If you are an elementary teacher looking for fun November activities that are also educational for your students, then you found the right places! This collection of November activities are a great way to engage your students in their learning. This post highlights resources for teaching writing, math, reading, social studies, and more! Check out the full list of November activities for kids below!
10+ November Activities for Kids
Below are November activities for elementary students.
November Writing Activities
Below are 6 November activities for kids that cover writing topics.
1. How to Cook a Turkey
This How to Cook a Turkey writing activity is perfect for the month of November! Your students will be fully engaged during your writing lessons because of the fun and timely topic. You can use the resources to create a class book keepsake or individual student books that can be used for writing portfolios, progress monitoring, or report card evidence.
Take this project to the next level by setting up a “stage” that looks like a cooking show and video record your students reading their stories. You could also take photos of each student wearing a chef hat, print out the photos, and display them with students’ writing.
 |  |
 | |
2. Favorite Thanksgiving Food
Speaking of Thanksgiving dinner, do you have a favorite food? Is it the mashed potatoes or the stuffing? Perhaps it is the cranberry sauce! Favorite foods make great topics for descriptive writing practice and it pairs so well with a math activity graphing that data as a class. Check out this favorite food Thanksgiving bundle that includes both the favorite Thanksgiving food writing activity and the favorite Thanksgiving food math activity.
This Thanksgiving writing resource uses favorite Thanksgiving foods as a way to practice descriptive writing. It includes differentiated pages to make it easy for teachers and homeschool families to modify to meet the individual needs of their learners.
The Thanksgiving Writing About Favorite Foods project is a great supplement to any writing curriculum and can be used on its own as well. You’ll find it is a wonderful way to meet required standards while putting some of the fun and excitement back into learning.
After my students completed this November descriptive writing project describing their favorite Thanksgiving Day foods, I had them create a craft. Each student created a Thanksgiving meal using construction paper on a paper plate. You can see a picture of it above. I displayed the writing project with the adorable craft on a bulletin board in my classroom.
3. Turkey in Disguise
This Turkey in Disguise writing project and craft is one of my favorite November activities. You can use it with or without the read aloud, Turkey Trouble. This project involves disguising a Turkey and writing persuasive (writing from the perspective of the turkey), opinion (writing about whether they think the turkey should be eaten), or descriptive paragraphs (decrying the turkey’s disguise). The completed craftivities make a great Thanksgiving bulletin board!
Learn more about this resource by going to this post: Turkey Disguise Project Ideas.
 |  |
| |
4. November Writing Prompts
In addition to our weekly paragraph of the week that is part of our homework and writer’s workshop routine, my students also LOVE the monthly thematic writing prompts. They really look forward to the first of the month when I debut the new writing journals and introduce the choices of writing topics specific to the new month. November is no different.
In order to prep the November writing prompts, I print a thematic cover for each student (they really enjoy coloring them during snack or indoor recess) along with the themed paper. I print a copy of all the November journal prompts to include in their journal. Some teachers elect to print just a color version to display in the classroom. I make the writing prompt cards available in a writing center and give them a lot of freedom in picking their own topics from the included prompts.
At the end of the month, I put each student’s writing into a booklet with the cover on top. They select one piece from the month to edit and publish. These are such a great way to show how much progress they are making as writers throughout the year and the parents really appreciate the keepsake of their work.
5. How to Capture a Turkey
This How to Capture a Turkey writing activity resource includes all the materials needed to complete two different writing activities for two separate writing prompts: How to catch a turkey (procedural writing) and the day I captured a turkey (creative writing). The printables are a great supplement to any writing curriculum and can be used on their own as well. It’s a great way to meet required standards while putting some of the fun and excitement back into learning. It also includes differentiated printables to make it easy to meet the individual needs of your learners.
 |  |
| |
6. The Thankful Book
This The Thankful Boo writing activity is a great wrining activity for the month of November. Having students write about the things they are thankful for is a popular topic in all grade levels. This resource will take that prompt to the next level. In my classroom, I paired that activity with a reading of the book, The Thankful Book by Todd Parr. It is the perfect companion. You can even have your kids create an illustration in his style to complement their writing. This resource can be used without the book as well.
November Math Activities
Below are 6 November activities for kids that cover math topics.
