When Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, the characters who bravely adventured and toiled in a new land are sometimes forgotten. Students can use literature to learn more about these people and their experiences. Writing thank you notes to influential people and journaling about various topics can further the understanding of the holiday as well as give students opportunities to work on their writing skills.
Thanksgiving History
The history of Thanksgiving can be studied many ways, dependent upon the grade level and prior exposure. For younger students, a large piece of poster board with the title of Thanksgiving across the top can serve as a recording place. Teachers can use a brainstorming session to fill the board with the keywords, phrases and other information that children know about and relate to Thanksgiving.
There are several good online sources that students can use to discover more about the history of Thanksgiving, including the Scholastic site that offers an online tour of the Mayflower, re-enactments of Pilgrims’ lives, and vivid details about the interactions between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag who helped them.
Thanksgiving Literature Choices
There are many options for reading about Thanksgiving and the following are just a few listed in ascending grade levels from pre-k through about 6th grade.
- What is Thanksgiving? by Michelle Medlock Adams [CandyCane Press, September 2009]
- Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes and Doris Barrette [HarperCollins, August 2008]
- The Night Before Thanksgiving by Natasha Wing and Tammie Lyon [Grosset & Dunlap, August 2001]
- If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern and Anna DiVito [Scholastic, November 1991]
- Thanksgiving on Thursday (Magic Tree House #27) by Mary Pope Osborne [Random House Books for Young Readers, September 2002]
- Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac [Sandpiper, September 2007]
While reading books about Thanksgiving, encourage children to write in journals about their reactions to the stories. Also, take the time to help them decipher if the story is fact, fiction, or historical fiction. Children can also keep lists of the names of historical characters who are described in the books, then do further research to see if the descriptions are accurate.
Thanksgiving Writing Lessons
Thanksgiving is a good opportunity to have children practice their writing skills by writing notes to people for whom they are thankful. Even the youngest children can participate in this writing activity. Students should be encouraged to choose people who most likely do not know they impacted the students' lives. This might be a music instructor who has helped build extra confidence, a neighbor who always smiles when he sees kids playing outside, or the parent of a friend who goes the extra mile to make sure friends feel welcome in her home.
Teachers can use a Venn diagram with their students to help compare and contrast the first Thanksgiving with modern celebrations. From these distinctions, students can be asked to write about whether or not they feel the modern celebrations give honor to the people it was originally designed to celebrate.
Thanksgiving Journal Prompts
Journaling is another good way for children to express ideas about what they have learned in their literature studies. Journal prompts can include:
- If I was at the first Thanksgiving…
- Sailing on the Mayflower must have been…
- Squanto taught many things such as…
- If I could meet the people at the first Thanksgiving I would choose…
- I would ask this person…
- My favorite Thanksgiving memory is…
Creating a Thanksgiving lesson plan or unit study can be done with good literature and diverse writing activities. As students read about the history of Thanksgiving and learn more about the characters who participated, they will form a broader picture of the holiday than that of today, which sometimes just means an extra slice of pumpkin pie. Reading and writing about these characters, then writing notes of thanks will help to reinforce the meaning of the holiday while furthering academic skills.
Chris Oldenburg - The homeschooling mother of four children, I am also a freelance technical writer. After more than 10 years of homeschooling I enjoy the ...
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