thanksgiving - pbworksdfwcopeland.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/70640122/0439106141_e.pdf · r s h a rr...

N E W Y O R K • T O R O N T O • L O N D O N • A U C K L A N D • S Y D N E Y

M E X I C O C I T Y • N E W D E L H I • H O N G K O N G

ThanksgivingThanksgiving&

B Y K AT H L E E N M . H O L L E N B E C K

Fresh & Fun: Thanksgiving © Scholastic Teaching Resources

“Sharing Partners” is adapted from “Sharing Feast” by Henry Davidson, which appeared in Instructor magazine (October, 1991).

“Pack It Up” is adapted from “What to Bring?” by Karen Dillenbeck, which appeared in Instructor magazine(November/December, 1991).

“Give It Away!” is adapted from “Thanksgiving Place Mats for Meals-on-Wheels” by Carole Keister, which appeared in Instructor magazine (November/December, 1997).

Scholastic grants teachers permission to photocopy the reproducible pages from this book for classroom use. No otherpart of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or

by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without permission of the publisher. Forinformation regarding permission, write to Scholastic Professional Books, 555 Broadway, New York, NY 10012-3999.

Edited by Joan NovelliFront cover and interior design by Kathy Massaro

Cover and interior art by Paige Billin-Frye, except page 13 by Rusty Fletcher, and page 27 by James Graham Hale

ISBN# 0-439-10614-1Copyright © 1999 Scholastic Inc.

All rights reserved.

o Alex, Kyle, and Kelsie

for whom I give thanks daily.

T


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Contents

About This Book ............................................................ 4

Language Arts

Pilgrim Postcards ............................................................ 6

BOOK BREAK: The Wampanoag Indians ................ 7

Native American Scrapbooks .................................... 7

Thanks at Thanksgiving Collaborative Book ...... 8

BOOK BREAK: On the Mayflower .............................. 8

Cornucopia Word Wall ................................................ 9

Thank-You Place Mats ................................................ 9BOOK BREAK: Samuel Eaton’s Day

and Sarah Morton’s Day ........................................ 10

Pocket Chart Poetry .................................................... 11

Math

Make Sharing Soup .................................................... 14

Measure the Mayflower ............................................ 14

BOOK BREAK: How Many Days to America? .... 15

Wampum Works .......................................................... 15

Trading Post Math ...................................................... 16

Feather Math .................................................................. 16

Book Break: 1, 2, 3 Thanksgiving! ...................... 17

Estimation Station........................................................ 17

Popular Pies .................................................................... 18

Days, Weeks, and Months........................................ 18

Social Studies

Order in the Colony: The Mayflower Compact 19

Pack It Up ........................................................................ 19

Play Pilgrim Games .................................................... 20

Family Feathers ............................................................ 20

Plimoth Plantation Scavenger Hunt .................. 21BOOK BREAK: Molly’s Pilgrim and

Sarah Morton’s Day ................................................ 21

Sharing Partners ............................................................ 22

Grow a Giving Tree .................................................... 22

Helping at Home ........................................................ 23

Green Corn Day Journal .......................................... 23

Make a Book of Thanks: Then and Now.......... 24

Alike and Different ...................................................... 25

Thanksgiving Feast ...................................................... 26

BOOK BREAK: Thanksgiving...................................... 26

Science

Add Two Parts Fish ...................................................... 27

Harvest Leaf Prints ...................................................... 27

Cranberry Sink and Float ........................................ 28

Dry and Nibble Harvest Necklaces ...................... 28

Harvest Beginnings ...................................................... 29

Art

Clothespin Pilgrims .................................................... 30

Corn Cob Painting ...................................................... 30

3-D Pilgrims .................................................................. 31

Turkey Magnets ............................................................ 31

Give It Away! .................................................................. 31

Origami Turkey ............................................................ 32


E n early November, we are well into autumn and begin thinking ofThanksgiving. Now long past the first days of school and just afterpumpkins and candy, late autumn calls us to look inward and

appreciate the people and circumstances around us. It invites us to open thehistory books and step back in time to the start of our nation. This book isdesigned to help you take your students on this journey, with more than 50activities geared for this rich time of year. We invite you to use them tocelebrate and explore the topics of Thanksgiving, harvest, Native Americans,and Pilgrims. These activities span the curriculum and the country, with manytried-and-true contributions from teachers across the United States.

4

About This Book

I

The year has turned its circle,The seasons come and go.The harvest is all gathered inAnd chilly north winds blow.

Orchards have shared their treasures,The fields, their yellow grain.So open wide the doorway—Thanksgiving comes again!

—Author Unknown

Thanksgiving


E he activities in this book are arranged by curriculum areas. As you wouldexpect in early elementary curriculum, most of the ideas naturallyintegrate a number of disciplines. Browse through and find the activities

that seem most interesting and relevant for you and your students’ interests,goals, and time frames. Choose a fun activity to brighten up a rainy Novembermorning, or an activity that ties in with your lesson plans for the week. Need aninstant art activity? Make turkey magnets, edible cornucopias, or an origamiturkey. Ready for science? Compare popcorn to Indian corn—and plant it tolearn about seed growth. Set up a trading post for a math activity your studentscan count on, and recreate the crowded conditions the Mayflower passengersendured. Each activity has been carefully chosen to build students’ knowledge,strengthen core skills, and enrich your classroom curriculum.

In addition to plenty of cross-curricular activities, you’ll also find:

{ an interactive bulletin board

{ learning center suggestions

{ reproducible templates

{ mini-books to make

To provide as many fresh and fun ideas as possible, we’ve kept the activitiessimple and short. Many are ready for use right away; others require advanceplanning. Most of the materials needed to complete these activities are alreadyin your classroom. Those that require more than the basic supplies usually callfor accessible ones such as potting soil or food coloring.

