School Age S.T.E.A.M. Storytime & Craft: Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving

Book: Duck for Turkey Day by Jacqueline Jules

Discussion: who came from a different country? parents? grandparents? – all of us came to this country at some time unless we are Native Americans)

Towel Folding Story: The Case of the Missing Turkey -- Rhonda Turley   Piedmont, OK via PUBYAC. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq4eojAsNlY  (or search youtube for towel and chicken). 
"Last year, I was in charge of cooking the family thanksgiving turkey.

I set my alarm for early in the morning so I could pop it in the oven to cook for our family dinner.

When the alarm went off, I got up, put on my fuzzy slippers and shuffled out to the kitchen to get the bird.  I opened the fridge, and…IT WAS GONE!
Where could it be!? (this is where the towel folding starts…lay the towel out flat)
I looked everywhere!
I rolled up the living room rug (roll one end of the towel to center)…it wasn’t under there.
I pulled down the covers on my bed (roll other end to the center)…it wasn’t there.
I turned over the couch cushion  (Flip rolled towel over so rolled ends are underneath)…it wasn’t there.
I looked under the chair (fold towel in half end to end, and hold upright like a bouquet of flowers)…it wasn’t there.
I looked in the flower vase (peek in end of one tube and pull up the corner of the towel)
I looked in the umbrella stand (peek in end of one tube and pull up the corner of the towel)…it wasn’t there.
I even looked in the trash can  (peek in end of one tube and pull up the corner of the towel)...thankfully it wasn't there!
Finally, I looked in the cookie jar  (pull up last corner of the towel)
(here’s the finale…grasp two corners with one hand, the other two corners with the other hand, and pull them apart…resulting in what looks like a plucked bird.)
…And there it was!"

Book: Thanksgiving at the Tappletons' by Eileen Spinelli. After calamity stalks every step of the preparations for the Tappletons' Thanksgiving dinner, they realize that there is more to Thanksgiving than turkey and trimmings.

Flannel/Song: The Turkey Ran Away 

Song/Prop  based on the book I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson. Story & directions here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2021/12/something-special-for-holidays.html

Action Song: The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven – based on the poem by Jack Prelutsky (lyrics here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2021/12/something-special-for-holidays.html)

Other possible books (no time): Giving Thanks by Chief Jake Swamp or Thankful by Elaine Vickers

Didn't take the time for: 

Flannel : Uno, Dos, Tres Amigos (reinforces idea that we all have come from different places but celebrate together; enumeration practice, learn/reinforce Spanish language numbers)
Diez Amigos "10 Friends" (glove puppets)Tune: “10 Little Indians” 
Uno, dos, tres amigos,
Quatro, cinco, seis amigos,
Siete, Ocho, Nueve amigos,
Diez amigos son.
One, two, three friends,
Four, five, six friends,
Seven, Eight, Nine friends,
Ten friends are we. 

Craft: Cut & decorate the Old Woman & her stomach contents (cut out stomach and mount ziploc sandwich bag on back). Also made handprint turkeys with construction paper, gratitude lists, 

While they were crafting, shared the book Setting the Turkeys Free by W. Nikola-Lisa

More Thanksgiving book and song ideas: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Thanksgiving

CDPL 11/12/2025

Tellebration: Soup & Thanksgiving Stories

 

Participatory Stories & Songs: Soup & Thanksgiving

Asked about everyone's favorite kinds of soup, then opened with a very strange recipe:

Book: Monkey Soup by Louis Sachar (child makes her father a special kind of soup to help get him well – silly! -- Don't try this at home! )   

Song/Flannel:  "Alphabet Soup" by Tom Chapin (another silly recipe, reinforces alphabet, lyrics here: Soup's On)

 

Book: Mean Soup by Betsy Everitt (how to handle a "bad day" - could also make "Mean Cheerios!")

Mentioned today we are celebrating the Trenton Soup Kitchen - community feeding...

