Tall Tales are a fantastic Thanksgiving writing activity! Your student’s creative writing skills will come to life when they get the opportunity to stretch the truth because we all know children are full of humor and exaggeration! The best thing about them is that they can be funny or silly. They are typically filled with hyperboles, similes, metaphors, and descriptive vocabulary. Tall tales are always read or told as if they were true, even though the listener or reader knows that the story could never really happen – another reason children love writing and reading them!

Each year, during the month of November, I taught my 4th graders how to write Turkey Tall Tales. This lesson is a lot of fun, and students love the end result! This mini-lesson is the perfect addition to any creative writing unit but is intended for a Thanksgiving writing activity.

Introducing Tall Tales

Teachers can familiarize students with classic tall tales such as Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan. Reading these tales introduces students to what a tall tale actually is. A great way to really cement their understanding is to watch the animated version of the tall tales on YouTube. Luckily, there are tons to choose from, and students love watching the stories come to life!

Next, facilitate a class discussion about the characteristics of tall tales. Thankfully, this Thanksgiving writing mini-lesson, Turkey Tall Tales comes with a two-page introduction that includes the characteristics!

Writing the Tall Tale

Students are often reluctant to write because they need help figuring out where to begin. This is why guiding students through the planning process is essential. Luckily, this Thanksgiving writing mini-lesson includes planning sheets! The planning sheets walk students through the planning process in six easy steps.

• Step 1: Main Character
• Step 2: Exaggerating
• Step 3: Setting
• Step 4: Adventure/Challenge
• Step 5: Conflict/Resolution
• Step 6: Figurative Language

Students begin by choosing one of the four different story starters. Then, they circle the matching turkey picture depending on the prompt they have chosen. The turkey picture will be what their main character looks like! Once students have their story starter and a visual of their main character, they are sold! Their creative juices begin to flow and the planning process becomes easy.

When students finish planning their stories, they begin writing their tall tale. This is the perfect time to conference with students as they finish and edit their Thanksgiving writing together. With feedback and editing suggestions, students can make corrections before finalizing their tall tale. This will help build confidence as they practice their creative writing skills.

Putting It All Together

Honestly, students love the writing portion of this fun Thanksgiving assignment, but actually piecing their turkey and writing together is a student favorite! When students have edited their tall tale, they are ready to move on to the header and footer. There is a header and footer that matches each turkey from their story starter and planning sheets.

Of course, no creative writing activity would be complete without a bit of color! Have students color their header and footers to add uniqueness and fun to their tall tale.

At this point, students are ready to type their tall tale. This mini-lesson includes a directions page for students to use while typing their writing. All directions are aligned to Microsoft Word, but you could easily use Google Docs as well. Luckily, there are easy-to-follow directions for formatting the margins and columns of their tall tale. Teachers can confidently guide students through changing their margins to narrow and setting their documents to print as three columns.

The last step on the direction sheet is to print, cut apart columns, trim edges to the same width, and tape it all together! Students put forth so much effort into their Thanksgiving writing they will be ecstatic to see the finished product. These Turkey Tall Tales make an excellent November bulletin board or classroom display. Students will have a blast reading all the other tall tales that students have written.

Save this activity for later!

Make sure to save this post to your favorite writing Pinterest board. You will be able to come back to this Thanksgiving writing activity when November rolls around!