Reading a wonderful story about any topic your class is studying canencourage students to become interested in learning more about it. Book Breaksthroughout invite you to use favorite children’s literature in this way. You’ll alsofind the following titles helpful.

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Across the Wide Dark Sea: The Mayflower Journey by Jean Van Leeuwen(Dial Books for Young Readers, 1995)

Circle of Thanks by Susie Gregg Fowler (Scholastic, 1998)

Colonial Kids: An Activity Guide to Life in the New World by Laurie Carlson (Chicago Review Press, 1997)

It’s Thanksgiving by Jack Prelutsky (Greenwillow, 1982)

Merrily Comes Our Harvest In by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Harcourt Brace, 1978)

Thanksgiving at the Tappleton’s by Eileen Spinelli (Addison-Wesley, 1982)

Thanksgiving Day by Gail Gibbons (Holiday House, 1983)

The Wampanoag Indians by Bill Lund (Capstone Press, 1998)

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{ pocket-chart poetry lessons

{ literature links

{ Internet resources

{ home-school connections

{ arts and crafts extensions


Language Arts

6

Teacher ShareTeacher Share

Pilgrim Postcards

nvite children to pretend theyare Pilgrims writing notes to

people they miss and love faraway in their homeland. Sharewith students that they mightbe writing to loved ones inHolland and England aftertheir Mayflower voyage, firstwinter in Plimoth, orThanksgiving feast. Give eachstudent a copy of the postcardpattern. (See page 12.) Havechildren cut out the postcards andglue the back sides together. They candraw pictures about Pilgrim life on the frontand write messages on the back, telling something special thathappened to them or describing something of interest. Studentscan design colorful stamps and address their postcards tofictitious friends back home. (This is a good opportunity to explorecommon Pilgrim names. See Tip, left.)

Before they write home, encourage your students to gatherbackground information about Pilgrims. Share picture books orvisit these web sites:

{ Plimoth Plantation Museum (www.plimoth.org)

{ Pilgrim Hall Museum (www.pilgrimhall.org)

{ John Alden House (www.alden.org)

VaReane Gray Heese Springfield Elementary School

Springfield, Nebraska

IIT p{

Pilgrim children wereoften named for thevirtues their parentsheld dear, as well asthe experiences theyencountered on theirvoyage to or life inAmerica. Write the

following names on thechalkboard. Invite

students to guess whateach name represents

and why parents wouldchoose the name

for a child.

OOcceeaannuuss(reminds you of thesea; baby born on

Mayflower voyage wasgiven this name)

RReemmeemmbbeerr(to think about the past)

WWrreessttlliinngg(a kind of fighting)

DDeessiirree(to want something

very much)

LLoovvee(to care a lot)

RReessoollvveedd(to never give up)

HHuummiilliittyy(not to be too proud)

CCoonnssttaannttaa(to never change)


The Wampanoag Indians by Bill Lund (Capstone Press, 1998)

Share books on Wampanoag Indian life, such as The Wampanoag Indians.After students spend time exploring the Wampanoag lifestyle, have thempretend they are Wampanoag Indians long ago. Invite students to share whatthey’ve learned by writing a poem, short story, or play from a Wampanoag’spoint of view, or by drawing a mural to show details in Native American life.Questions your students might answer by writing or drawing include:

{What did you think of the Pilgrims when you first met them?

{Was it easy to talk with the Pilgrims?

{ Did you attend the first Thanksgiving, and if so, did you have a goodtime? What did you eat? What games did you play?

Tapenum’s Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim Times by Kate Waters(Scholastic, 1996) is another good resource.

Native American Scrapbooks

Many people keep scrapbooks today to commemorate events past andpresent. What if Wampanoag Indians had kept their own scrapbooks in1621? Help your students learn more about Wampanoag Indians. Thenguide them as they create scrapbooks of Wampanoag Indian life in 1621.Questions your students might answer through pictures, words, andhomemade artifacts include:

{What did the Wampanoag eat?

{What did the Wampanoag home look like?

{What special feast days did they observe?

Encourage students to personalize scrapbookswith comments such as I helped my mothercollect quahog shells, or Animal skins kept mewarm!

Language Arts

7

Book Break


On the Mayflowerby Kate Waters (Scholastic, 1996)

Share On the Mayflower: Voyage of the Ship’sApprentice & a Passenger Girl. Then ask eachstudent to write a diary entry of one or morePilgrims on the Mayflower, telling about reasons forcoming on board, life on board, and plans for thefuture. Students might include a drawing, as if aPilgrim child sketched what he or she saw on boardthe ship. Youngest students may draw a picturerather than write a diary entry.

Language Arts

8


Thanks at ThanksgivingCollaborative Book

opy the poem “Thanks at Thanksgiving” on chart paper andread it aloud with the class. Ask children to think about how

they would complete the poem. Give each child a copy of the poemon page 13. Have children fill in the blank at the end, illustrate theirpoems, then take turns reading them aloud. (Children who are notready to read aloud can ask you or a classmate to read the first fourlines.) Compile the pages to make a classroom book of thanks.Display in the classroom or circulate to students’ families.

Thanks at Thanksgiving

I think of sunshine, clear and bright.I think of stars, twinkling at night. I think of friends, family, and more—I have so much to be thankful for!I’m especially thankful for ______________________.

Mary Beth Spann MinucciTeacher Consultant

Shoreham, New York

CC

For an authentic look,let children write theirdiary entries on pieces

of brown paper, torn orcut from grocery bags.

