Turkey In Disguise Persuasive Writing – Here’s an oldie, but it’s a good thing that kids love to do. A few years ago, I was on my favorite teacher website in the whole world, ProTeacher, and it gave me the idea to do a “Dress Up That Turkey” project. The idea behind it is simple….students are given a picture of a cat and then they have to take it home and “find” something else. What fun!

So I decided to go with it….and there were some FABULOUS rugs that came back! Here is the ProTeacher thread I got all the instructions from. This is simple, straightforward and very good.

Turkey In Disguise Persuasive Writing

Now, of course, this is a program for freshmen. BUT I went up in class asking the students to write a persuasive essay that would convince me why meat is not meat but substitution. I WISH you took pictures of the writing because the reasons and arguments are OVERWHELMING! Children naturally think about the qualities a new person will have and go with them full force. My EL students used the best language to describe the new person and it was a great job, it all started with fun!

Disguise A Turkey Mermaid

Here are some Thinking Maps flipcharts that you can use to organize your student’s writing. By using these, they will consider the two concepts as the two unique characteristics of the new human carrying the cat. They can use them to write their own persuasive essays. Cheer up! I love the winter holidays as much as anything, but I think Thanksgiving can be a little disappointing at times. Christmas carols start playing on the radio and all the fun decorations hit the shelves at Target before I even start thinking about what to put on the Thanksgiving table (yes, that’s a lie. One of the things I appreciate most is my husband who loves food). But you know what I mean!

Fortunately, there is no shortage of classroom improvement ideas. A popular November activity that you can watch or do with your students is split a pet! Kids get a kick out of finding creative ways to get the turkeys off the table.

Like those sneaky turkeys, I like to trick myself a little. I took this fun activity and used it to break up learning in a more formal way. Children enjoy running with their imaginations and may not even know how to read and write.

First, we do a read aloud or two to get the wheels turning. Here are some of my favorites:

Turkey Claus Christmas Book Study Companion Reading Comprehension Literacy Quiz Worksheets

After reading one of these stories and the children are clearly in their corner, I introduce a writing activity. Can be done together in class, or suitable for sending home as a project to be done with parents/families. Or, you can choose to finish the writing part in class, but send the turkey business to be done at home.

“There’s an improvement, and the poor turkeys don’t want to be a big class! What costume do you think a cow should wear to avoid being eaten at Thanksgiving?”

By choosing to send it home as a form of writing, parents receive detailed instructions and a scoring rubric.

If you need to customize the grading rubric or parenting tips to meet the needs of your class, they can be adjusted. Included with the resource, but not pictured, is an editable parenting letter with tips on making turkeys alone.

Perfect Turkey Writing Activities For Thanksgiving

For the writing portion, students begin by brainstorming the circle map and explaining their ideas on the layout page. Children can use these early writing activities to help them complete their drawings. You can give parents blank samples and also give them samples.

Once the children have completed their critical writing, they use the revision chart and checklist to edit and revise their writing (pictured above).

Each child receives a flipchart to print their writing on. They have a sample of a paper butterfly to make the secret pattern they wrote, which is their favorite. I am always amazed at the creative ideas they come up with!

All of the examples pictured above are part of my Thanksgiving Opinion Writing and Crafts tutorial, which can be found in my store on TPT. It has been updated to include a digital version of Google Slides for distance learning. Students can print their paragraph on a slide and use their own drawing tools and a camera to prevent their pet from becoming a large class.

Disguise That Turkey….and A Persuasive Piece

For the record, a donut probably wouldn’t stay safe for long in my house! But I guess that’s what makes this writing “feel”, right? It’s a great way to get your class involved in Thanksgiving writing activities with a twist! I should mention that we have the help of a homing pigeon!

The turkey is a favorite in the first classrooms. Since we love Mo Willems books, especially Pigeon, I decided to try a new twist on an old favorite and make a pigeon to share a turkey project that includes a Thanksgiving card.

You see, poor Tom Turkey doesn’t want to be eaten on Thanksgiving  so he dresses up as a pigeon! In Tom’s opinion, families should eat hot dogs instead of meat on Thanksgiving.

Tom Turkey asked my students to help him by convincing his family to eat hot dogs instead of turkey for their holiday dinner.

Really Good Reasons Not To Eat Turkeys

And Tom said hot dogs are the best. My class came up with lots of good reasons why we eat hot dogs at Thanksgiving! Some of them are funny!

First, students brainstormed all of their good reasons for eating hot dogs instead of beef on this different type of waste map. Some of your answers are priceless!

Then they choose their three best teachers and write them in their notebooks. They all explained why these reasons are good.

This year we expanded after adding a fun wallpaper. Students wrote these persuasive paragraphs explaining why they eat hot dogs at Thanksgiving dinner.

Local Elementary Students Pen “turkey Tales”

Our Kinders across the hall loved going to our skin turkeys every day. We hear the laughter in our classroom as they pass.

If you like this lesson, why not share it with your fellow teachers? Go ahead and pin it on Pinterest or share it on Facebook.

Find more holiday classroom ideas on my November and December Classroom Activities Pinterest board!

Turkey in disguise writing examples, persuasive techniques in writing, turkey in disguise writing, turkey in disguise writing prompt, turkey disguise project writing, persuasive devices in writing, persuasive strategies in writing, steps in persuasive writing, turkey in disguise book, turkey in disguise, persuasive writing in business, persuasive words in writing