No Prep November Literacy & Math

Teachers never have enough time, especially in November! There’s parent teacher conferences, the post-Halloween sugar rush, Thanksgiving, etc. Since planning and preparing centers takes a lot of time, I’ve created digital literacy and math Thanksgiving centers that require NO PREP (no cutting, printing, or laminating!) to make life a little easier and less hectic.

All is required is to assign students the digital Boom Card decks or Google Slides that are appropriate for them (easy differentiation) and have students access them during center time on laptops and/or iPads. So simple! (If you are not familiar with Boom Cards read this post for more information).

Literacy Centers

Since students are usually still working on mastering all of the alphabet letters and their sounds and need assessed on their mastery for parent teacher conferences, I created fun Thanksgiving turkey Boom Cards and Google Slides for both.

The students that still need practice recognizing and matching uppercase and lowercase alphabet letters can use this digital center where they drag and drop the correct missing feather to the turkey. The missing feathers vary, so they will get practice finding and matching both uppercase and lowercase letters. There are also feathers with pictures for beginning sounds / initial sounds practice.

Thanksgiving Alphabet Letters Boom Cards

The Boom Cards are self-checking so young students can complete them independently and they love the digital, interactive nature of the cards. The Google Slides come with an answer key.

Thanksgiving Alphabet Letters Match Boom Cards

The students that need to practice letter sounds access this deck and look at the uppercase and lowercase letters on each turkey, hunt for the two missing feathers which have pictures that begin with the letter, and drag and drop the feathers to the correct place on the turkey’s tail.

Thanksgiving letter sounds, beginning sounds practice

Here is a short video that shows both of the Boom Cards Thanksgiving alphabet decks in action. They are also a fun way to assess students!

Here is a short video showing both of the Google Slides Thanksgiving alphabet resources in action.

Another skill that we work on a lot this time of year is rhyming. Since it is important for children to hear the rhymes and recognize the different parts of the word, I added audio to these centers. Beside each picture is an audio icon that students can click to hear the word. They can click it as many times as needed. Adding audio enabled my young students to be able to complete the centers independently (which they loved!).

I made this center similar to the alphabet ones so that students would already be familiar with the general turkey theme making it easier for them to complete.

Students listen to the words, if needed, and then drag and drop the correct rhyming feather to the turkey.

I created both a Boom Cards version as well as a Google Slides version to make the center more versatile. I can use it for both independent centers and group work. Watch the short video below to see a sample of the Boom Cards version in action. The Google Slides are the same format.

Math Centers

For November math centers, students access either the Thanksgiving number sense center or the Thanksgiving addition center as well as the 2D or 3D shapes centers.

Since young students need a lot of practice with number sense, I like making the center engaging and fun so it is motivating for them. It is similar in nature to the literacy centers, therefore students are already familiar with how it works. Students drag and drop the correct missing feather to the turkey. The missing feathers vary throughout the deck, so students get practice recognizing and finding numbers 1-20, tally marks, ten frames, subitizing dots, finger counting, and place value.

Thanksgiving Number Sense Math for Google Slides

Here is a short video of the Google Slides Number Sense Thanksgiving center in action:

For students who are practicing addition to 10, I created an engaging turkey addition digital center. Students solve the addition problems by counting the feathers on each turkey, adding them together, and typing the sum in the box.

November math center - digital Thanksgiving addition to 10

Here is a short video clip of the Boom Cards addition to 10 center in action. It is also self-checking allowing students to work independently.

We are also learning and reviewing shapes this time of year so I have recently created both a 2D shapes center and a 3D shapes center since some students are still working on 2D shapes while others have moved to 3D.

These interactive centers not only help students with shape recognition but also with identifying shapes in real-world objects (common core standard k.g.a.3, k.g.a.2) .

Again, they resemble the other Thanksgiving centers so students are familiar with how they work and need little direction.

Students look at the shape and shape word on the turkey’s feathers and then drag and drop the real-world object feathers of that shape to the turkey.

Here is a short video of the 2D shapes Google Slides center. The Boom Cards version is the same but self-checking (the Google Slides version has an answer key).