🦃The turkey goes home, comes back disguised as anything but a turkey, and becomes the star of a week of writing, presenting and voting. English and Spanish family letters and a 2-week timeline keep the whole project organized.
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The Disguise a Turkey Project is a Thanksgiving family engagement activity with built-in writing for PreK through 5th grade. Students take home a turkey template, disguise it with their families as anything except a turkey, and bring it back to school to write about, present and celebrate.
Family communication is ready to send. Letters come in both English and Spanish, along with eight illustrated disguise examples, a guide to disguise ideas and materials, and three templates to choose from: Classic Turkey, No Feathers Turkey and Disguise & Tell Turkey. Reminder slips and thank-you slips help with follow-up.
Back in class, the writing is differentiated across grade bands. Kindergarten and first grade students draw and write on an "I Am NOT a Turkey!" page. Second and third graders plan and write an opinion piece called "Don't Eat Me!" Fourth and fifth graders write a persuasive "Letter to the Farmer" using a planner and a final letter page.
Speaking and listening take center stage too. A My Turkey Talk planner helps students prepare a short presentation, a Turkey Spotting recording sheet guides a gallery walk, and Guess Who? fold cards and class voting ballots make the reveal fun. Twelve award categories and blank templates mean every turkey can be recognized.
A two-page banner and a "Can You Find the Turkeys?" sign turn the projects into a hallway display, and a 2-week teacher timeline keeps everything on schedule. The 30 black and white pages work for Thanksgiving writing lessons, family engagement, classroom community, bulletin boards, homeschool and sub plans.
📖 Teaching guide · 12 min readDisguise a Turkey: A Teacher's Guide to the Family Project and Persuasive WritingRead the guide →Families enjoy creating together, and students come back excited to tell everyone about their turkey's new identity. That excitement fuels real writing, from a K–1 draw and write to a 4th–5th persuasive letter, and the presentations build classroom community.
Yes. The family letter comes in both English and Spanish.
K–1 students use an "I Am NOT a Turkey!" draw and write page, grades 2–3 write a "Don't Eat Me!" opinion piece, and grades 4–5 write a persuasive "Letter to the Farmer," each with planning support.
A 2-week teacher timeline is included to guide the project from sending the letter home to the celebration.
Three: Classic Turkey, No Feathers Turkey and Disguise & Tell Turkey.
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