There are some nice ready made bulletin boards for November.
Teacher’s Friend’s Happy Thanksgiving! Bulletin Board has pilgrims and a turkey, the slogan “We Are Thankful,” and lots of leaves and acorns. Have students write what they’re thankful for on the leaves and acorns, or write names and attach them to longer writing assignments or drawings on the same subject. A quick plan for a meaningful board!
Scholastic’s Thanksgiving Poetry Bulletin Boards combines cute characters with seasonal poetry. This one has Pilgrims and the Mayflower, plus reproducible poetry mini books.
Autumn Harvest Bulletin Board has the cornucopia, a traditional symbol of Thanksgiving plenty, plus lots of fruit and vegetables. Studying nutrition, plants, maybe Stone Soup? You’ve got an immediate connection. Just seasonal? Use the “Our Bountiful Harvest” header to show off a harvest of A papers.
Prefer DIY? Here are some fast and fun ideas:
- Have students dip their hands in paint and made a spread-finger handprint. Draw turkey legs at the bottom, add a comb and wattle to the thumb, and you have a flock of turkeys.
- Students can draw around their hands and cut them out if you need some scissor practice, and still make a fine flock of hand-y turkeys.
- Use a big circle and a small circle to make a turkey, as shown below. Cut long oblong shapes for turkey feathers. Have students write on each something they feel thankful for, and tuck them behind your big circle to create a simple but effective turkey bulletin board. We made our shapes with MSPaint, and we think that your students could easily do that, too. Draw some turkey feet or just use straight lines to scratch some out.
- It’s not all about turkey. There are side dishes, too! Have your youngest students write or dictate the recipes they think their parents use to cook Thanksgiving dinner and post those on a bulletin board for an “Awww!” moment.
- There’s also dessert. Ethan Siegel has some complex math through pies. Inspired by his pies, you could make a bulletin board for fractions with some photos or drawings of Thanksgiving pies. Get your students to help on this one, drawing luscious pies on paper plates and cutting them up to show whole, halves, quarters, and so on. Arrange them on your bulletin board with some picnic forks for a 3-D appearance. Cover your board with a paper tablecloth and use Glue Dots to adhere your pies and forks for a memorable math board.
- Focus on the first Thanksgiving. Ed Emberley’s Complete Funprint Drawing Book shows kids how to draw pilgrims, Native Americans, and turkeys with fingerprints and thumbprints. Practice following directions with these fun art projects and then have students create a Thanksgiving scene with them.