Interactive story with props (pot, puppets, & veggies): Stone Soup  (Participatory storytelling, mentioned old story many variants – I use the Ann McGovern version with old lady and young man - script here: Soup's On)

Book/Cards/Song: Chicken Soup with Rice – Maurice Sendak, tune by Carole King from “Really Rosie” (audio & video available, concept: the names of the months, lyrics here: Soup's On)

Other possible books:

Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert (vocabulary, non-fiction concepts of gardening & food prep)

“Piggy Back” Song/Action: This is the Way we… make the Soup reinforces sequencing)

Armadilly Chili by Helen Ketterman (Armadillo fails to get help from her friends in chili preparation but when they return with "sackfulls of apologies plus apple cider, cornbread, and brownies, she finds sharing dinner with friends is best of all. This is a  folktale variant of "Little Red Hen"

That is NOT a Good Idea by Mo Willems

Soup Day by Melissa Iwai

Dumpling Soup by Jama Kin Rattigan

Last Stop on Market Street – Matt de la Pena -- grandmother & child travel on a bus to serve at a soup kitchen

More ideas & lyrics: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search?q=soup

Thanksgiving

Book: Duck for Turkey Day by Jacqueline Jules

Discussion: who came from a different country? parents? grandparents? – all of us came to this country at some time unless we are Native Americans)

Towel Folding Story: The Case of the Missing Turkey -- Rhonda Turley   Piedmont, OK via PUBYAC. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq4eojAsNlY  (or search youtube for towel and chicken).  Story & directions here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2021/12/something-special-for-holidays.html

Flannel/Song: The Turkey Ran Away 

Song/Prop: I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie (based on the book by Alison Jackson – cut out mounted woman below) Story & directions here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2021/12/something-special-for-holidays.html

Action Song: The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven – based on the poem by Jack Prelutsky (lyrics here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2021/12/something-special-for-holidays.html)

Forgot to do:

Glove Puppets : Uno, Dos, Tres Amigos (reinforces idea that we all have come from different places but celebrate together; enumeration practice, learn/reinforce Spanish language numbers)
Diez Amigos "10 Friends" (glove puppets)Tune: “10 Little Indians” 
Uno, dos, tres amigos,
Quatro, cinco, seis amigos,
Siete, Ocho, Nueve amigos,
Diez amigos son.
One, two, three friends,
Four, five, six friends,
Seven, Eight, Nine friends,
Ten friends are we. 

More Thanksgiving book and song ideas: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2022 - Bedminster School/Literacy Vols/Nicole's special ed class

A school-age storytime celebrating thankfulness, kindness, and inclusiveness for the Thanksgiving holiday 

Book: Thanksgiving at the Tappletons' by Eileen Spinelli. After calamity stalks every step of the preparations for the Tappletons' Thanksgiving dinner, they realize that there is more to Thanksgiving than turkey and trimmings.

Towel Folding Story: The Case of the Missing Turkey -- Rhonda Turley   Piedmont, OK via PUBYAC. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq4eojAsNlY  (or search youtube for towel and chicken). 
"Last year, I was in charge of cooking the family thanksgiving turkey.

I set my alarm for early in the morning so I could pop it in the oven to cook for our family dinner.

When the alarm went off, I got up, put on my fuzzy slippers and shuffled out to the kitchen to get the bird.  I opened the fridge, and…IT WAS GONE!
Where could it be!? (this is where the towel folding starts…lay the towel out flat)
I looked everywhere!
I rolled up the living room rug (roll one end of the towel to center)…it wasn’t under there.
I pulled down the covers on my bed (roll other end to the center)…it wasn’t there.
I turned over the couch cushion  (Flip rolled towel over so rolled ends are underneath)…it wasn’t there.
I looked under the chair (fold towel in half end to end, and hold upright like a bouquet of flowers)…it wasn’t there.
I looked in the flower vase (peek in end of one tube and pull up the corner of the towel)
I looked in the umbrella stand (peek in end of one tube and pull up the corner of the towel)…it wasn’t there.
I even looked in the trash can  (peek in end of one tube and pull up the corner of the towel)...thankfully it wasn't there!
Finally, I looked in the cookie jar  (pull up last corner of the towel)
(here’s the finale…grasp two corners with one hand, the other two corners with the other hand, and pull them apart…resulting in what looks like a plucked bird.)
…And there it was!"

