The month of November is perfect to step back in time and teach students about the First Thanksgiving. In my classroom, we take about a week and learn all about the pilgrims, Native Americans, and this national holiday that's celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November each year. During our unit, we make an interactive craft book which is one of my favorite parts of the week.
Learning About The First Thanksgiving
In my classroom, we spend five days learning about the holiday of Thanksgiving, and each day we do a different page in our interactive craft book. This book contains a kid-friendly, accurate portrayal of the history of Thanksgiving. Since we live in Ohio, we can't go on a field trip to Plymouth Plantation so we do the next best thing and watch some YouTube videos about Plymouth Colony and the First Thanksgiving.
Day 1
We begin our week with the book The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern. This book describes the voyage of the Mayflower and the difficulties encountered by the Pilgrims during their first year in the new world and recounts how they celebrated their first harvest in the new land.
After we read the story we make a T chart comparing Thanksgiving long ago to today. We discuss some of our holiday traditions like eating Thanksgiving dinner with sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Students add fun facts to our T chart like watching Macy's Thanksgiving day parade, football games, and shopping on black Friday.
Then we compare our Thanksgiving celebrations with those of the pilgrims and Wampanoag people. We add some of the traditional foods they might have eaten such as wild turkeys, nuts, and berries.
Next, we visit Scholastic News Magazine online and watch one of the short videos or read a magazine. If you are lucky enough to have a subscription to Scholastic News Magazine, be sure to check out the back issues. They have some great videos about the first Thanksgiving and the Wampanoag people.
Finally, we make the first page of our interactive book about the first Thanksgiving. Students learn that the pilgrims left England so that they could have religious freedom. The students make this cute pilgrim craft and complete the missing vocabulary word on each page.
Day 2
On day two, students learn about the pilgrims' voyage on the Mayflower. We watch this video that describes the Pilgrims Mayflower voyage.
On day two, students make the second page of our interactive craft book. They learn all about the pilgrim's trip across the ocean and how they landed at Plymouth Rock. Students make a simple Mayflower craft and fill in the missing vocabulary word.
Day 3
By the third day of our lesson, we're ready to learn all about the life of a pilgrim child. Two of my favorite books are Sarah Morton's Day and 
Samuel Eaton's Day. These books describe the life of a pilgrim boy and girl and some of their daily chores. We also learn about how difficult the first winter was for the Pilgrims.
Next, we watch this video and learn all about the Pilgrim's housing and way of life. We learn that when the pilgrims arrived in North America there were no homes. They had to build their own cabins and begin to create the Plymouth colony. Finally, students make the third page of our interactive book which is all about the pilgrim's homes.
Day 4
On day four, we learn about the native people of North America called the Wampanoag. We read the book Tapenum's Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy In Pilgrim Times
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We watch this video that tells about the Wampanoag way and compare the daily life of the Wampanoag and the pilgrims. We also do the next page of our interactive book, which is about the Wampanoag.
Day 5
, a simple book about the pilgrims, full of real photos from Plymouth Plantation. 
Creating A Pilgrim And Wampanoag Village
During our unit, the students worked together to create a mini Pilgrim and Wampanoag village. I covered some long tables with butcher paper and then students made Pilgrim cabins out of small milk cartons. They covered them with brown construction paper to represent the logs and yellow strips on the roof for thatch.
Each day we added new things to the village including Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower, trees, a path (made from dried beans), mini Pilgrim people, and a garden.
The students also created a Wampanoag village with milk carton wetu's, a fire, a forest, and mini people.
Day 6
Finally, it's time for the children to step back in time and experience what life was really like for the early settlers. The students travel to 8 different hands-on stations as they spend a day in the life of a pilgrim. They try things like fishing, hunting, planting, cooking, sewing, making a quilt, and more.
It's a great way to end our week-long unit on the First Thanksgiving and the students really love it. Head on over here to read more about our day in the life of a pilgrim.
SAVE THESE IDEAS FOR LATER!
Take a minute to save these tips to your favorite Thanksgiving Pinterest board so you can remember them later!
Wow! Your Thanksgiving book is so adorable and you have some excellent ideas on how to teach about the holiday. Thanks so much for sharing these ideas!!