Ten Terrific Turkey Day Read Alouds Grades PreK-2

Last updated on November 4th, 2023 at 09:27 pm

We’re almost there! One more week until Fall Break! Hopefully you’re as lucky as me and get the whole week off to celebrate and relax with your family.

But for one more week you have to keep the attention of your students! You can do that with these ten engaging read alouds. These books can easily be slipped in during the course of your day when you have 5-10 minutes or you can use one to spice up a lesson or, even, use it as the basis for a lesson, depending on what your class is learning about this week. And if you don’t have access to the book, you can find them on YouTube.

1. ‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey- This book is usually a crowd favorite! It has rhyming text that follows the pattern of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. In this story a class is going on a field trip with their teacher to a turkey farm at Thanksgiving, and I’m sure you can guess what the farmer is planning to do to the turkeys. The students, however, aren’t having any of that and “cleverly” outwit the teacher and farmer, saving all the turkeys. This book can be read for pleasure or you could add a creative writing prompt after it is read.

2. How to Catch a Turkey by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton- This is one of the “How to Catch” series. This book takes place at school before the class play. The turkey is scared and escapes. Everyone is after the turkey trying to trap him, until he ends up on the stage after all! This is another fun one just to read or you could do a writing activity about how your students would catch the turkey.

3. The Very First Thanksgiving Day by Rhonda Gowler Greene-I enjoy reading this one to students because it is from a child’s point of view of what Thanksgiving Day might’ve been like for the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. It has simple repeated text that grows on each page. This book could easily be used for a social studies lesson on the first Thanksgiving.

4. The Thankful Book by Todd Parr- This book is like a list of what a child is thankful for with cute illustrations after each item. Sometimes it is hard to define the word thankful and give examples to young students. This book is full of great examples and can help lead a discussion on what your students are thankful for. In the past, I have enjoyed having students make headbands that include what they are thankful for on it.

5. Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet-This book is about Tony Sarg who was hired by Macy’s and how he created the first large balloons that we see at parades today. It is a little long, so if your students have a short attention span be sure to break it up into smaller chunks or be prepared to summarize the main idea on each page. It is a very interesting read, though, and can be used along with a social studies lesson, or even along with an art project.

6. Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano-In this book the turkey realizes he is about to be Thanksgiving dinner and comes up with different disguises to try and prevent the farmer from finding him. It has a fun twist at the end that will leave your students chuckling! I’ve seen this book used to introduce a project where students get a paper turkey and they have to come up with a disguise for it.

7. If You Were a Kid on the Mayflower by John Son- This book is a bit lengthy and not as engaging as the others on this list, but I like it because it includes many true facts about traveling on the Mayflower and is written in a way that young children will understand. So if you are looking for a blend of nonfiction and fiction, this is a good choice!

8. Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson- There are several books about Bear, and they are delightful stories. This book is a quick read with the theme of friendship and thankfulness. Bear is looking in his cupboards of his cave and finds them empty. His friends start arriving and each brings a tasty platter to share and he says, “Thanks,” for each and every one! This is another book where you can discuss thankfulness. Another discussion you could have is about the food the animals bring and if it is the same or different than what they eat on Thanksgiving.

9. I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Allison Jackson-If you know “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly,” you’ll know the gist of this one. This is a fun one to use with a sequencing activity.

10. Dino-Thanksgiving by Lisa Wheeler-This book has a fun rhyming text that students will like, especially if they are dinosaur fans! It describes a fairly traditional Thanksgiving, except that the characters are dinosaurs. Students should be able to make connections with this text, which can start a rich discussion of their family’s holiday traditions.

Bonus Book (Added 2023) A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman- This is another book with rhyming text and a cute story! If you like having your students disguise a turkey and want to read a different book than Turkey Trouble, this one would definitely work. The turkey ends up being camoflauged by other turkey creations and is able to escape the town.

Hopefully these books will help entertain your students for a bit and help you to fill your days leading up to your time off. If you’re looking for some thanksgiving activities to go with these books, read my post Top Ten Turkey Day Freebies. If your students are in need of some movement, check out this post full of Thanksgiving Brain Breaks to get those wiggles out!

Next weekend I will be taking a break from writing to recharge and spend some quality time with my family! I’ll be back the following week with ideas for budget-friendly holiday gifts for your students!