Image: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Towel-Chicken (I use a brown towel.)

Book: Duck for Turkey Day by Jacqueline Jules. Tuyet is terribly worried because her Vietnamese family is cooking duck for Thanksgiving Day - isn't that against the rules?!

Song with props: I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie – based on the book by Alison Jackson (great song for helping kids work on their memory skills – try to have them remember the different foods in the countdown; can also use rhyming reminders (phonemic awareness) as clues.) (We use a cardboard old lady with a plastic see-through stomach panel and a cardboard box mounted behind for the food items. This can be made as a craft) Lyrics and more images: www.4gaslps.com/IKnewAnOldLadyWhoSwallowedAPie.doc

Book: Balloons over Broadway by Melissa Sweet. The story of the puppeteer who created the balloons for Macy's parade. You can see more about the balloons in this segment from Reading Rainbow's episode "Brush" . Here is another behind-the-scenes look at the parade preparation

Book: Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message -- Jake Swamp 299.7 SWAMP (also available as Reading Rainbow episode with Public Performance Rights called "Stories for Thanksgiving")

Song: The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven (words: Jack Prelutsky, chorus: Cathy Darby)
Tune: “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” Check it out on Youtube, subtitled in Chinese! 

The turkey shot out of the oven
And rocketed into the air,
It knocked every plate off the table
And partly demolished a chair.
Oh my, oh me, why didn't I follow the recipe?Oh my, oh me, why didn't I follow the recipe?
It ricocheted into a corner,
And burst with a deafening boom,
Then splattered all over the kitchen,
Completely obscuring the room. Chorus
It stuck to the walls and the windows,
It totally coated the floor,
There was turkey attached to the ceiling
Where there'd never been turkey before. Chorus
It blanketed every appliance,
It smeared every saucer and bowl,
There wasn't a way I could stop it,
That turkey was out of control. Chorus
I scraped and I scrubbed with displeasure,
And thought with chagrin as I mopped,
That I'd never again stuff a turkey
With popcorn that hadn't been popped!

(Literacy Vols program shorter consisted of: Balloons Over Broadway, videos, towel folding, old lady and a puppet craft)

Other Thanksgiving books, ideas and songs:   https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Thanksgiving  

Skipped/No time:

Glove Puppets : Uno, Dos, Tres Amigos (reinforces idea that we all have come from different places but celebrate together; enumeration practice, learn/reinforce Spanish language numbers)
Diez Amigos "10 Friends" (glove puppets)Tune: “10 Little Indians” 
Uno, dos, tres amigos,
Quatro, cinco, seis amigos,
Siete, Ocho, Nueve amigos,
Diez amigos son.
One, two, three friends,
Four, five, six friends,
Seven, Eight, Nine friends,
Ten friends are we. 

Turkey Trot (movement) if needed. 

Something Special for the Holidays

 Something Special for the Holidays

Book: Lights for Gita, a Diwali Story by Rachna Gilmore (told a shorter version of the story & showed the pictures) 

Book/Song: This Little Light of Mine by E. B. Lewis

Book: Duck for Turkey Day by Jacqueline Jules  (more Thanksgiving book ideas: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Thanksgiving

Towel Folding Story: The Case of the Missing Turkey -- Rhonda Turley   Piedmont, OK via PUBYAC. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq4eojAsNlY  (or search youtube for towel and chicken).
Other Thanksgiving ideas and songs can be found here: Pre-School Storytime/Craft: Thanksgiving

"Last year, I was in charge of cooking the family thanksgiving turkey.I set my alarm for early in the morning so I could pop it in the oven to cook for our family dinner.