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Book Break


Cornucopia Word Wall

Create a colorful, interactive word wall/bulletin board to highlight wordfamilies. Here’s how:

{ From a flat piece of brown paper, cut out a horn-shaped basket torepresent the base of a cornucopia. Make eight baskets, eachapproximately 8 by 11 inches.

{ Staple the baskets on a background of yellow or white, at a heightchildren can reach.

{ Use construction paper to cut a variety of fruits. Size the fruit so fivepieces will fit easily onto each basket. (You will need 40 pieces of fruitfor eight baskets.) These might include apples, oranges, bunches ofgrapes, bananas, peaches, and pears. (You can also cut pictures of fruitfrom magazines.)

{ Divide the fruit into eight piles, with a variety of fruit in each pile.Label each pile of fruit with words from one word family. Forexample, one pile of fruit may be from the -at family: cat, fat,hat, mat, and bat. Another may be from the -op family: hop,mop, pop, stop, shop.

{ Label each cornucopia basket with the letters for one wordfamily and an example (such as -at, cat).

{ Place the fruit in a large margarine tub and place near thebulletin board. During free time, students can sort the fruit byword family, attaching each piece to the basket labeled with itsword family name.

Thank-You Place Mats

Set your students on-course for some mysterious Thanksgiving fun!Provide students with place mat-size pieces of white paper. (Studentsmay want to make a place mat for one special person or for eachperson coming to dinner.) Have students decorate the place matsand write a message of thanks to someone in their family.Students should not sign their names. Laminate place mats ifpossible before having children take them home. Encouragestudents to secretly place the mats on their Thanksgiving tablesbeside the appropriate place settings. Family members will bepleasantly surprised.

Variation Rather than make place mats, your students might liketo make place cards, again decorating them and writing secret messagesof thanks on them. Unlined index cards folded in half work well for this.

Language Arts

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12

Preserve your hardwork by laminating allfruit and cornucopiabaskets. Attach five

small squares ofVelcro to the open end

of each basket andone square of Velcroto the back of each

fruit. Students can usethe Velcro to attach

the fruit to the baskets.


Samuel Eaton’s Day andSarah Morton’s Day

by Kate Waters (Scholastic, 1993/1989)

Share Samuel Eaton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy and SarahMorton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl. Discuss the children’s lives asdescribed in the stories. Then let each student make a flap book to comparehis/her life to that of Samuel or Sarah, noting differences in aspects of life suchas clothing, homes, or food. To make a flap book, help each child:

{ Place three pieces of white paper in a pile.Hold vertically.

{ Fold in half, bringing the top down to meetthe bottom. Staple four times along fold.

{ Hold the book so staples are along the top,as shown. Lift all but the bottom sheet andcut to divide into two sets of flaps, stilljoined at the top with staples.

{ Ask each child to draw a picture of Samuel Eaton or Sarah Morton on theleft cover flap and his/her own self on the right cover flap. Have childrenlabel the pictures: “Samuel Eaton” (or “Sarah Morton”) and “Me.”

{ On the remaining pages, have childrendraw pictures to compare aspects oftheir lives with aspects of Samuel’s orSarah’s. For example, on page 2,children might draw the clothes SamuelEaton wears on the left flap and theclothes they wear on the right. On page3, they might draw Samuel’s breakfastfoods alongside their own.

Language Arts

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Book Break

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For backgroundinformation on Pilgrimchildren’s clothing, see

page 25.


Pocket Chart Poetry

Use the poem below to strengthen skills in word recognition, rhyming, andcritical thinking. Copy each line of the poem on a strip of tagboard. Placethe lines in order in the pocket chart. Read the poem aloud several times.Then try these activities.

{ On small squares of tagboard, draw pictures (one per square) toillustrate these words: turkey, pie, corn, bread, squash, toys, sun, family,me. Distribute the pictures to volunteers. As students read the poemaloud with you, let volunteers come up to the pocket chart and inserteach picture beside the word it illustrates.

{ Use tagboard trimmed to size to cover up the last word in each line.Write these words on tagboard and let children take turns placing thewords where they go to complete the poem.

{ Let students substitute their own messages of thanks in place of the onesin the poem. For example, instead of I’m thankful for the turkey, studentsmight write I’m thankful for my sister.

{ Emphasize the skill of rhyming by encouraging students to replacewords so the poem still flows in meter and rhyme.

{Mix up the tagboard strips and place them in the pocket chart so thepoem is out of order. Invite volunteers to come up to the chart andunscramble the poem, line by line.

Language Arts

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I’m thankful for the turkey.I’m thankful for the pie.

I’m thankful for the corn and breadAnd squash I’m going to try.

I’m thankful for the toys I have,The sun I feel and see,

And always, for my familyWho gather here with me.

Kathleen M. Hollenbeck

ThankfulThankful


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Pilgrim Postcards


Name _______________________________ Date _____________

I think of sunshine, clear and bright.I think of stars, twinkling at night.

I think of friends, family, and more—I have so much to be thankful for!

I’m especially thankful for

_______________________________________________.

Thanks at Thanksgiving


Math

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Make Sharing Soup

nvite your students to contribute to a class pot of SharingSoup! Let each student choose one item from a list of

ingredients and bring it to school on a specific day. Students canbring vegetables such as onions, potatoes, carrots, and peas. Youmay want to bring a chicken or vegetable broth, as well as spicesto flavor the soup. Have students add the ingredients one at atime, following a favorite recipe for the basics but varying theingredients to use what you have. Add math skills by measuringand/or weighing ingredients first.

Wendy WeinerParkview School

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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How Many Days to America? by Eve Bunting (Ticknor, 1988)

Ask children if they’ve ever had to wait for an event to arrive (a birthday,holiday, family trip). Then share How Many Days to America? to give them asense of time as Pilgrim children on the Mayflower may have experienced it.Go further by looking at the journey in terms of days, weeks, and months.(See page 18.)

