thanksgiving websites for elementary students

Related resource: History of Thanksgiving

These suggestions can help you teach Thanksgiving in a more socially responsible way. Talk about the importance of the harvest in Native American culture, including the “3 Sisters” crops: maize, beans, and squash.Help students understand that indigenous peoples should not be relegated to the past Research Native American tribes in your area.Teach students about the Wampanoag and their role in helping the English.Replace “Indians” and “Pilgrims” with more specific names: Wampanoag and English or Separatists.Among the things she suggests elementary school teachers should do are: Star Yellowfish, a member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma and an education advocate stresses the need for teaching an accurate representation of the first Thanksgiving. Traditionally, the story of Thanksgiving has been taught in American schools with young students dressing in construction paper hats as “Pilgrims “or paper feather headdresses as “Indians.” However, those representations aren’t historically accurate and don’t reflect American Indian perspectives on Thanksgiving.ĭr. Teaching the Real History of Thanksgiving However, you can still teach accurate and respectful Thanksgiving lessons that are also age-appropriate and fun. Students will learn more about that in high school.

The feast was also a celebration of the Pilgrim’s first successful corn harvest.Īs an elementary school teacher, you may want to limit some of the gruesome details from your lesson plans.

In the spirit of gratitude for surviving their first year in the New World, Governor William Bradford organized a feast for the settlers and their Native American allies, including the Wampanoag’s Chief Massasoit. Not all settlers survived the first brutally cold winter, but those who did were helped by members of the Wampanoag population, who helped the settlers adjust and provided them with food. After 66 brutal days at sea and another month of travel, they arrived at their intended destination, where they established the village of Plymouth. The Pilgrims had left Plymouth, England, on a small ship called the Mayflower in September 1620. The initial Thanksgiving celebration centered around a multi-day feast involving European settlers (Pilgrims) and members of the various local indigenous populations (Native Americans).

Thanksgiving websites for elementary students