Unit Plan

The First Thanksgiving Teacher's Guide

How to use the timelines, interviews, and other features of "The First Thanksgiving" online activity

  • Grades: PreK–K, 1–2, 3–5, 6–8

This Teacher's guide supports The First Thanksgiving Online Activity.

Be sure to check out Activity Overview and the First Thanksgiving Vocabulary Guide before getting started.

Overview

Near the end of their first year in the New World, the Pilgrims held a three-day harvest feast, today referred to as the first Thanksgiving. In this online activity, students will explore the Mayflower and its 1620 voyage; the new settlement in Plymouth; the lifestyles of the Pilgrims and Wampanoags; and the people, foods, and activities that were a part of the first Thanksgiving.

"The First Thanksgiving" encompasses material appropriate for any grade level. The activity is organized into three main sections: "Voyage on the Mayflower," "Daily Life," and "The Thanksgiving Feast." Timelines, interviews, and the "Thanksgiving Web Quest" offer students additional opportunities to explore and discover facts related to the early settlement of the Pilgrims. Lesson ideas for each section are provided for grades K–2, 3–5, and 6–12. The captioned photographs and audio files present high-interest content, vocabulary-building aids, and engaging information designed to pique students' interest in learning more. In addition, the combination of text, visual images, and audio addresses the different learning styles of students, as well as the needs of ELL and special needs students.

Objective

Scholastic's online activities are designed to support the teaching of standards-based skills. While participating in "The First Thanksgiving," students learn to do the following:

  1. Use technology tools to access, explore, and synthesize information about the Mayflower, Pilgrims, Plymouth colony, Wampanoags, and the first Thanksgiving
  2. Develop an understanding of why Pilgrims moved to the New World
  3. Develop an understanding of the colonial and Wampanoag cultures of the early 1600s
  4. Compare and contrast lifestyles of the Pilgrims and Wampanoags
  5. Interpret information from timelines
  6. Create a timeline
  7. Read for detail
  8. Participate in a variety of active writing activities
  9. Demonstrate comprehension through experiential response
  10. Reflect on what has been learned after reading by formulating ideas, opinions, and personal responses

Lesson Plans for this Unit

Supporting Books

Thanksgiving Recommended Books

  • Subjects:
    Native American History, Early Exploration and Settlements, Curriculum Development, Ceremony and Tradition, Pilgrims, Content Area Reading, Independent Reading, Reading Comprehension, Reading Response, Research Skills, Vocabulary, Writing, Homes and Housing, Indigenous Peoples, Native American, Thanksgiving, Native American Heritage Month, Virtual Classrooms, Communication and the Internet, Computers, Teaching with Technology
  • Skills:
    Reading Comprehension, Diagrams, Maps, Online Sources, Social Studies, Timelines, Research Skills, Vocabulary, Writing
  • Duration:
    1 Day
top