Do any of use the Turkey in Disguise Project with 4th/5th graders?
I'm planning it as an at home project in November, and want to be able to give the parents specific writing requirements for this project. I'd like to do it as a persuasive writing piece, by having my students convince the reader that their turkey isn't a turkey at all, and that it shouldn't be eaten for Thanksgiving.
I was wondering if anyone else did it this way and if they had any kind of a rubric, scoring sheet, or guidelines they send home for parents.
I did it as a send home project last year with my 4th graders and they turned out really cute! I didn't do the writing part though, I'll add that on this year. Thanks for the reminder, I had forgotten about this project.
We just completed our projects this week (short week, field trip, so it was a great activity, and looks great on our bulletin board). I teach sixth graders and they had so much fun. I could not believe how creative they really were. We wrote a persuasive piece, such as the one you described.
I think your 4th/5th graders will really enjoy it!
at home and they loved it - most of them. They were very creative and I kept the writing component very low key so it could be more of a fun project at home. We hung them out in the hallway.
I did the writing along with the turkey and they turned out good. I have the template
and information at home. I'm not there right now but I will gladly post when I get home if nobody else has!
thanks Seussical! I am thinking of shrinking the turkey and completing him in class. Then, I am planning on making the writing prompt weigh heavier... Maybe 5 paragraphs not only about the disguise, but more a persuasive piece as to why they should eat something else. There is a picture book I used to read aloud to my second grade class- I think it's called the Night Before Thanksgiving where a class goes on a field trip to a farm and end up saving the turkeys by sneaking them home. I might open the assignment with that. Anyway, thanks again!
Like your suggestions! Thanks! I ordered the book---The Night Before Thanksgiving and I have it off the net as a Readers' Theater---thought I'd have my kids do that!
I have done this project for the past 5 years with my 4th graders. I send it home with a description of some of the turkeys we've decorated in the past. I also send home some sample poems which is what I use. I show the kids some of the ones I've done and then send home the turkey page. They figure out what they want to disguise it as and then we compose a poem when they bring it back. Samples: You might want to buy a ham, I'm not a turkey, I'm a lamb! That would go with a turkey which has been covered in cotton balls and then glue black nose and floppy ears on. These are really cute and I've had some very creative turkeys returned to school. It becomes a challenge when they do something out of the box to make a poem that rhymes, but it's great fun.
I am a fifth grade teacher and I use this project also.
Instead of having them write a descriptive paragraph, we write a letter to a farmer (ex. Farmer Brown), persuading him not to eat the turkey this year.
I send the turkey home to decorate and we do the writing part at school.
I do the turkey project with my 5th graders. I teach the voice trait right before and then their writing needs to be from the point of view of the turkey in disguise. Here is a link to last year's turkeys. http://mrsvogtsclass.shutterfly.com/pictures/178
Gitt, I was also thinking of having my kids write a persuasive piece from the turkey's point of view. Do you have any guidelines or a rubric for your students? Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!
I have my students write a narrative piece from the turkey's point of view of how they escape from the farmer and embark on a journey to the White House to seek a pardon from the President.
Loved the pictures...Do you happen to have any samples of the writing portion. I would love to have one or two to share with the class when I show them the pictures.
but the kids did a pretty good job without one. I started by reading aloud Pilkey's Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving, then we created disguises for our mini turkeys (I printed four to a page)... After that they each chose a different disguise; a chef, a rock star, a hippie, the president and so on. I told them that they were to write a persuasive agrument from their turkey's point of view. I modeled one as a teacher turkey. In mine, the teacher taught her young students the disadvantages to eating turkeys. I wish some had been a bit longer, but overall I thought they used great voice and were creative in their agruments.
This sounds great, could you provide some samples of what they came up with for the writing piece?? Also, do you have a the template for the actual naked turkey?
I am so excited to use your Naked Turkey project idea. I am passing it out to the families today . After sharing with the class- we will put them in the hall and have 1st-3rd graders vote on their favorite--thus having a math class doing tally marks and possibly a bar graph. Thanks for being so generous with this idea. Have a nice Thanksgiving.
10-28-2010, 03:56 PM
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