Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension Game

Good readers look back in the story to find the answer. The Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension Game turns the Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension Worksheet into a cozy fall lesson with Abby: kids follow along as she reads a short story about the first Thanksgiving and each word lights up, then they answer the five questions from the worksheet by tapping one of three big autumn leaves. It is a Thanksgiving reading comprehension game for 1st through 3rd grade that teaches kids to find clues in the story and to tell the main idea from one small detail.

Round one is the story: three doodled storybook pages that kids turn themselves while Abby reads. Round two opens with a short “Watch me!” example: Abby circles the question word, looks back in the story and finds the clue. Then kids answer the four “right there” questions (when, who, why and what). Round three shows what “mostly about” means, the main idea of the whole story, before the last question. Each right leaf floats down to Abby’s Thankful Table and turns into a harvest goodie. A wrong pick blows away and the storybook flips open to the glowing clue sentence, with a kind hint that names the question word; a second miss makes the right leaf glow. Play it in your browser on a phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.

What’s Included

• Online game that plays in any browser on desktop, tablet and phone
• Included with every Have Fun Teaching membership
• 3 rounds: the read-along story, four “right there” questions and one main idea question (the worksheet’s 5 questions)
• Read-aloud story with word-by-word highlighting, read-aloud questions and answers, look-back hints, sound effects and a star score
• Teachers can assign it in Classroom with one class link and see when each student is done

Here are three reasons this reading comprehension game helps kids learn. First, kids look back in the text to find the answer, the strategy teachers call text lookbacks, and the game shows them exactly where the clue is when they need it. Second, Abby uses the same words kids hear in class: the question word, the clue, look back in the story, and what the story is mostly about. Third, the game separates questions whose answers are right there in the story from the main idea question, so kids learn to think about the whole story and not just one small part.

Keep the learning going after the Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension Game. Read a short story together and ask your child to point to the sentence that answers each question, or ask “What was that story mostly about?” after a bedtime book. For practice on paper, print the matching Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension Worksheet.

Related Resources

• Also available as a printable worksheet: Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension Worksheet
• Main Idea Worksheet
• Main Idea and Details Graphic Organizer
• Thanksgiving Dinner Writing Paper
• Thanksgiving Shape Writing Booklet

Watch the Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension Game

▶