When the alarm went off, I got up, put on my fuzzy slippers and shuffled out to the kitchen to get the bird.  I opened the fridge, and…IT WAS GONE!
Where could it be!? (this is where the towel folding starts…lay the towel out flat)
I looked everywhere!
I rolled up the living room rug (roll one end of the towel to center)…it wasn’t under there.
I pulled down the covers on my bed (roll other end to the center)…it wasn’t there.
I turned over the couch cushion  (Flip rolled towel over so rolled ends are underneath)…it wasn’t there.
I looked under the chair (fold towel in half end to end, and hold upright like a bouquet of flowers)…it wasn’t there.
I looked in the flower vase (peek in end of one tube and pull up the corner of the towel)
I looked in the umbrella stand (peek in end of one tube and pull up the corner of the towel)…it wasn’t there.
I even looked in the trash can  (peek in end of one tube and pull up the corner of the towel)...thankfully it wasn't there!
Finally, I looked in the cookie jar  (pull up last corner of the towel)
(here’s the finale…grasp two corners with one hand, the other two corners with the other hand, and pull them apart…resulting in what looks like a plucked bird.)
…And there it was!"

Images: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Towel-Chicken

Action: Turkey Trot

Optional Song: The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven (words: Jack Prelutsky, chorus: Cathy Darby)
Tune: “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” Check it out on Youtube, subtitled in Chinese! 

The turkey shot out of the oven
And rocketed into the air,
It knocked every plate off the table
And partly demolished a chair.
Oh my, oh me, why didn't I follow the recipe?Oh my, oh me, why didn't I follow the recipe?
It ricocheted into a corner,
And burst with a deafening boom,
Then splattered all over the kitchen,
Completely obscuring the room. Chorus
It stuck to the walls and the windows,
It totally coated the floor,
There was turkey attached to the ceiling
Where there'd never been turkey before. Chorus
It blanketed every appliance,
It smeared every saucer and bowl,
There wasn't a way I could stop it,
That turkey was out of control. Chorus
I scraped and I scrubbed with displeasure,
And thought with chagrin as I mopped,
That I'd never again stuff a turkey
With popcorn that hadn't been popped!

Optional Prop/Song: I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie – based on the book by Alison Jackson (great song for helping kids work on their memory skills – try to have them remember the different foods in the countdown; can also use rhyming reminders (phonemic awareness) as clues.) (We use a cardboard old lady with a plastic see-through stomach panel and a cardboard box mounted behind for the food items.) Lyrics and more images: www.4gaslps.com/IKnewAnOldLadyWhoSwallowedAPie.doc

Book: The Borrowed Thanksgiving Latkes by Linda Glaser

Flannel Song: I had a Little Dreidel, I made it out of ...clay, mud, sand, soap, ice, straw, etc! 
Lyrics for this and other songs can be found here:  http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/11/turkey-latkes-thanksgiving-chanukah.html

Book: Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story by Cynthia Rylant

Book/Song: The Marvelous Toy by Tom Paxton

Activity: Snowball fight using plastic bag snowballs, to the music “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson (on album Season’s Greetings)
Making snowballs for the program:
1) Gather a white plastic grocery bag into a long, skinny tube-like length with the handles on one end.
2) Fold the length in half, then in half again.
3) Wind a rubber band around the middle until it is tight.
4) Cut open both ends to remove any folded areas.
5) Then fluff out pieces
Idea courtesy of:  Susan Dailey, librarian, speaker and author of "A Storytime Year"

Bedminster Library - Craft: Make your own wrapping paper - bulletin board paper, markers, stickers, etc. 

