Rationale This unit plan is for a fourth or fifth grade class. Whether you choose to celebrate the arrival of Thanksgiving Day with prayers, family feasts, parades, or football games you will no doubt agree that the American celebration of this holiday began with a group of Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts in the year Therefore, it is important for students to understand the events and coming of the holiday we call Thanksgiving.

Objectives 1.The students will be able to identify and tell the significance of events that occurred, such as the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. 2.Students will be able to tell about the original Thanksgiving Meal. 3.Students will be able to tell about the traditions of Thanksgiving today compared to three hundred years ago.

Activities 1.Have the students read various poems about Thanksgiving and tell the meaning of each poem. 2.Create a class scrapbook of Thanksgiving. 3.Discuss events leading to the Pilgrimage.

Activities (cont.) 4.View a film, such as “Pilgrims,” which tells about the first years in America. 5.Have the students read a book about Thanksgiving and why we celebrate it the way we do.

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Activities 1.Talk about Native Americans roles during the Thanksgiving celebration. 2.Discuss who the “Separatists” were and why they are now known as another group. 3.Have the students make Pilgrim and Indian centerpieces.

Activities (cont.) 4.Have the students write a story about Samoset and Squanto. How did they play an important role with the Pilgrims. 5.Discuss George Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s contribution to Thanksgiving.

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Activities 1.View an exhibit of maps, pictures, and objects of the Pilgrims and the Mayflower. 2.Read and discuss why the church of England pushed the Pilgrims to America. 3.Have a class discussion of how the world today views Thanksgiving.

Activities (cont.) 4.Watch Charlie Browns Thanksgiving. 5.Have the students write a report about how the ways of the Pilgrims have helped America and other parts of the world survive our land.

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Activities 1.Examine how England reacted to the Separatists leaving for America. 2.Compare the Thanksgiving of today to the original Thanksgiving. 3.Explain how the Pilgrims learned about new crops from the Native Americans who lived in Massachusetts.

Activities 4.Have the students make cornucopias. 5.Talk about the significance of turkey on Thanksgiving and whether it was a necessary resource on the first Thanksgiving.

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Activities 1.Explain how the Pilgrims were treated. 2.Explain how the Indians were treated by the Pilgrims. 3.Explain how the women were treated on the first Thanksgiving.

Activities (cont.) 4.Make a typical sand table or model of an early Pilgrim settlement. 5.What was Lincolns intent on making Thanksgiving a national holiday? Have the students refer to the Civil War.

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Activities 1.Talk about the Church of England and is it right to make people worship one certain way. 2.Compare and contrast the rights of Pilgrims verse today’s Americans. 3.What were the women’s responsibilities of the first Thanksgiving.

Activities (cont.) 4.Draw a picture depicting the scene of the first Thanksgiving, including the roles of men and women. 5.Explain the responsibilities of the Presidents involvements in Thanksgiving.

Web Sites tmhttp:// tm ving.htmlhttp://home.ican.net/~marlatt/craig/thanksgi ving.html

Conclusion This unit will have helped the students to appreciate the Pilgrims as people. To conclude this unit on Thanksgiving the class could have a small Thanksgiving feast. During the feast the class could use the costumes of the forefathers. Also the class could dress up as Pilgrims and Indians.