How to Catch a Turkey by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Andy Elkerton, is a funny, rhyming picture book about a turkey on the loose at school just before the Thanksgiving play. Kids love it, and it’s packed with teaching points on word choice and show-don’t-tell.
The How to Catch a… series includes several books.
(Check out the How to Catch a Snowman blog post here!)
There are several skills you could touch on with this How to Catch a Turkey Thanksgiving read aloud…
I created an anchor chart you can use for any of the word choice lessons—let your students lead the discussion about what jumps out to them in the authors’ word choice.
1. Word Choice (Vocabulary)
The book is written in rhyme. The author’s choice to write in rhyme sets an upbeat, fun mood for the story.
The vocabulary and phrases are also spot on and a great teaching point for this read-aloud.
After reading the story once, you could go back and read page by page, discussing the author’s word choice. You could write the vocabulary words or rhyming pairs on the feathers of the anchor chart.
Grab the free printable to create the anchor chart.
2. Word Choice (Show, Don’t Tell)
Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton also provide a great mentor text for teaching students about “showing, not telling” in this story. A few examples that really stood out to me were the turkey running through the cafeteria, library, and classroom, and the turkey appearing on stage and being very nervous.
Be sure to point out to the students that the authors never directly tell you any of these things, but instead vividly describe and lead the reader to understanding by showing through their word choice.
You could also use this for the anchor chart if you want to focus your lessons on it.
3. Setting
The story takes place in an elementary school, and the action is fast-paced and exciting. Obviously, this is a setting the students are familiar with, which aids their comprehension and understanding.
You could ask your students what it would be like if the turkey from the story tried to escape from their school—where would he go and what would he do? You could easily have the students do a quick write or create a map describing the turkey’s escape route from their school!
4. Illustrations and Mood
The illustrations are so vivid and bright, and the cartoon-style characters really add to the story’s upbeat and fun mood. They also emphasize the aspects of the setting.
(This is a specific standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7 Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).)
If you are looking for additional resources for Thanksgiving or for giving your students extra practice in showing, not telling, you might want to check these out!