Wampum Works

Long ago, Native Americans used wampum as a symbol of power andauthority. After the Pilgrims arrived, the Wampanoag used wampum asmoney. At that time, three white beads were worth one cent and threepurple beads worth two cents.

Let your students use wampum to appreciate this long-ago concept ofexchange. You may wish to purchase plastic purple beads and white beads ata local craft store. If so, provide 30 beads per student. Otherwise, helpstudents make their own wampum by dying penne (tubular pasta) with foodcoloring. Mix red and blue food coloring to make purple; leave half of thepenne undyed for white wampum.

When each student has 30 pieces of wampum, provide yarn or string(about 24 inches long) and let students string the beads to make a wampumnecklace. Then set up a trading post in your classroom, using schoolsupplies such as erasers, pencils, and glue sticks as merchandise. Place a signbeside each item, telling how much it costs, and let students buy and sell,using their wampum. Put up a sign listing the value of the wampum, asstated above. For example erasers might “cost” 3 white + 6 purple wampum.

Math

1 5

Book Break

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To dye pasta, fill amuffin-tin cup three-

quarters full withwater. Add several

drops blue and severaldrops red food

coloring. Dip pasta andlet dry.


Trading Post Math

Set up a trading post in your classroom! First, review the idea that back inthe 1600s, Pilgrims traded supplies rather than use money to purchasethings. In exchange for corn, fish, and furs, the Pilgrims traded theWampanoag such items as cloth, shoes, and jewelry. Collect a bagful ofinexpensive school supplies such as erasers, glue sticks, pencils, and stickers.Give each student a handful of these to use for this activity. Have studentsuse the items they have to trade with other students. After they have theidea, students may look through magazines to find pictures of items similarto those the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag exchanged. Let students trytrading again, this time using pictures to represent items.

Math

1 6


Feather Math

einforce addition and subtraction with a Thanksgivingtwist. Here’s how:

1. Using construction paper, cut two small turkeys and ten 3-inchfeathers for each student. (Or, use craft feathers.)

2. Write a number sentence on the chalkboard, such as 3 + 4 = 7.Then draw two turkeys on the chalkboard. Draw three feathers onthe first bird and four feathers on the second. Explain that thisdrawing shows 3 + 4 = 7.

3. Write another number sentence. Ask students to use their turkeysand feathers to show that number sentence.

4. Try this several times, until you are sure students have the idea. 5. Then ask students to use only six feathers. Let them divide the

feathers between the birds in any way they choose.6. Ask students to raise their hands and tell you what number

sentence goes with the picture they’ve created. Write thedifferent ways of making six on the chalkboard.

7. Repeat steps five and six, using a different number of featherseach time.

Jackie ClarkeCicero Elementary School

Cicero, New York

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1, 2, 3 Thanksgiving! by W. Nikola-Lisa (Albert Whitman, 1991)

“On Thanksgiving Day, Papa stuffs one fat turkey, Mama bakes twopumpkin pies...” This counting book will inspire many math activities.Suggestions follow.

{ Let children write their own Thanksgiving counting stories, based onfamily traditions, class activities, or their imaginations!

{ Retell the story as a pocket chart activity. Write each sentence on a stripof paper, leaving a blank for each number. Write the numbers on separatestrips of paper, trimmed to size. Reread the story, letting children taketurns selecting the correct number and placing it in the sentence.

{ Create a rebus version of the story, making picture cards for each of theitems (turkey, pumpkin pies, and so on). Set up the story as a pocketchart, and let children take turns retelling the story, inserting thepictures where they go. (You can number them on the back so thatchildren can check the order on their own.)

{ Let children make up number sentences to go with the story. Compilestudents’ math problems on one page and make a copy for each child.

Estimation Station

This fun idea is actually two activities in one!

Part 1: Place pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cranberries, popcornkernels, or a combination of all three in a large glass jar. Then ask yourstudents to estimate how many seeds or berries they see and explain theirestimation methods. Have them write their guesses on slips of paper andplace them in a box or basket. After counting the items, ask the student whocame closest to explain his or her reasoning again.

Part 2: Scoop out some seeds orberries, and give each student a papercup with ten or 20 inside. Invitestudents to use their seeds and berries tohelp them figure out numbercombinations that add up to a specifiednumber. Be sure to give children time toshare their number sentences so thatthey can see the many ways of comingup with the same sum.

Math

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Book Break

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If you use cranberriesin this activity, reusethem for a scienceinvestigation and art

activity. (See page 28.)


Math

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Popular Pies

hich Thanksgiving pies do people like most? Let yourstudents find out for themselves—and track the results on

your classroom computer. Make a template of a graph on yourcomputer, using a software program such as Microsoft Word orWorld Book 1999 (Homework Wizard feature). List numerals 1–10down the left side of the graph. Across the bottom, list seven oreight popular pies (apple, cherry, mince, pumpkin, banana, lemon,and chocolate), one in each column. Print out the graph and sendeach student home with a copy. Have each student survey five orten people to find out which pie they like best at Thanksgiving. Askstudents to bring their completed graphs back to school and enterthe data on the computer graph. After all students have added theirdata, print the finished graph. Discuss which pie proved to be themost popular, and invite students to draw a picture of that pie. Postthese on a bulletin board with the graph.

April SutherlandOur Lady of Victory

Mt. Vernon, New York

WW

Days, Weeks, and Months

Ask your students: How many of you have ever said When will we be there?when you’ve taken a trip with your family? Invite students to think of thelongest trip they have ever taken in a car, or on a boat, airplane, or otherform of transportation. Ask what they did to pass the time, and how theyfelt after the first few hours had passed and they still had a long way to go.

