Overwhelmed planning Thanksgiving lessons? Delight your students with “Who Stole the Turkey?” – a captivating Thanksgiving Readers Theater! This engaging whodunnit transforms your classroom into a detective adventure, sharpening reading and critical thinking skills. Designed for grades 4-6, it requires minimal prep and fits perfectly into your ELA block. Watch your students eagerly engage and collaborate, making learning fun and memorable. Don’t miss out – read our rave reviews and see the magic unfold!
$6.95
Looking for Thanksgiving activities your students will love? This Thanksgiving Readers Theater, Who Stole the Turkey?, won’t disappoint! Check out the reviews!
This fun and engaging “Whodunnit” activity is the perfect Thanksgiving activity for your students! In this activity, students will learn to become detectives and then use their sleuthing skills to figure out who stole the Thanksgiving turkey! With lots of suspects and circumstantial evidence, the students will have to take good notes, make lots of inferences, and think like a real detective in order to solve the mystery! This product was created with 4th, 5th, and 6th graders in mind, but it can definitely be scaled to work with other grade levels as well. So how does it work?
Check out the preview to see the actual teacher’s guide.
The students will take part in a 4-act reader’s theater. There are 20 characters which can be shared or doubled up in order to give every student a part. As the story unfolds, so do the clues. After each act, the students will stop, take notes, and discuss any suspicious activities. The final act reveals whether each character was the thief or not.
How Long will this activity take?
Plan on at least an hour. Reading the script will take about 45 minutes or so depending on the fluency of your readers and how well they are paying attention for their lines. Using the additional resources that are included will lengthen the amount of time. The more discussion and detective work the students do, the more fun the activity will be. This activity was designed to take up an entire ELA block of time, however, it can be spread out over a week’s time by completing one act a day. It’s great for that last day (or week) before Thanksgiving break!
What’s Included?
About this Resource
I was inspired to create this product after hosting a murder mystery party for my own 16 year old daughter, who is very much into the theater.
You can read more about it here!
It was said to be the best party ever! I wondered how I could create something similar for students! I modified the format of the clue delivery system to ensure that every clue was revealed to every student, and voila, The Thanksgiving Turkey Theft was born. Having the Reader’s Theater is the perfect platform for integrating real academic skills. This activity will feel like a fun day, but not a moment of the day will be wasted!
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SKU: 6199204
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Beth G. –
This is a highly engaging script that the whole class loved. They especially liked the clues that were given and projected for them to see after reading….
Deanna W. –
Great to have and so very helpful. I am so glad I came across this resource to help my students too. Building the resource library! Thank you
Lisa Rix –
My students LOVE your mystery readers theater scripts! They are all completely engaged, and they take notes to try to solve the mystery. I love how the slides have a large font and indicate who the next reader is. Thank you!
Differentiating With Daphne –
My ELL students absolutely loved this activity. It was so fun to watch them get so involved in the ‘case.’ Thank you so much.
Fourth Grade is Fun –
This is such a fun activity to use during the Thanksgiving season! My class loves ‘who dunnit’ activities, and the differentiation of roles boosts the confidence of all readers. Thank you!
Amanda L. –
My students love this resource. This is the PERFECT resource to use the day before breaks! It’s fun and engaging.
Kristine S. –
My students loved this activity as they have loved all mystery reader’s theater activities from this creator. They beg for one every holiday! Keep ’em coming! Wonderful for fluency practice!
Sedona S. –
This is such a fun activity!! I love doing this with my students they always get so into it and everyone is a suspect! This readers theater activity is highly engaging and a great way to practice fluency and engage in some deeper thinking before a break.
Rock Star Alley –
I had a Thanksgiving potluck in my classroom with parents and had my students perform this reader’s theater for entertainment. I didn’t realize it was as long as it was, but EVERYONE loved it! We had to end it early so parents could leave and I had Dojo messages that evening asking who ended up stealing the turkey lol.
Heidi G. –
My students LOVED this resource! They had so much fun reading their parts and trying to infer who stole the turkey. Before the big reveal, we had great discussions where students cited evidence to justify their reasoning for who they inferred stole the turkey.