Thanksgiving 2009 Lesson Plan

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, presently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. Thanksgiving was historically a religious observation to give thanks to God, but was established as a secular federal holiday in 1941.

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated, in 1621, to give thanks to God for helping the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony (today Plymouth, Massachusetts) survive the brutal winter. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Native Americans. The feast consisted of fowl, venison, fish, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash. William Bradford's (Plymouth governor) note that, "besides waterfowl, there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many," probably gave rise to the American tradition of turkey at Thanksgiving.

- Wikipedia

Lesson Plan Information
Title: What happend at the "First Thanksgiving"?
Objectives:To understand:
- the facts and myths that surround the First Thanksgiving in 1621 at Plimoth Colony.
- historical research methods
Concepts: Thanksgiving, colony, Pilgrims, Plimoth, Plymouth, Wampanoag
Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8
Subject: U.S. History / Holidays
Materials: Access to the Internet.
Handouts: "Investigating the First Thanksgiving" Quiz
Time Needed: Two 50-minute class periods
Provided by: EducationWorld.com, Submitted by Gary Hopkins
Link: http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/dailylp/dailylp/dailylp029.shtml