Thanksgiving Language Arts Printables

There are lots of great language arts printables with a Thanksgiving theme, including lots of little books, writing activities and more. Let’s check out some Thanksgiving themed learning for the classroom or at home.

Fun a Day has a cute printable emergent reader Thanksgiving book (find more fall emergent readers books here), which features a turkey and different color words, so kids can color the bird appropriately on each page.

Printablee has a collection of 10 different printable Thanksgiving stories for different grade levels, and A Little Pinch of Perfect has a short printable book with pilgrims and Native Americans that could be the beginning of telling the Thanksgiving story.

Kindergarten Smarts has a printable sight word book with a holiday twist. There are a few different variations on the book for different readers, and you can get them from her Teachers Pay Teachers site.

Get printable Thanksgiving themed writing prompts with a coloring element at 123 Homeschool 4 Me. These pages include things like what kids would do if they had a pet turkey at Thanksgiving, what they know about the pilgrims and their favorite Thanksgiving foods. This reminds me of an activity the first or second graders always do at my daughter’s school, where they imagine a turkey has to disguise itself to avoid being eaten, then they draw it and write about it.

The Keeper of the Memories has fun color by sight word printables with a turkey, pie and cornucopia on them so kids can practice basic words while they color.

The Thanksgiving word search from PJs and Paint would be better for kids who’ve moved beyond emergent reading since it has several long words, but for kids who love word searches this is a good one.

Looking for more Thanksgiving learning activities? Check out my collection of Thanksgiving math activities.

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Learn about Indigenous People Who Made a Difference

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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Have you read?

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