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The First Thanksgiving Dinner Grade Level: 1+

Overview This lesson teaches students about the first Thanksgiving celebration with the Pilgrims by taking a look at what foods would have been eaten at that dinner and how they compare to foods we eat today. Before completing this lesson, students should study the voyage of the Pilgrims, struggles the first American settlers experienced, and the relationship between those settlements and the Native Americans.

Lesson Goals Students should:

1. Understand the events that led up to the first Thanksgiving meal.

2. Receive a printout of two dinner plates and foods that would be served at the first Thanksgiving and foods that would be served today.

3. Label the plates and put the appropriate foods on them.

Materials ● Scissors ● Glue stick ● Pen or marker

Teaching the Lesson Start the lesson by reviewing how the Pilgrims came to the New World and the events that led up to them having a meal with Native Americans. Be sure to stress that the Indians were helping the settlers by teaching them how to grow crops and prepare for the coming winter. Talk about the types of food that would have been served at the first Thanksgiving meal and foods that we eat today at Thanksgiving dinner.

Pass out a print out of the plates and the food to each student. Instruct students to cut out the plates and fruit. Tell them they will label one plate with the year 1621 and one with the current year.

Tell students to glue the food that would have been served at the first meal to the 1621 plate and the food that we eat today to the current year plate.

 

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Lesson Resources Websites

● http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-was-on-the-menu-at-the-first-thanksgiving-511554/?no-ist

● http://www.plimoth.org/learn/multimedia-reference-library/read-articles-and-writings/thanksgiving-history

● http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/feast ● https://books.google.com/books?id=tYecOAN1cwwC&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q&f=

false ● http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/first-thanksgiving-meal

Videos

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_1t7N7lq5Q ● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faUYJ9fMiGg ● http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving/videos/kids-

history-the-first-thanksgiving ● http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/webcast.htm ● https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/culture/thanksgiving/preview.weml

Books for Kids

● The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern ● The Landing of the Pilgrims by James Daugherty ● The First Thanksgiving by Linda Hayward ● 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving by Catherine O'Neill Grace ● Thanksgiving: The True Story by Penny Colman

Concluding Activity Explain to the students that the first Thanksgiving was about celebrating the harvest and sharing foods each person enjoyed. After the students glue the correct food to the correct plate, host a Thanksgiving feast for the classroom by allowing students to bring their favorite finger foods to share with one another.

 

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