Help students realize how long the Mayflower voyage lasted and howPilgrim children must have felt. Using an outdated calendar, or photocopiedpages from a current calendar, let students count and mark the days fromthe Pilgrims’ departure from England (September 16, 1620) to theiranchorage off the coast of Massachusetts (November 21, 1620). Helpstudents convert the days into weeks that the travelers were crowded on theMayflower. Or, let children mark off the journey one day at a time.Encourage them to look back and ahead, telling how many days havepassed, how many are still to come.


Order in the Colony: The Mayflower Compact

Before the Pilgrims left the Mayflower to settle on land, they needed todecide how the colony would be run. What rules would people be expectedto follow? How would new laws be decided? To determine this, the Pilgrimleaders wrote the Mayflower Compact. In this document, the leaderspromised to make laws for the good of the colony and to obey laws made bythe group. (You can find a copy of the Mayflower Compact in Pilgrims, seeright.) Ask students to imagine what life might have been like for thePilgrims if there had been no Mayflower Compact.

Review the list of rules students are expected to follow in your classroom.What might happen in the classroom if there were no rules to follow—or ifno one followed the rules? With students’ help, convert the list into yourown “Classroom Compact.” Write the rules on chart paper and invite eachstudent to come forward and sign the document. Post it in a prominentplace, reminding your students daily that they are a part of an importantcommunity, as were the Pilgrims.

Social Studies

1 9

MMaayyfflloowweerrCCoommppaacctt

For a complete copyof the Mayflower

Compact, see page 6 in Pilgrims by SusanMoger (Scholastic

Professional Books,1995) or go to thePlimoth Plantation

Web site atwww.plimoth.org.


Pack It Up

fter reading a book on the Pilgrim voyage, help studentsunderstand the hardships of these early immigrants. Tell

them they must decide what seven possessions (including clothing)they would bring on a voyage, given the following conditions:

{ They will never return home.

{ The climate of their destination can be unpredictable.

{ They will live in one-room huts for several years.

{ They will be far from a doctor or hospital.

{ There will be no library, shopping center, movie theater, or school.

Have them make a list and tell why they made the choices they made.

Karen DillenbeckBoca Raton, Florida

AA


Play Pilgrim Games

Teach your students games Pilgrim children played. Along with those listedbelow, Pilgrim children played such familiar games as hopscotch, tug-of-war,marbles, and hide-the-thimble.

Kynge By Your Leave One person is “it.” He or she sits blindfoldedwhile the other players hide. The one who is “it” goes to look for them. Theplayer who can get back to the starting point without being seen wins.

Puss in the Corner One child (Puss) stands in the center of the room.The other players stand in the four corners of the room or along the walls.The object is for everyone to change places without letting Puss get a spot.If Puss succeeds, then the child whose spot was taken becomes Puss.

Adapted from Pilgrims by Susan Moger (Scholastic Professional Books, 1995)

Social Studies

2 0


Family Feathers

ncourage family involvement in your Thanksgiving unitand brighten your classroom at the same time! Using

posterboard, cut out a feather (approximately 2 feet high by 6inches wide) for each student in your class. Send home the featherwith a note, asking family members to work together to decoratethe feather. Families may decorate with beads, feathers, glitter,crayons, markers, or any art supplies they wish. Their feather canrepresent a family interest or it may simply be an artistic collage.Let families know when you would like their feathers back. Thendisplay the feathers on a bulletin board, perhaps as the plumageof a giant, smiling turkey.

Cynthia McDonnellFather John V. Doyle School

Coventry, Rhode Island

EE


Molly’s Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen (Lothrop, Lee, and Shepard, 1983)

Sarah Morton’s Day by Kate Waters (Scholastic, 1989)

Invite students to describe how they’ve felt in new or difficult situations,such as moving to a new town, making new friends, feeling left out, beingaway from home, and being sick. Ask children to keep these feelings inmind as you share Molly’s Pilgrim and Sarah Morton’s Day. After reading,invite children to make comparisons between the children in both stories.How were their experiences similar? How were they different? Whatcomparisons can children make between themselves and the characters inthe stories?

Social Studies

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Book Break

Plimoth Plantation Scavenger Hunt

Send your students on a scavenger hunt at the Plimoth Plantation web site(www. plimoth.org). At the Home Page, click on Plymouth Colony. Fromthe list that appears on the screen, click on the following headings to helpstudents find information to answer the questions that appear below.

{ Interesting Facts About the Pilgrims, the Wampanoag, and Plymouth

{ Pilgrim Trivia

{ The Wampanoag

1. Who named Plymouth? (the Prince of Wales, who became King Charles I)2. Who was Oceanus? (the child born on the Mayflower; son of Stephen and

Elizabeth Hopkins)3. What happened on November 11, 1620? (the Pilgrims first

set foot on American soil)4. How many passengers traveled on the Mayflower? (102)5. What eating utensil didn’t the Pilgrims use? (a fork)6. What took 66 days to complete? (the Mayflower crossing)7. How long did the first Thanksgiving feast last? (three days)8. What does the name “Wampanoag” mean? (eastern people

or people of the dawn)9. What were Native American boys trained to do? (to hunt

and to survive under all conditions)10. What were Native American girls trained to do? (to work

diligently in the fields and around the family wetu)


Grow a Giving Tree

Have each student trace and cut out several hands (for a total of about 50).Place the hands in an empty tissue box, basket, or coffee can. Next, make abulletin board or wall display, using craft paper to form a tree with barebranches. Label the display “Our Giving Tree.” Place the box of paper handsnear the display. Invite students to keep their eyes open throughout the week,watching for good deeds their classmates do, such as picking up droppeditems, sharing crayons orscissors, or encouraging aclassmate who is sad.

