ICARUS IN INDIANAPOLIS

by Earl J. Wilcox

He flies through the feverish air, effortlessly,

raises muscled arms to stop the three-point shot.

His whole body is fueled by forces favoring

the young—the roaring crowd, fame,

the Final Four, a life-changing game.

Soaring and soaring and soaring, he falls,

then falls again, fast---a leg awkwardly bends,

a broken bone pierces his skin. With him,

the world cries in agony.

Earl J. Wilcox writes about aging, baseball, literary icons, politics, and southern culture. His work appears in more than two dozen journals; he is a regular contributor to TheNew Verse News. More of Earl's poetry appears at his blog, Writing by Earl.

Thanksgiving Middle School

November is creeping up on us so I wanted to share another Turkey Day activity for you! I don't teach middle schoolers or high schoolers but many of you do. So I thought I'd try my hand at making you something for Turkey Day! 

The download is 24 pages in length and includes 5 games targeting language, pragmatics and grammar. Included games are: Literal/Rhetorical, Active/Passive Voice, Sequencing, Main Idea & Multiple Meaning Ideas. 

Literal/Rhetorical Questions (16 cards) Each card contains a statement. Decide if it’s a literal or a rhetorical question. 

Active/Passive Acorns (12 cards) Cut each acorn apart. Have students match the acorns and decide which acorns are active/passive voice. 

Sequencing (12 cards) Students read the sentences and the underlined word. Identify the general meaning of each sequencing word (before, during or after.) 

Multiple Meaning Turkeys :( 18 cards) read the word. Provide two definitions for each word. If you draw the runaway turkey cards, put all your cards back. 

Main Idea/Details (16 cards) Students draw a card. Read the paragraph. Have the student give the main idea and details. 

Find the item in my TPT Store! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think! Do you want to see more middle school activities?

Thanksgiving Language

I'm so excited to share these with you. Mostly because - hey, I have them done a whole MONTH before the actual holiday.  This should give you this week to get them printed and laminated and plenty of use before Turkey Day!

Check out my language activity packs: Thanksgiving Language, Smorgasbord Grammar, and Feast of Social Skills. 

The Feast of Social Skills features activities for: social problem solving, thanksgiving idioms, topic maintenance, initiating conversation and manners. Each activity and social skill is targeted using activities for Thanksgiving. 

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Social Problem Solving (16 cards) Each card contains a social situation that could take place at Thanksgiving. Determine what you should do in each situation.

Thanksgiving Idioms (12 cards) Each acorn can be cut in half.  Have students match the idiom to the definition. See if they can use it in a sentence. 

Topic Maintenance Pies (18 cards) Students read the mock conversations. They need to continue the conversation. What would they say next?

Initiating Conversation: ( 18 cards) Students read the given situation and decide how they would initiate a conversation. 

Rude or Not? (18 cards) Students draw a card. Read the comment and decide if the comment is polite or rude. Sort the cards onto the Rude/Polite Turkeys. 

The document is 20 pages in length. You can find it for sale in my TPT Store!

The Thanksgiving Language packet is 23 pages in length and includes 5 different language games appropriate for your elementary aged students.

Activities include Thanksgiving riddles, synonyms, categories, analogies and sequencing.

 Thanksgiving Riddles (16 cards)  Each card contains a riddle. Read the riddle. Talk about possible answers. Read the answer. Have your student explain why it’s funny.

Acorn synonyms (12 cards) Cut each acorn apart. Have students match the synonyms. Then use the vocabulary words in sentences.

Analogy Pies (12 cards) Students read the sentences and choose the correct word to fill in the analogy. Then have the student describe the relationship between the words.

Categories :( 18 cards) read the thanksgiving category and list 3-5 category members.

Sequencing (12 cards) Students draw a card. Read the sentences and determine the order of activities. Write corresponding numbers (1-4) next to each step. Then retell the sequence. Grab the Thanksgiving Language on my TPT store.

The third language activity is the Grammar Smorgasbord. 

The activity pack is 21 pages of grammar activities. The card games include: irregular verbs, irregular plurals, is/are, was/were and has/have. 

Verb Cards (16 cards) Each card contains a sentence. Students must choose the correct answer to fill in the blank. 

Acorn irregular plurals (12 cards) Cut each acorn apart. Have students match the singular and plural forms. Say the irregular plural in a sentence.

Subject/Verb Agreement Pies (18 cards) Students read the sentences and fill in the blanks with is/are. 

Sort them onto the correct pie. 

Have/Has Cards : (18 cards) Students read the sentence on the card and fill in the blank with have or has. 

WAS/WERE cards (18 cards) Students draw a card. Read the sentence and fill in the blank with the correct past tense form of ‘to be.’ Sort the card onto the correct turkey. 

Grab this in my TPT store. I'll keep them all at a sale price until Tuesday 10/22/12.

If you're new around here, check out my Thanksgiving Freebies:

Turkey Categories

Turkey Pronouns

Irregular Verb Freebie