Thanksgiving at the Tappletons' Activities

Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’ is a delightful book that reminds readers about the true meaning of Thanksgiving. I want to share a few activities and a writing craft you can pair with this story.

Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’

Thanksgiving is always a special day at the Tappletons’. But this Thanksgiving nothing seems to go right. First, the turkey slides down the icy hill into the pond. Then the baker sells out of pies. It looks like it’s going to be a pretty bleak holiday…until Grandmother reminds everyone that there is more to Thanksgiving than a turkey and trimmings.

If you don’t already have a copy of this book in your school or classroom library, you can find it on Amazon.

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Activities for Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’

This book companion focuses mainly on comprehension and vocabulary. These 12 comprehension questions will help guide your discussion of the story. There is also an option to have students respond to these questions in writing.

After reading the book, students can put the story back together with these sequence of events cards. This is a great way to help get students ready to retell and summarize the story.

I added graphic organizers to help students work on summarizing and retelling the story. There is also a spinner activity (not shown) that works well for reviewing story elements.

I selected 12 vocabulary words to focus on in this story. Each vocabulary card has a matching definition. Students can play a memory matching game or use them in a pocket chart center. Then, students can work with their vocabulary words using this fill-in-the-blanks page and vocabulary match-up activity.

Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’ Writing Craft

Finally, I have included a writing craft to pair with this story. On the front of the folded paper, students will create a Thanksgiving dinner place setting. Students can draw a Thanksgiving meal, or add their last name to the title of the story. They can even decorate the outer edge of the plate.

On the inside, there is room for student writing. I have included a variety of writing prompts, but you can also allow students to choose their own topic. There are writing pages with standard lines (shown), handwriting lines, and blank pages so students can add a picture to match their writing.