Let’s Talk Turkey

Thanksgiving is this week and as everyone knows we often refer to this day of giving thanks as “Turkey Day”.  This year before “Turkey Day” gather your students and talk about turkeys.  Ask children if they have ever seen a turkey.  Where was it?  What did it look like?  Talk about what turkeys look like and where they live and the difference between wild and domestic turkeys. 

Provide children with turkey feathers or other feathers to explore with a magnifier.  Listen to wild turkey gobbles and clucks at All About Birds: Wild Turkeys http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wild_Turkey/sounds

Then play “Follow the Turkey Leader”.  Baby Turkeys, called chicks or poults, follow the adult turkeys to stay safe and to learn.  Take turns having the kids be the adult turkey, the “leader”, and pretend to be a flock of turkeys looking for food in the woods.  This is a great outside game but can be played in the classroom.

To really get into the game let the kids make turkey hats for to wear!  For instructions visit Family Fun: Turkey Hat at http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/turkey-hat-663812/

For snack time make Teeny Turkeys http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/teeny-turkeys-688352/ or try turkey meat, compare light and dark meat, or eat like a turkey and make dried fruit and nut mix.

For more ideas and for snacks and crafts use Growing Up WILD’s “Terrific Turkeys”.

Book List

Arnosky, J. 2008. All About Turkeys. Scholastic, Inc.

Arnosky, J. 2009. I'm A Turkey! Scholastic, Inc.

Balian, L. 2003. Sometimes It's Turkey, Sometimes It's Feathers. Star Bright Books, Inc.

Bateman, T. 2004. A Plump and Perky Turkey. Marshall Cavendish, Inc.

Bloxam, F. and J. Sollers. 2005. Little Tom Turkey. Down East Books.

Johnston, T. and R.F. Deas. 2004. 10 Fat Turkeys. Scholastic, Inc.

May, J. and J. Hamberger. 1973. Wild Turkeys. Holiday House, Inc.

Patent, D.H. and W. Munoz. 1989. Wild Turkeys,Tame Turkey. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade & Reference Publishers.

Spirn, M.S. and R.W. Alley. 2000. The Know-Nothings Talk Turkey (I Can Read Book 2). HarperCollins Children's Books.

Stemple, D. and T. Lewin. 2001. High Ridge Gobbler: A Story of the American Wild Turkey. Boyds Mills Press.

Steinberg, D. and L. Conrad. 2005. The Turkey Ball. Penguin Group (USA).

Seeds!

Fall is the perfect time of year to explore the wonder of plant seeds!  That means it’s time to go on a “seed walk”!  Take children on a walk around the schoolyard or your local park to collect seeds from grasses, weeds and trees.  Try making Nature Sorting Baskets http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/nature-walk-sorting-basket-940814/ and have kids sort seeds as they collect them.   They can sort them by size, shape, or color.  Let the kids examine the seeds, talk about what seeds are and how people and animals eat them.  Then use the seeds to create seed collages or seed animals.

Or let each child save a few seeds to grow.  Gather paper towels, small sealable plastic bags and a marker.  Dampen paper towels and fold into rectangle or square to fit inside plastic bag.  Let each child place a seed they collected inside the paper towel and place into plastic bag.  Label each child’s bag.  Close the bags and place in a semi-dark place.  Check back often to see if the seeds are growing!

For more fun ideas to do with seeds use Growing Up WILD’s “Seed Need”!

Book List

Aston, D. 2007. A Seed Is Sleepy. Chronicle Books LLC.

Berger, M. 1994. All about Seeds: A Hands-on Science Book. Scholastic, Inc.

Brown, R. 2001. Ten Seeds. Knopf Publishing Group.

Burns, D.L. and J.F. McGee. 1996.  Berries, Nuts,and Seeds (Take-Along Guide). T&N Children's Publishing.

Carle, E. 1991. The Tiny Seed. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Cole, J. 1995. The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow. Scholastic, Inc.

Downden, A.O. 1984. From Flower to Fruit. Thomas Y. Crowell Co.

Doyle, M. and J. Allibone. 2002. Jody's Beans. Candlewick Press.

Ehlert, L. 1992. Planting a Rainbow. Harcourt Children's Books.

Fowler, A. 2001. From Seed to Plant. Scholastic Library Publishing.

Gibbons, G. 1991. From Seed to Plant. Holiday House.

Hickman, P. 1996. A Seed Grows: My First Look at a Plant's Life Cycle. Kids Can Press, Ltd.

Jennings, T.J. 1988. Seeds. Scholastic Library Publishing.

Jordan, H.J. 1992. How a Seed Grows. HarperCollins Children's Books.

Kuchalla, S. 1990. All About Seeds. Troll Communications L.L.C.

Krauss, R. 1993. The Carrot Seed. HarperCollins Publishers.

Lauber, P. 1981. Seeds Pop-Stick-Glide. Crown Publishers, Inc.

Lovejoy, S. 1999. Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children. Workman Publishing Company.

Manning, M. and B. Granstrom. 2003. The Seed I Planted (Wonderwise Readers). Franklin Watts, Ltd.

Marzollo, J. 1996. I'm a Seed. Scholastic, Inc.

Moncure, J.B. 1990. How Seeds Travel: Popguns and Parachutes. Child's World, Incorporated.

Morgan, S. 2004. Flowers, Fruits and Seeds. Thameside Press.

Pascoe, E. and D. Kuhn. 2002. How and Why Seeds Travel. Gareth Stevens Publishing.

Pascoe, E. 2003. Plants with Seeds. Rosen Publishing Group, Incorporated.

Richards, J. and A. Hariton. 2006. A Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds. Lerner Publishing Group.

Robbins, K. 2005. Seeds. Atheneum.

Rockwell, A. 1999. One Bean. Walker Books for Young Readers.

Roemer, H.B. 2006. What Kinds of Seeds Are These? T&N Children's Publishing.

Royston, A. 2001. Plants, Flowers, Fruits and Seeds. Heinemann.

Saunders-Smith, G. 1998. Seeds. Capstone Press.

Schaefer, L.M. 2003. Pick, Pull, Snap!: Where Once a Flower Bloomed. HarperCollins Children's Books.

Scrace, C. 2002. Growing Things. Franklin Watts.

Wexler, J. 1988. Flowers, Fruits Seeds. Prentice Hall Books.

Whitehouse, P. 2002. Seeds. Heinemann.

Worth, B. 2001. Oh Say Can You Seed?: All About Flowering Plants. Random House, Incorporated.