Thanksgiving Centers

Happy November! Welcome to the super crunched and harried time in the elementary music classroom. You’ve just wrapped up Halloween, likely have a pause for Veteran’s Day before Thanksgiving break and then are barreling towards concert season and all the December holidays. 

If you want to save your sanity, keep your kids learning, and ensure that your students stay engaged, then you should DEFINITELY try Thanksgiving centers. 

Centers are small group activities that can usually be student run (after explaining directions) that keep kids highly engaged, but tend to be a bit more hands off for the teacher (I love to use this as a time to observe and assess without my students’ awareness). I use a timer for rotations (usually about 5-6 minutes per activity).

Utilizing centers when kids are really excited is a great way to lean into their joyful spirit without having to fight for their focus. Plus, they tend to feel a bit “game-y” which usually creates automatic buy-in. With several activities, it keeps things fresh and fun!

I’ve got tons of centers activities for all year round, but have a great selection of ones geared towards Thanksgiving. Check out this Thanksgiving growing bundle (regardless of when you buy, you get any newly added resources for free!) for tons of centers activities!

Stay sane!
Joanna