A Turkey for Thanksgiving

By Eve Bunting

Mr. and Mrs. Moose invite all their animal friends for Thanksgiving dinner and the only one missing is Turkey. When they set out to find him, Turkey is quaking with fear because he doesn’t realize that his hosts want him at their table, not on it.

This kind Thanksgiving book can be used in speech therapy to address twist endings! It is also great for noticing character expressions and for sequencing, predicting and for targeting figurative language! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using A Turkey for Thanksgiving in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary
sequencing
theme/message
inferencing
problem solving
predicting
figurative language
prepositional phrases
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (linguistic)
text features

Sequencing:

order of animals that help find Turkey and bring him back to Moose’s house

Vocabulary:

share, pilgrims, nuzzled, mist, wander, bare, perch, bellow, quills, peer, blundered, lumbered, sheen, hoof, insist, promise, stammered, acorns, alfalfa sprouts, willow

Figurative Language:

similes (black as a puff of smoke)
imagery (Moose’s warm breath hung white in front of him, snow crunched, the earth smelled of ice and moss as they crunched along, etc.)

Grammar:

verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (linguistic)
prepositional phrases

Text Features:

italics
dialogue
ellipses

Inferencing:

How does Mrs. Moose feel about not having a real Turkey?
Why do you think she feels strongly about this?
Why did Moose call for Turkey in a sweet voice?
How did Turkey feel when Moose called for him?
What is Turkey thinking when he sees them?
Why did Turkey run faster?
How does Turkey feel when he is caught?
How do they feel when they catch Turkey?
What is Turkey thinking as they walk to Moose’s house?
Would you do something to someone even if they didn’t want it?
How does Turkey feel when he is in the house?
Why did Turkey stammer when a chair was brought out for him?
How did he feel if he stammered?
How did he feel after talking to Mrs. Moose?

Predicting:

Where do you think Mr. Moose will go to find a turkey?
What do you think the Goats will ask Mr. Moose?
Where do you think they will go next?
Do you think the Goats will come with them?
What do you think Sheep will do?
Do you think Porcupine will go with them? Why or why not?
What do you think they will do with Turkey when they get home?

Problem Solving:

Mrs. Moose really wants a turkey for Thanksgiving so Mr. Moose and friends set out out to help find one.

If you are interested in seeing other Thanksgiving books to use in therapy, then check out the Seasonal Teaching Points Book List for a printable copy.

Books

Monthly Plans

Crafts

Seasonal

Frequent Speech Sounds:

Themes:

Book Details:

A Turkey for Thanksgiving

Key Teaching Concepts

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