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Teaching Resources for the Thanksgiving Season
posted by: Melissa | November 09, 2011, 10:20 PM   


Thanksgiving time is almost here and no doubt you’re already knee-deep in planning.  Now, I’m fond of hand-turkeys and trust me when I say I appreciate the classroom Thanksgiving feast, but as a social studies educator, I believe there’s more we gain through teaching about the historical significance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Not only do we have a chance to teach our students something about the history of our country, but it’s also a way we can spark an interest in the subject.

 

So, I’ve scoured the web and put together what I believe are some of the best history-oriented Thanksgiving resources out there for teachers.  Enjoy.

 

  1. Plimouth Plantation and  Scholastic have put together a great website on the first Thanksgiving with all sorts of virtual field trips of the Plimouth colony along with interviews with such Plimouth dignitaries like Miles Standish!
  2. Also courtesy of Plimouth Plantation this website has students reading primary sources and deducing the reasons behind the first Thanksgiving celebration.  Geared at upper –elementary aged students, it helps students look at different primary sources and decide whether the 1621 celebration was a harvest feast or what we think of as Thanksgiving.
  3. Scholastic also has some wonderful lesson plans that go along with their resources.  They’ll need to be adjusted to fit your particular group of kids, but I love the fact that they promote looking at artifacts, “first-hand” accounts, and inquiry as a basis for teaching about an historical event.
  4. The Smithsonian Institute has a site with images from Thanksgivings past (including paintings and menus), which could be a basis to many a fun lesson for a variety of age groups.
  5. ReadWriteThink has a good lesson on Thanksgiving that teaches students to be critical thinkers.  Aimed at middle school students, I think the concept could work well with other grade levels as well.

 

Comments (1)Add Comment
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written by Patty Murray, Chicago, November 17, 2011

Great resources, thanks for sharing! Here is an article that also might be helpful

Original Thanksgiving Activities for All Grades:http://bit.ly/vmETUJ

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