Tis the Season for Turkey Math

The Thanksgiving holiday is over, but you still have that enthusiasm in your classroom to tap into. Here is a way to let your students share their thoughts and experiences with this theme, while incorporating some math skills.

Being Thankful

While there are many ways to have students share why they are thankful this season, one of the classic ways is to have students make a turkey. Students trace a handprint on brown construction paper with four cut-outs on feather-shaped paper in red, green, yellow, and orange, then they write things they are thankful for on each feather. It can also be executed with endless variations. For example, it can become a mini-research project in which students look for four facts about turkeys or the origins of thanksgiving to write on the feathers or fingers.

However, these projects are rarely geared towards math. If your plans are full of season-related activities in language arts, here is a fun mathematical twist on the classic turkey-hand.

Putting Math in the Mix

First, prepare the materials as usual: a pre-traced, large hand on brown construction paper, as well as the pre-traced feathers in your colors of choice. Next, have students cut, glue, and prepare the turkey-hand. This part of the activity can be the hardest, depending on your grade level and student abilities. Don't let this discourage you from completing the activity, if you are teaching this to your class as a whole group, complete the tasks step by step with the students.

Or, if you have classroom aides or parent volunteers to help you, as often happens at this time of year, this would be a great small group activity. If you want to avoid the mess all together pass out white paper with the turkey shape and feathers printed on it. Have the students color it in with their favorite fall colors and cut it out after.

Integrating Math

Once the turkey is complete, allow students to choose a number--one, two, or three-digits, depending on your class’ skill level--and write it in the palm area of the turkey, or the body. Students will love the option to choose their own number! Explain to them that they will use this number to create math sentences.

After they have chosen their number students will need scratch paper, or a white board to figure out an equation, or math sentence, for each feather of the turkey. Their equation must relate to the number they previously chose. Providing a few examples at this point will help students to create their own. If applicable to your class, and depending on the number they choose, you can have them do one addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problem on each feather, or use them all in one ‘sentence’! 

This is a great opportunity to re-teach or emphasize the Order of Operations, or PEMDAS: Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, and Addition and Subtraction. “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” will be a phrase to remember if your students have written long math sentences.

After a teacher checks their equations, students may copy it neatly on the feather. These turkeys will make a great display for your November bulletin!

Example:
If a student chooses the number 29, equations to write on their feather may include:

• 20 + 9
• 36 - 7
• 7 x 4 + 1
• 4 / 2 + 27

This activity is a great alternative to add to the often language arts-heavy seasonal activities.

Turkey-related Lessons:

Turkey Feather Math Lesson

First and second graders will love this math learning activity, in which they get to roll a die to make a math equation for their turkey’s feathers. This is a way to get students motivated and cement their understanding of mathematical principals using manipulatives.

Wild Turkey: Natural History and Adaptation

This science lesson, geared toward eighth to tenth grade, will give students the opportunity to learn about ecosystems and adaptations.

The Great Turkey Walk

After reading several chapters of "The Great Turkey Walk," by Kathleen Karr, students will practice their probability and graphing skills after surveying their class.