Thanksgiving Lesson Plans
- An Invitation
- How a Day Becomes a National Holiday
- Learning to Trade
- Planning a New Town
- Sales Brochure for America
- The First Winter
- The Logistics of a New Settlement
- The Mayflower Was This Big
- The Pilgrims and Google Earth
- The Pros and Cons of Being a Pilgrim
- The Ultimate Thanksgiving Lesson Plan
- More Thanksgiving Lesson Plans
Winter Lesson Plans
Elections and Voting
- Presidents at Inauguration Graph
- Take a Stand!
- The Electoral College
- What Are the Important Issues?
- More Elections Lesson Plans
Colonial America
Veterans Day
Native American Lesson Plans
Fall (Autumn) Lesson Plans
Scientist Appreciation Month
National Author's Day
November Teaching Ideas for Your Classroom
November is right around the corner. This month is dedicated to being grateful for everything around you, and it's an excellent opportunity for teachers to incorporate the same in their lesson plans. This article discusses some November teaching ideas for your classroom to keep your students busy and focused. Keep on reading to find out!
If you are a teacher looking for some fun and engaging activities for November, you have come to the right place. Here are some of the best ways to engage your students in some great learning:
1. November Writing
November is a great time to practice some writing skills. You can use this opportunity to create writing portfolios of all your students, which would help monitor progress. Here are some fun writing topics for November:
- Essay on Things to be Grateful For
- How to Bake a Cake for Thanksgiving
- Favorite Things to do on Thanksgiving Holiday
- Best Thanksgiving Food Ideas
You can also incorporate November writing prompts in your lesson plans. These can be assigned as weekly homework or in-class activities. To prepare for writing prompts exercises, you can print a thematic cover for all your students, which they can color during recess or indoor class activities. You can also make a basket on writing prompt cards allowing students to pick on any topic of their choice.
At the end of November, you can add all the writing activities to individual folders with the covers on top. You can select one piece to publish in the school magazine to encourage students and boost their confidence. These folders show how much progress a student has made throughout the year and are also appreciated by parents.
2. Celebrate Children's Book Week
Children's Book Week starts on the 7th of November and ends on the 13th of November. This week is the perfect time to prepare a reading corner in your classroom and cozy up for some book reading with your students. Brainstorm books your students would like to read, write the name on small pieces of paper, and put them in a box. Have a student pick out a paper daily to choose what you will be reading that day.
Children's Book Week encourages kids to enjoy new authors and books while promoting a love for reading. Here are a few ideas for celebrating Children's Book Week:
- Conduct a reading session outdoors. Enjoy a great reading session around fall leaves; your students would love it.
- Reading doesn't have to be about traditional story books; you can incorporate some holiday ads, joke books, comics, children's cookery books, etc., into their reading tasks. This activity aims to encourage them to read in their homes.
- Another fun activity is acting out their favorite characters and storybook scenes, which is a great way to build their confidence.
- Have discussions at the end of reading sessions and ask students their opinions on the books they have read. You can also hand out some Book Review Worksheets.
3. Aviation History Month
Aviation History Month is celebrated in November to acknowledge the contributions of all Americans in the field of aviation. It is also a great learning opportunity for the students to help explore, recognize and celebrate all the efforts and achievements in aviation.
You can plan a field trip to air and space museums, read books about aviation history and watch informative documentaries and movies with your class.
4. Fall Leaves Scavenger Hunt
November calls for some outdoor fun and adventure. Nothing speaks adventure like a scavenger hunt. Plan a field trip with your students to a local or national park and have them collect different fall leaves. You can then ask them to paste or trace the shape of the leaves in their notebooks and teach them the names and parts of the leaves, namely leaf base, leaf lamina, and petiole.
5. Celebrate Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 24th of November, making it the perfect time to teach your students how to be grateful. Although gratefulness should be taught around the year, dedicating a day to these activities can have a long-lasting impact on students' lives. Here are a few ways to incorporate some Thanksgiving Day activities into your lesson plans:
- Design a Gratefulness Calendar with your students for November. You only need a black page or a printable calendar template to start. You can write a topic for each day of the month on the calendar. These topics will serve as a guideline for what is to be discussed each day of the month. Class discussions are a great way to incorporate work on public speaking skills. You can add topics like "Discuss one person you are most grateful for" or "What season are you most grateful for?"
- Thanksgiving Gratefulness Tree is an excellent way to incorporate gratefulness and emotional learning in your classroom. Start by drawing a tree truck on brown chart paper and paste it on your bulletin board. Then hand out some printable fall leaves to your students and have them paint the leaves in red, orange, yellow, and brown colors. Once the paint has dried, it is time to start writing. Brainstorm things you are grateful for with your class and have them write these on the leaves. This also makes for a fun and engaging writing exercise. Paste the leaves on the tree!
6. Veterans Day
Veterans Day is observed on the 11th of November, and it is a day to celebrate the contributions made by the military veterans who have served or are currently serving in the armed forces. You can invite a veteran as a guest speaker to speak to the class and allow them to understand their contributions to the country.
Another great way to acknowledge their services is to ask your students to write letters to them. This also makes for an effective formal letter-writing exercise.
Wrapping Up
November is a great time to teach your students how to be grateful while incorporating practical learning exercises such as writing and reading in your lesson plans. We hope these ideas take some things off your plate and help you plan your November lesson with ease.