When students seeclassmates giving ofthemselves, have themwrite their names andgood deeds on paperhands and display on thetree for all to appreciate.

Social Studies

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Sharing Partners

lan a special Thanksgiving feast for your class. Send home aletter asking families to send in healthful snacks (raisins,

nuts, crackers) on a given school day. About a week before thefeast, have students draw names to select “sharing partners.”Remind students to keep the identity of their partners a secret untilthe big day. Throughout the week, invite students to talk with theclass about their hobbies, likes and dislikes, and so on. On the lastday before the feast, give each student a large sheet of whiteconstruction paper. Ask students to draw portraits of their sharingpartners, illustrating some of the things they learned about them.Cover the drawings with contact paper. Let students present themto their partners as place mats to use for the feast.

Henry DavidsonAustin, Texas

PP


Helping at Home

Long ago, Native American children aided theirfamily’s survival by helping with the essentialtasks of growing and finding food. From anearly age, Native American children plantedseeds, weeded fields, and harvested crops. Theyfished and gathered berries and nuts. Share thisinformation with your students. Then ask themto think about ways they help out in their ownhomes. Make a simple chart to help studentscompare/contrast the ways they help with theways Native American children helped long ago.(See sample chart, right.)

Talk with students about the importance of the tasks they do at home andhow they can help their homes run smoothly. Help them realize that NativeAmerican children had a different goal in mind: Their family’s survivaldepended on cultivating and gathering enough to feed the family during thegrowing season and throughout winter months when food was scarce. Askstudents to think about what having this responsibility might feel like to them.

Social Studies

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Green Corn Day Journal

ntroduce Green Corn Day, the holiday when Native Americansgive thanks for the gifts of the land. Invite students to write

down things they are thankful for that might be considered “gifts ofthe land.” Students might choose to write about a beautiful streamthey admire or a food that eventually makes its way to their homesfrom the farm where it grows. When students have finished theirjournal entries, invite them to illustrate their pages. Bind students’work to make a Green Corn Day journal. Let it circulate amongstudents’ families, then add it to your class library.

Kara RatiganFather John V. Doyle School


II

T p{

How I Helped This Week

set the table

made my bed

fed my fish

put toys away

put my clothes away

Helping at HomeHow Native AmericanChildren Helped Long Ago

planted seeds

picked corn and squash

caught fish for food

found nuts and berries

wove mats to build homes

For backgroundinformation on theThanksgiving feast,share portions of

Lucille Recht Penner’sEating the Plates: A

Pilgrim Book of Foodand Manners

(Macmillan, 1991). Pointsof interest in the book

include recipes forPilgrim foods, insight

into Pilgrim meal habits,and a close look at the

lifestyles of Pilgrimchildren.


Make a Book of Thanks: Then and Now

As a class, create two books with messages of Thanksgiving: one fromPilgrim times and one from the present day.

{ Reproduce the pattern below (enlarge first) so each student has two copies.

{ Ask students to color one activity page to represent the face, hair, hat,sleeves, and hands of a Pilgrim boy or girl. (They must leave therectangle between the arms blank.)

{ Ask students to imagine they are Pilgrim children in the year 1621.They have survived a difficult year in a new land and are about to sharea feast with Native American friends. Before the meal, each child musttell something for which he or she is thankful.

{ In the rectangle, have each student write from the point of view of aPilgrim child, telling what he or she is thankful for in the autumn of 1621.

{ Fold the arms in front to cover the Thanksgiving message and form abook.

{ Ask students to color the second activity page to represent their ownfaces, hair, hats, sleeves, and hands. (Again, they must leave therectangle between the arms blank.)

{ Inside the rectangle, have each student tell one thing he or she isthankful for today. It might be a friend or family member, a home orpossession, the ability to run, and so on.

{ Fold the arms as before to form a second book.

Social Studies

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Alike and Different

Use Venn diagrams to help children compare life at the time of the Pilgrimswith life now. Begin by making a Venn diagram together. List informationabout clothes Pilgrim children wore. (See Tip, right.) Have children describeclothes they wear now and add this information to the chart. Set up a Venndiagram on chart paper or the board, then guide children in recording theinformation in the circles. Make additional Venn diagrams to make newcomparisons—for example, compare the Wampanoag lifestyle with thePilgrim lifestyle in the 1600s. Have children work in small groups to gatherinformation about topics such as clothes, homes, food, and so on. Compiletheir findings on one Venn diagram, as shown.

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Share the followingbackground information

to help childrencompare the way theydress to the way Pilgrim

children dressed.

{ Pilgrim clothes weremade of wool andlinen. They wereoften bright colors—red, orange, purple,and blue—ratherthan only the darkand somber colorswe often associatewith Pilgrims.

{ A Pilgrim boy worea long shirt, pantsthat ended at theknee, stockings heldup with garters, ashort jacket withlong sleeves, andshoes.

{ A Pilgrim girl wore along shirt, one ormore petticoats,stockings withgarters, an apron, awaistcoat and skirtor a long gown,leather shoes, and awhite linen cap onher head.

{ In cold weather,Pilgrims wore hatsand cloaks orcapes.

T p{

Wampanoag Pilgrim

Clothes made ofanimal skin

Lived in wigwam

Learned storiesand lessons fromadults

Children practicedusing bows andarrows

Clothes made ofcloth or wool

Lived in house withroof

Learned to readand write fromadults

Children playedmarbles

Ate corn and fish

Houses werecovered with

bark

Children taughtto respect elders

Children playedball and ran

races


Social Studies

2 6


Thanksgiving Feast

imulate the first Thanksgiving with a feast for your studentsand their families. (See Tip for background information.)

