parents to donate materials off the list if they can. I’m talking toilet paper rolls, toothpicks, tape, popsicle sticks, cardboard scraps, etc. I often get other things I hadn’t thought of. Anything not sent in I can provide. As for leftovers, I keep them for future projects.

Clear Expectations

Conversations about growth mindset are always important to have before starting a project like this. We talk about mistakes mean we are trying and pushing ourselves to think beyond what we may have experienced. When we make mistakes, it creates opportunities for different ideas to grow. We can’t give up and be proud of our creations. We also talk about teamwork. Our expectations are that you let everyone have a chance to voice their opinions and share their ideas without negative criticism.  You may or may not have kids work in teams. I recommend at least a partner so that they can reflect on their design choices and practice compromising which are other great reasons to have activities like this in our classrooms.

How long does this take?

This all depends on you. I have done this Thanksgiving STEM project in multiple ways. I have broken the activities into separate days. We read the book and then I chose one of the comprehension activities that focused on a strategy we needed to review or used it to introduce a new standard. One another day we watched an engineering video (I provide links in the unit) then we talk about how we might design our catapults as well as start the design process. Then the last day we partner up to share our designs to make a joint design plan and start construction. Now, this can be done in one session as well. I have read the book to my students. I then would tell the kids we are going to help our turkey escape and will be constructing catapults to do so. Their eyes light up!  We would watch the video I have on catapult design and we get to designing and constructing. I do have two options as well for a determined design or free design engineering.
I just have to tell you how rewarding it was to get to stand back and observe their minds at work. Kids going beyond where they thought they could, kids celebrating and laughing… ALL ON TASK! Not being cheesy, but ok it’s cheesy… I couldn’t stop smiling. It is a whole new view of your kiddos and an experience I know they won’t forget. Let’s keep these students engaged this November with this fun Thanksgiving STEM challenge!
If you have ‘t taken advantage of downloading my FREE STEM POSTERS 
click on the image below. 
free STEM posters with guiding questions
Check out more fun Thanksgiving activities for the classroom on my blog or read more about how to implement STEM in your classroom.
I hope you have a great week! We can do this, friends!

Filed Under: freebies, Seasonal, STEM Tagged With: Thanksgiving

Previous Post: « Problem Solver Station Helping Kids Solve Problems Independently
Next Post: Learn How To Inspire Reluctant Writers Through Gingerbread Man Activities »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Shop the Site

Visit the Shop


Shop Featured Materials + Resources

Shop Amazon

Subscribe

Sign up to gain access to valuable free resources, encouraging tips and sale alerts.

Find it Fast

Read by Category

Popular Posts

Polar Animal Unit with a Free Nonfiction Text Features Worksheet
5 Reading Comprehension Activities for Context Clues
Guided Reading Program: Guided Reading With A Purpose!
Taking Care of the Earth: 5 Text to World Connections Books and Activities
6 Activities for STEM and Reading Comprehension
Blurt Beans to the Rescue
Space Reading Comprehension Activities
Teaching Text Evidence with the book "Blizzard"
Compare and Contrast Reading Passages from Fairy Tales
Writing A Letter Worksheets, Mentor Texts, & Activities

Grab My Button

Grab My Button

Subscribe

Sign up to gain access to valuable free resources, encouraging tips and sale alerts.

Footer

Latest on Facebook

Latest on Instagram

Challenge your students this month with daily heal Challenge your students this month with daily health and kindness goals! This February Health and Kindness Journal includes:⁣
💜Daily reflection⁣
💜Daily goal⁣
💜Daily health challenge or check-in⁣
💜Daily kindness challenge⁣
💜Daily fun challenge⁣
⁣
Use this daily journal to promote positivity and the importance of physical and mental health for grades 1st - 4th!⁣
⁣
🔗This resource is linked in my bio and it's available on TpT⁣
#iteach1st #iteach2nd #iteach3rd #iteach4th #kindnessintheclassroom
Forced to take it easy this week, so lots of puzzl Forced to take it easy this week, so lots of puzzles, board games and relaxing are on the schedule. This game is called Labyrinth and it’s so much fun and super addicting to play. 

#familygametime #relaxing #boardgamefun #ravensburgergames
These Valentines Day crafts are sure to brighten y These Valentines Day crafts are sure to brighten your Valentine’s Day bulletin board, hallway or classroom door decor. These February craft activities have multiple options to make each project unique. Keep it simple print, cut, glue and done! Or.. add a fun writing extension that is included. Each Valentines Day craft also comes with printable title letters. Perfect for whole group activity, center activity at your Valentine’s Day party, Random acts of Kindness Day or a great classroom door display!

#havingfunfirst #kidcrafts #kidcraftideas #valentinesdaycraftsforkids #valentinesdaycrafts
This no-prep morning meeting digital resource is t This no-prep morning meeting digital resource is the perfect way to start your day or to initiate transitions in or out of the classroom with your students. Send Google Slides presentations to your students, use via Google Classroom, project on your ActiveBoard, display in PowerPoint, or print for daily journal starters.⁣
⁣
🔗Click the link in my bio to try them today!⁣
⁣
#morningmeeting #iteachtoo #iteach2nd #iteach3rd #iteach4th #iteach5th #iteach345 #tpt
When your kids play together nicely… 🙌 Pokém When your kids play together nicely… 🙌 Pokémon for the win! 

#brothers #pokémon #cardgames
Getting snow off the brain is hard and I know that Getting snow off the brain is hard and I know that any teacher who has ever spotted the smallest glimmer of snowfall outside of their classroom window can relate ha!⁣
⁣
I decided instead of working hard to bring back the focus, why not explore something that they all love, and in some cases maybe have never seen and would love to know more about… SNOW!⁣
⁣
❄ This week in guided reading with a purpose I decided to stay close to those winter loves focusing on the extreme weather of blizzards, avalanches, and snow.⁣
⁣
❄ The mentor text for this Guided Reading week is a mix of fiction and nonfiction focusing on the comprehension skill of text evidence.⁣
⁣
🔗This resource is linked in my bio and it's available on TpT!  Individual book companion resources are also available on my website. ⁣
⁣
#guidedreading #guidedreadingwithapurpose #readingcomprehension #textevidence #iteach2nd #iteachsecond #secondgrade

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Latest on Pinterest

Copyright © 2023 · BRANDING + WEBSITE DESIGN BY LAUGH EAT LEARN