Leigh Ann Eagle

ED 417-02

Thanksgiving

1st grade Lesson: The Mayflower Passengers and

Their First Year In America

ObjectivesThe student will be able to:

1. understand the reasons why the Pilgrims and other passengers came to America.

2. review the history of the Pilgrim's Thanksgiving with the Indians.

3. understand stories about the Pilgrims and the Thanksgiving of 1621.

Materials

A Day of Thanksgiving , by Ruth Roquitte, The Thanksgiving Story , by Alice Dalgliesh, or The First Thanksgiving , by Linda Hayward.

Paper Scissors Crayons chart paper

Web Sites

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/tgturkey1.html

http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/ http://www.rumela.com/events/

events_november_thanksgiving.htm http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/Holidays/

celebrate/thanksgi.html http://www.plimoth.org/visit/what/

Student Activities

1. Ask the children to define or explain the word "Pilgrim." Have the children tell what they know about the Pilgrims. Read a story about why the Pilgrims and other people who joined them wanted to come to this land call the "New World." Have the children list the reasons why the people on the Mayflower came to America (i.e., religious freedom, a better life, some passengers were servants, some were not Pilgrims but were seeking adventure).

Student Activities

2. Have the children talk about the hardships the passengers endured on the long voyage to America. Have them talk about what the thirty-three children on board the Mayflower did to pass the time. Have them brainstorm some suggestions of what these children could have done, remembering the period in time and the conditions of travel.

Student Activities

3. Have the children review the stories read to them that included information on how the Wampanoag Indians helped the Pilgrims the first year. Another source would be Squanto and the First Thanksgiving , by Joyce Kessel and Lisa Donze. Have the children make a list of how the Indians help the Plymouth settlers that first year. Make a bulletin board display of their pictures along with captions telling about the pictures.

Student Activities

4. Talk about the Thanksgiving celebrated by the Plymouth settlers and their Indian friends. Why was it celebrated? Review what the Thanksgiving feast was like. A good source is Steven Knoll's Oh, What a Thanksgiving . Afterward, the class might want to make a comparative chart of Thanksgiving then and our Thanksgiving now. Ideas to chart could be guests, menus, entertainment, cooking methods, sources of food, and preparation.

Student Activities

5. Have the children make a collage of things that they are thankful for in their lives and have them write about their collage.

The First Thanksgiving

The first American Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621, to commemorate the harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony after a harsh winter.

The First Thanksgiving

The colonists celebrated it as a traditional English harvest feast, to which they invited the local Wampanoag Indians.

How the Turkey Got Its Name

There are a number of explanations for the origin of the name of Thanksgiving's favorite dinner guest. Some believe Christopher Columbus thought that the land he discovered was connected to India, and believed the bird he discovered (the turkey) was a type of peacock. He therefore called it 'tuka,' which is 'peacock' in Tamil, an Indian language.

The Native American name for turkey is 'firkee'; some say this is how turkeys got their name.

Passengers on the Mayflower

When the Mayflower departed Plymouth, England, she was carrying 102 passengers, including three pregnant women.  During the voyage, one baby was born, Oceanus Hopkins, making a total of 103 passengers.  Three days before land was sighted, one passenger, William Button, died, so that the Mayflower arrived with 102 passengers. 

The Mayflower's Crew

Besides the passengers and their cargo, the Mayflower also had a crew of about 30 men, each with different duties and jobs.

The New World

In mid-winter 1620 the English ship Mayflower landed on the North American coast (at Plymouth Rock) delivering 102 Puritan exiles.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day , legal holiday in the U.S., first celebrated in early colonial times in New England. The actual origin, however, is probably the harvest festivals that are traditional in many parts of the world Festivals and Feasts

Thanksgiving

After the first harvest was completed by the Plymouth colonists in 1621, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and prayer, shared by all the colonists and neighboring Native Americans. 

Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock held their Thanksgiving in 1621 as a three day "thank you" celebration to the leaders of the Wampanoag Indian tribe and their families for teaching them the survival skills they needed to make it in the New World. It was their good fortune that the tradition of the Wampanoags was to treat any visitor to their homes with a share of whatever food the family had, even if supplies were low.

Thanksgiving Day Poem Over the River

Over the river and through the wood To Grandfather's house we go. The horse knows the wayTo carry the sleigh Through white and drifted snow. 

Over the river and through the wood --Oh, how the wind does blow!It stings the toesAnd bites the nose,As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the woodTo have a first-rate play. Hear the bells ring,Ting-a-ling-ling!Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day! Over the river and through the wood,Trot fast, my dapple gray!Spring over the groundLike a hunting hound, For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river and through the wood,And straight through the barnyard gate.We seem to goExtremely slow --It is so hard to wait!

Over the river and through the wood --Now Grandmother's cap I spy! Hurrah for fun!Is the pudding done?Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!