1. Turkey-Themed Numbers 0-10 Activities
These turkey-themed math activities are perfect for students in kindergarten and first grade. This resource covers number words (zero – ten), numerals and digit identification (0 – 10), tallies (0 – 10), ten frames (0 – 10), subitizing with dice (0 – 10), shape identification, shape names, addition within 10, and subtraction within 10.
 |  |
| |
2. Favorite Thanksgiving Food Data and Graphing Activities
These Favorite Thanksgiving Food activities has students collecting, sorting, and representing data based on favorite Thanksgiving foods. I did it with 3rd graders, but because I’ve included differentiated versions within each resource the activities have been used successfully by teachers in all elementary grade levels.
In my classroom, I began by having the children each write their favorite Thanksgiving Day food item onto one of the cards and illustrating their selection. After reviewing the cards we brainstormed categories we could use to sort the cards. I’ve included several options in the printable resources as well as the numbers to create a large bar graph to display. I set up the intervals and had the class sit around a table to help sort. After we sorted and placed data, we discussed our observations.
3. Plimoth Rock Around the Clock Time Activities
This Plimoth Rock Around the Clock Project Based Learning task provides opportunities for students to practice elapsed time by planning a field trip.
After teaching the students how to tell time to the minute and calculate elapsed time, present them with this real-world task which asks them to create a schedule for a 3rd grade field trip to Plimoth Plantation. To complete the project, they need to tell time to the minute, convert minutes to hours, calculate elapsed time, and more.
Learn more about this math activity be checking out this post: Plimoth Rock Around the Clock.
 |  |
| |
4. November Spiral Review Math Activities
Spiral review is the idea that, after introducing and teaching a foundational concept or skill, students continue to practice it regularly throughout the school year in order to maintain what they have learned. It is also known as the spiral learning method, spiral approach or spiral instruction. It is an integral part of every 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classroom.
Check out these November-themed spiral review activities that are part of larger resources:
- 2nd Grade November Spiral Review
- 3rd Grade November Spiral Review
- 4th Grade November Spiral Review
- 5th Grade November Spiral Review
5. Pumpkin Pie Addition and Subtraction Math Fact Activities
These addition and subtraction triangle flash cards include all fact families 1-18. Instead of learning addition and subtraction facts in isolation, the cards allow them to visualize 4 fact families and two operations as a whole unit.
 |  |
| |
6. Pumpkin Pie Multiplication and Division Math Fact Activities
These multiplication and division triangle flash cards include all fact families 1×1 through 9×9. Instead of learning multiplication and division facts in isolation, the cards allow them to visualize 4 fact families and two operations as a whole unit.
November Social Studies Activities
Below is one of the best November activities for kids that cover social studies topics.
Pilgrims, Wampanoag Tribe, and the First Thanksgiving Lapbook
For obvious reasons, many teachers like to focus on early American history and the settling of Plymouth Colony during the month of November. In Massachusetts, it was one of social studies requirements and was something I really enjoyed teaching every year. If you plan to teach about that topic, or really even brush upon it with your students, I invite you to read my post about Pilgrims, Wampanoag, and The First Thanksgiving Facts. It touches upon some very important misconceptions and key details all teachers should know.
This Pilgrims, Wampanoag and First Thanksgiving lapbook includes over 20 activities to teach about not only the Pilgrims, Wampanoags, and the First Thanksgiving, but also the Mayflower, Plimoth Colony, and more. Any of the activities can be used alone or be combined to create an easy-to assemble interactive notebook, lapbook, or learning portfolio. This resource also includes book and website recommendations for resources to deepen student understanding of the topic.
I really like how self-contained all of the students’ work is as they learn about the Pilgrims voyage on to the New World on the Mayflower, the settling of Plimouth Colony, the first winter, the Pilgrims relationship with Squanto and the Wampanoags and the Harvest Feast (now often referred to as The First Thanksgiving).
Learn more about this lap book by heading to this post: Pilgrims, Wampanoag, and The First Thanksgiving.
4 November Crafts for Kids
Below are 4 fun November crafts for elementary students. Your kids will love these art projects!
 | Surprise your students with a fun treat at snack time. This idea is from The Child at Heart blog. |
 | I plan to make this a choice activity for the many indoor recesses I anticipate we’ll have this month. I think the best way to do this would be to make ink pads and baby wipes available to keep the mess to a minimum. This idea is from Scholastic. |
 | This 3D turkey would be the perfect addition to a November bulletin board. I plan to have each student create one of their own and will attach their How to Cook a Turkey writing project to the top. This idea is from Martha Stewart. |
 | I love the idea of making this wreath as a class project to display on a classroom door. This idea is from the blog, Purely from the Heart… Real Life, One Day at a Time. |
