Kindness Turkeys: Kind or Unkind Sort for SEL Curriculum

Inside: Use the kindness turkeys activity to teach sel curriculum in a fun, hands-on way this fall.

On November 1st, the crumply, moldy jack o’lanterns get sent to the trashcans and we bring out the turkeys and Pilgrims.

We have to put away the witches and the bats, but we can still keep the holiday spirit alive and well as we move toward Thanksgiving.

But even though Thanksgiving isn’t as fun as Halloween, it’s still a great holiday…especially to focus on kindness and gratitude.

So in November, we use our Counting Down to Thanksgiving Break Kindness Paper Chain, Fall Kindness Notes, and our Fall Kindness Challenge.

All things that help focus on kindness and fall and Thanksgiving.

This Kindness Turkeys Activity is a blend of fall and social emotional learning, perfect for fall and Thanksgiving.

Why Social Emotional Learning is Important

Social Emotional Learning is a crucial part of any classroom’s lesson plans.

Related: Why We Should Teach SEL

It teaches our students problem solving skills, critical thinking skills and positive relationship skills. It builds up their Emotional Intelligence, helps bully-proof them, and research has shown that it improves their academic success.

But to make social emotional learning and character education effective, we have to make it consistent, set clear expectations from our students, intentionally teach them the skills they need to be kind, and make it fun.

To do that we can use Kindness Books like these, our 60 Kindness Conversation Starters, and fun, hands-on sel curriculum like our Kindness Turkey Kind or Unkind Sort Activity.

What’s Included in the Kindness Turkeys Kind or Sort Activity:

24 turkeys with kindness or unkindness clipart in color
24 turkeys with kindness or unkindness clipart in black and white
Kind and Unkind sorting trees in color and black and white
Kindness worksheet to help kids show what they know and determine what is kind and what is not kind in color and black and white
2 writing sheets: 1 for early writers/prewriters and 1 for writers.

How to Use the Kindness Turkeys Activity

1. Purchase and print and laminate the cards and the Kind or Not Kind Trees. If you print them in black and white, you can color in
the cards first. We used these skin color crayons!

2. Cut apart the cards.

3. Go over the pictures on the cards to ensure children understand what the picture depicts. You can use these as discussion starters before or after the activity.

4. The students will sort the cards by kind actions or unkind actions by placing the turkey cards near the correct tree. They can work in small groups in centers, independently, or as a whole group with a pocket chart.

5. To follow up on the activity, students can complete the worksheet to show their understanding.

6. To connect to writing and language arts studies, draw a picture/write how they will choose to be kind this Thanksgiving. Prewriters can dictate their answers and then draw a picture.