Thanksgiving PBL Activities
Happy November!
The weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving are always such a blur. Followed quickly by the lightning-fast blur of late November-Christmas. I truly love the rush of moving from one holiday to the next in the classroom, but it’s also a little difficult to keep up with instruction in the midst of so many breaks and interruptions.
I think that Math PBL Activities are a great way to keep the rigor high in the classroom, while also being seasonal and fun for your students. Plus, my PBL projects and tasks review a variety of math skills, all in one activity.
Today, I want to show you the ins and outs of two different Thanksgiving PBLs that can keep your students busy reviewing skills in the midst of your busiest weeks!
Thanksgiving PBLs
Plan Your Thanksgiving | PBL Math Project
This Thanksgiving math PBL project will have your students practicing real-world math applications while having a BLAST! This project based learning task is a great extension and enrichment activity for your early finishers. This Thanksgiving math activity has students planning their Thanksgiving weekend from start to finish - from shopping for groceries to Black Friday shopping! They must make several decisions about the weekend, practicing several common core math standards along the way. Students will love getting to be in charge of planning their Thanksgiving break, and you will love the enriched math practice they get along the way.
This project would be great for enriching second graders, perfect for third graders, and even a great review for upper grades, and is DIFFERENTIATED for you and your students! It also includes both Printable & Digital Google Slides versions.
During this project, your students will be taken through the following tasks:
•Shopping Trip: Students use addition/subtraction to plan and shop for groceries for Thanksgiving dinner.
•Table Setting: Students measure the different dishes using an inch ruler and lay out the table based upon the measurements.
•Cooking Schedule: Students create a cooking schedule based on given prep and cook times.
•Black Friday: Students go Black Friday shopping and help their friends count their money and make decisions about what they can and can't buy.
•Leftovers for Lunch: Students are having a leftover pie party at school and must look at the pies everyone's family brought in and determine the fraction that was eaten and the fraction that is leftover.
Plan Thanksgiving Dinner | PBL Task
If you don’t have the time this month to devote for the full PBL project described above, I recommend using a PBL task! This is a great mini-project that can be broken up into a couple of different math blocks, or put in independent practice during the week before Thanksgiving!
Students will love getting to work within a budget to plan Thanksgiving dinner - the main course, sides, drinks, and desserts. You'll love the enriched math practice they get along the way! Students will practice addition and subtraction while learning to work within a budget. They'll finish the project by creating an invitation to persuade their guests to come! This includes both Printable & Digital Google Slides versions.
What’s Included:
•Engaging Letter: Get students excited about this project by putting the letter in an envelope and ripping it open along with students!
•Brainstorming Page: A brainstorming sheet for students to think about different foods you might have at Thanksgiving.
•Guest List: Create instant buy-in when you let students choose who they want to invite!
•Menus: There are 2 sheets included that display the options students have to pick from for main dishes, sides, drinks and desserts. These display the prices for each thing - there are differentiated options included, and an editable version as well.
•Planning Sheets: Differentiated planning sheets are included. Students will calculate the total they've spent and adjust their purchases to fit within a budget.
•Reflection Questions: Reflection pages are included. Students will answer questions about what it was like working with a budget and what they might do differently next time.
•Invitation to Dinner: Students will fill out the invitation - persuading guests to come to their dinner and describing their menu using juicy adjectives!
If you want to try these engaging, print-and-go activities this month, click the button below to shop! If you use them and love them, I’d love to see pictures of how to decide to use them! Find me on Instagram and let’s connect!