Send out invitations. You might ask invitees to bring a dessert toshare, or to send in specific food items (cut-up vegetables, butter,beverages) ahead of time. Guide students in preparing for thefeast. Let students

{ help make cornbread and turkey soup in advance.

{ weave placemats with construction paper strips. (See alsoThank-You Place Mats, page 9.)

{ make corn-cob print paper tableclothes. (See page 30.)

{ draw a mural of the First Thanksgiving.

{ make Native American vests and headbands of paper, as wellas Pilgrim hats and collars for students and guests to wear.

{ rehearse poems to recite. (see pages 11, 13.)

{ set the tables and clean up afterward, to reinforce responsibility.

Maureen HealeyFather John V. Doyle School


SST p{

Book Break

Thanksgivingby Laura Alden (Children’s Press, 1993)

Share this story to inspire new traditions in your students’ lives. The booktells the story of a family that establishes traditions to weave kindness andthankfulness into the holiday. One tradition involves placing five kernels ofcorn beside each place setting to remind family members to be thankful.After reading the story, lay out Indian corn kernels (take off the cob or buymulticolored popcorn kernels) and plastic sandwich bags on a table. Leteach student take five kernels of corn for each member of his or her familyand place them in a plastic bag to take home. Encourage students to placethe corn kernels beside every plate on Thanksgiving day. Before sharingtheir meal, your students and their families might find five reasons each tobe thankful—one for each kernel of corn.

Set the scene for your celebration bysharing the following

backgroundinformation about the

first Thanksgiving,which brought together

approximately 50colonists and 100natives, and lasted

three days. ThePilgrims ate turkey,goose, duck, fish,

cheese, and puddingmade of corn. The

Wampanoags broughtdeer meat, turkey,

rabbit, woodchuck, fish,lobster, clams, mussels,potatoes, corn, beans,

and squash.


Harvest Leaf Prints

Let your students make colorful leaf books to remember fall leaves long afterthey’ve faded away. Have students bring in an assortment of leaves. (Planthis activity before leaves on the ground have dried up.) Let studentsexamine the leaves and sort them by attributes. For example, look at the leafedges and classify the leaves the way scientists often do: as smooth, wavy,toothed, or lobed. Next, place leaves one at a time on a square of cardboard,and tape a piece of lightweight paper over them. Have students rub gentlyover the leaves with a crayon, moving it back and forth until the shape andveins of the leaf appear on the paper. Let each student make four to six leafrubbings and staple them together to make a leaf-rubbing book.

Science

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Add Two Parts Fish

ative Americans who lived near the ocean often added fishto the soil as fertilizer. Help your students conduct an

experiment to learn why they did this. You will need two clean 2-liter soda bottles, potting soil, one can of tuna fish, plasticstraws (or other inorganic matter), and apple cores (or otherorganic materials). Here’s what to do:

{ Cut each soda bottle off at the center.

{ Place several scoops of potting soil in one bottle so it is half full.

{ Add organic matter, such as a chunk of tuna and a slice ofapple, to the soil.

{ Add inorganic matter, such as a plastic straw.

{ Flip over the second bottle. Force it over the bottom bottle toform a lid. Tape the two together with clear packing tape.

{ Watch the soil for several months. Over time, the organicmaterials will change, return to the soil, and enrich it. Theinorganic materials will remain unchanged.

Ann FlaggEdu-Prize SchoolGilbert, Arizona

NNLeaf Edges

Lobed

Smooth

Wavy

Toothed


Dry and Nibble Harvest Necklaces

Long ago, Pilgrims dried some foods to keep them from going bad. Let yourstudents experiment with drying foods as they make these tasty necklacetreats. Here’s how:

{ Give each student a small paper cup filled with pumpkin seeds, raisins,and corn (from a bag of frozen corn). Let students taste each of thefoods. Then give them each about 2-3 feet of thread and large needles.(Talk about safety issues and make sure there is plenty of space betweeneach student.) Have them string the foods to make a necklace, creatingpatterns if they like.

{ Cover cookie sheets with foil and spread students’ necklaces on them.(Most will look alike; use the dull side of a needle to etch students’names on the foil inside their necklaces.)

{ Bake the necklaces in a 250°F. oven until they have dried, about one hour.

Science

2 8

T p{ Teacher ShareTeacher Share

Cranberry Sink and Float

ranberries are a traditional Thanksgiving food. Let childrenlearn more about these tiny fruits with a simple experiment.

Give everyone a fresh cranberry. Ask children to describe theircranberries. You might list words on chart paper as childrensuggest them. Next, have children predict whether their cranberrieswill sink or float and explain their reasoning. Let students test theirpredictions by placing their cranberries in the water. Follow up bycutting cranberries in half to reveal air pockets inside. Guidechildren to understand that the air pockets prevent the cranberriesfrom sinking. (For more information, see Tip, left.)

Let children use the cranberry halves like stamps to make printson paper. You might have them fold white paper to make cards,then use the cranberry stamps to decorate the front. Use the cardsas invitations to a class Thanksgiving celebration. (SeeThanksgiving Feast, page 26.) They can do the same thing onsmaller pieces of paper to make place cards.

Lynne KeplerClarion Limestone Elementary School

Strattanville, Pennsylvania

CCYoung children maybelieve that heavy

objects sink and lightobjects float. Whiledensity is a difficult

concept to grasp, youcan explain that

something that sinks isheavy enough to pushthe water out of theway. (It is more dense

than water.)Cranberries float

because they are notmore dense than water.If you have a pumpkinon hand, let children

predict whether it willsink or float. Like

cranberries, pumpkinshave air pockets insidethat prevent them from

being dense enough to sink.


