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!
This product is great because:
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Monsters Thanksgiving Feast – Double digit multiplication activities
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SKU: 6199204
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Kristin Y. –
This was just what I needed. My students enjoyed it! Thanks so much!
Malynda E. –
My students love acting out plays for reading time, and they thoroughly enjoyed trying to solve the mystery. Will be purchasing more.
Caitlyn H. –
My students thought this was amazing! Such a fun and engaging way to practice reading aloud, inferencing and drama skills. They had fun trying to solve the mystery. We printed out the copies so each student could follow along.
Michelle Z. –
The Thanksgiving reader’s theatre was a delightful experience, combining storytelling with interactive drama. It provided a creative platform for participants to engage with Thanksgiving narratives, fostering a sense of community and appreciation for the holiday’s traditions.
Fired to Inspire –
Great resource! Thank you for taking the time to create it!
Alisa Willard –
It is hard to find fun, and engaging activities to do during that short week of Thanksgiving. This activity was so much fun. My students loved it.
Samantha M. –
Such a fun activity to do around the holiday. My kids had a blast
Samantha K. –
This product was my first readers theater purchase from this seller and it was so great I immediately bought the yearlong resource. It goes over means, motive, and opportunity as students work through the play while also trying g to determine the culprit of the mystery. There were parts for all of my students, even the ones who didn’t want to talk too much but laughed along with the rest of us as we went through the twists.