More ideas: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Winter%20Holidays

Nov-Dec 2021: Did variations on this program for Somerset Hills Allies in Dunham Park

Bedminster School K&1st grades via Zoom

Bedminster Library in person

Thanksgiving–AfterSchool Outreach

Book: The Perfect Thanksgiving by Eileen Spinelli (alternatives: Thank You Sarah by Laurie Halse Anderson or Thanksgiving at the Tappletons by Eileen Spilnelli or other book and song ideas here: School Age Storytime: Thanksgiving and Immigration)

Towel folding story: The Case of the Missing Thanksgiving Turkey -- Rhonda Turley  (text and technique at http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/11/thanksgiving-storytimes-preschool-and.html )

 

Book: How Many Days to America? A Thanksgiving Story by Eve Bunting (some groups) (A family fleeing an unnamed country (likely Cuba) finds sanctuary on American shores on Thanksgiving Day.)

Glove Puppets : Uno, Dos, Tres Amigos (reinforces idea that we all have come from different places but celebrate together; enumeration practice, learn/reinforce Spanish language numbers)
Diez Amigos "10 Friends" (glove puppets)Tune: “10 Little Indians”
Uno, dos, tres amigos,
Quatro, cinco, seis amigos,
Siete, Ocho, Nueve amigos,
Diez amigos son.
One, two, three friends,
Four, five, six friends,
Seven, Eight, Nine friends,
Ten friends are we.

Pop Up Book/Song: America the Beautiful by Robert Sabuda (extraordinary pop up cut outs of iconic American icons from the Golden Gate Bridge to Mount Rushmore to the Statue of Liberty)

Song/Prop: I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie (based on the book by Alison Jackson – cut out mounted woman below)

Book(some groups – especially younger):  Setting the Turkeys Free by W. Nikola-Lisa

Song: The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven (words: Jack Prelutsky, chorus: Cathy Darby)Tune: “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” Lyrics below and here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/11/thanksgiving-storytimes-preschool-and.html  Check it out on Youtube, subtitled in Chinese!

 

Craft: Make your own hungry old lady, handprint turkey scene, or pop-up version of the Prelutsky kitchen disaster!  (Baker & Taylor 12x18” cardboards, paper template old lady & food, markers or crayons, scissors, tape, and ziploc sandwich bags)

full size: https://docs.google.com/a/sclibnj.org/document/d/1MEVQbRVO4s60Vmcf4g82WaIFCMb-MQQi_IqK4i1s2ck/edit?usp=sharing

2017: Van Holten, Milltown, Adamsville afterschool

 

11.18 Bedm School (K-1):

Book/Song: One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims – B.G.Hennessy (point out what they are doing in the pictures – that the Wampanoag’s help enabled the Pilgrims to get the food they needed to survive – no Shoprite or Costco!)
Song/flannel: Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day (Kdg)

Book: Duck for Turkey Day – Jacqueline Jules
Discussion: who came from a different country? parents? grandparents? – all of us came to this country at some time unless we are Native Americans)
Song/Glove: "Uno Dos Tres Amigos" (sang in other languages students knew)

Book: Over the River and Through the Wood – Lydia Maria Child/Westcott illustrations
Song/food pieces, Old Lady I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie

Book: Setting the Turkeys Free by W. Nikola Lisa
Flannel/Song (Kdg) “The Turkey Ran Away”

Storytelling: Towel Folding Turkey Story (directions above)
Action song: Turkey Trot (Hokey Pokey)

Book: How Many Days to America by Eve Bunting (1st Grade)
Book: The Perfect Thanksgiving by Eileen Spinelli (Kdg);

Song: The Turkey Shot out of the Oven – based on the poem by Jack Prelutsky (above)

Additional possibilities – didn’t arrive in time this year: Thanksgiving at the Tappletons' by Eileen Spinelli or This is the Feast by Diane Shore or This is Me: A Story of Who We Are & Where We Came From – Jamie Lee Curtis & Laura Cornell (many families came to America with only the clothes on their backs and perhaps a small suitcase. If they were coming, what would they bring? what would they have to leave behind?)