{ Place necklaces on paper towels to cool. Let students discuss how theheat from the oven changed the foods. Invite them to taste the driedfoods. How did drying change their taste?

Adapted from ScienceArt by Deborah Schecter (Scholastic Professional Books, 1997).

Science

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T p{


Harvest Beginnings

ithout seeds there would be no harvest! Discuss the ideathat much of the food we eat comes from plants that

begin as seeds. Show students a can of corn, and ask them to tellwhere corn seeds come from. Hold up an ear of Indian corn. Helpchildren identify the kernels and the cob as parts of the cornplant. Then let them pick kernels from the cob. Explain that theseare seeds. Next, display a commercial packet of corn seeds andkernels of popcorn. Explain that all three are the kernels, or seeds,of a corn plant. Let students closely examine the three kinds ofseeds, then follow these steps to plant them.

{ Give each child three recloseable sandwich bags and papertowels, and two of each seed.

{ Instruct students to fold the paper towels until they are smallenough to fit in the bags.

{ Have them wet the paper towels completely and slide one intoeach bag.

{ Have students drop two of each type of seed into a bag andseal it.

{ Using clear tape, attach the sandwich bags to a sunnywindow in the classroom. (Use permanent marker to writestudents’ names on their bags first.)

{ Add water as needed to keep the paper towels and seedsmoist. Watch what happens!

Ann FlaggEdu-Prize SchoolGilbert, Arizona

WW

Many children will befamiliar with the nameSquanto. Help childrenlearn more about how

Squanto helped thePilgrims find food tosurvive in their newhome. For example,Squanto taught the

Pilgrims to plant cornand to use herring to

fertilize the ground. Healso showed the

Pilgrims how to gathernuts and berries, and

how to fish.


Corn Cob Painting

Strip a corn cob of its kernels, and you’ll have a powerful painting tool!That’s what your students will find when they do corn-cob painting.

{ Strip the corn kernels from an ear of corn.

{ Let the corn cob dry completely.

{ Cover a table in your classroom (or cafeteria, if you’re decorating for aschool lunch) with butcher paper or craft paper. Tape the paper in place.

{ Have students don smocks or oversized T-shirts and give them each acob. Let students dip the corn cob in paint, roller style, and roll it alongthe paper tablecloth in any direction.

{ Let several students use different colors and paint in the same area tocreate a multi-colored, decorative effect.

Art

3 0


Clothespin Pilgrims

ilgrims come in all shapes and sizes—and they don’t all livein Plimoth! Now that you have your students’ attention tell

them that the definition of “pilgrim” is a person who travels a longdistance in search of freedom or led by religious devotion. Thenshare Molly’s Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen (Lothrop, Lee & ShepardBooks, 1983) with your class. This book describes how a young girlteaches her classmates to understand and accept modern-daypilgrims. Let students know that a lot of people, including possiblytheir ancestors, have come to America as pilgrims. Invite studentsto share their own cultural heritage with the class. Then tellstudents that they will be creating a clothespin doll thatrepresents some part of their cultural heritage.

Give children straight, wooden clothespins without hinges. Askthem to take the clothespin home and work with family membersto design a clothespin doll that represents all or some of theirethnic roots. Ask students to bring the dolls back to school. Thenhave them hang their dolls on a clothesline with the name of theorigin of each pilgrim taped on so that the class can see wheretheir classmates’ families are from!

Jackie ClarkeCicero Elementary School

Cicero, New York

PP


3-D Pilgrims

Make Pilgrims that stand up and can serve as centerpieces or shelfdecorations at Thanksgiving. Provide each student with a toilet paper tube,glue, and a 3-by-5-inch piece of gold felt. Have students glue the felt so it fitsaround the toilet paper tube, leaving 1 inches bare at the top of the tube.This will form the Pilgrim’s clothing. Have students use markers to color aface and hair on the bare part of the tube. Then provide scraps of felt. Letstudents cut out and glue on belts, arms, and any embellishments they like.Students might choose to donate these centerpieces to a local soup kitchen ornursing home to be part of the decorations for their Thanksgiving dinner.

Turkey Magnets

Make turkey magnets to send home. Have each student paint his/her handwith paint of any color and press it on a square of construction paper. Whenthe paint dries, let students use markers, glitter, feathers, and glue to addfeatures that turn their handprints into turkeys. Cut out the hands and pressan adhesive magnet square on the back of each. Send them home to gracefamilies’ refrigerators.

Art

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Give It Away!

ncourage your students to put their artistic talents to use—for someone they don’t even know. Give each student a

large sheet of construction paper. Ask children to use crayons ormarkers to draw Thanksgiving-related scenes with messages ofgood will. Laminate the pictures to make place mats (or recruit alocal business to laminate them for you) and donate them toyour local soup kitchen or to a Meals-on-Wheels program fordistribution with Thanksgiving dinners. You might also want todeliver the place mats to a local nursing home or health centerfor residents to use at their Thanksgiving meal.

Carole KeisterFairchance, Pennsylvania

EE

12


Art

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Origami Turkey

ere’s a fun, nontraditional way to make Thanksgiving Dayturkeys.

{ Choose a sturdy colored paper for the body, and cut it into asquare.

{ Fold the paper in half along thediagonal, and then unfold.

{ As if you were making a paperairplane, fold the two corners into thecenter and then turn the paper over.

{ Fold the corners into the middle again.

{ Fold the top point to the bottom point.

{ Fold the smaller point down to make the head.

{ Turn the paper over and fold up the bottomtriangle to make the tail.

{ Turn it over. Draw a face and add a paperwattle and paper or craft feathers.

Linda YoffeStamford, Connecticut

HH


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