Thanksgiving Lesson Plans

Students examine common Thanksgiving foods employing counting, singing, and discussion. Students sing "We Eat Turkey" and discuss what their families eat. Students will then be asked to create and plate of Thanksgiving food and count and label the number of items on their plate. Students will play a memory game recalling items they eat for Thanksgiving.

Studens create turkey napkin holders. They discuss how Thanksgiving originated and why we celebrate this holiday. They create their napkin holders using craft sticks, glue guns, construction paper, feathers, and glitter.

Pupils explore why Thanksgiving is celebrated. In this cross-curriculum lesson, students listen to the book Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes, and complete the sentence frame "I am thankful for ____." Pupils practice phonemic awareness skills as they generate rhymes for a class book, and play a circle game with a "thankerchief".

Students develop an understanding of historical events from different perspectives while practicing reading comprehension and creative writing. They access the Internet to explore information on the Mayflower, Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving.

Students recognize the historical development of the Thanksgiving holiday. They identify Thanksgiving traditions and symbolism. They share what they are thankful for.

Students study tier two vocabulary words. In this vocabulary lesson, students explore new vocabulary words while reading The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving. Students record their new vocabulary words using a word journal or discovery chart.

Students compare foods available for the Pilgrim's Thanksgiving with contemporary Thanksgiving. They create a menu and compute the cost of a turkey dinner, using grocery ads. They write an essay entitled "How to Cook a Turkey."

Students share their holiday traditions, then read about an American Thanksgiving custom. In this current events lesson, the teacher introduces the news article with a discussion and vocabulary activity, the students participate in a think-pair-share discussion. Lesson includes interdisciplinary follow-up activities.

Students investigate the history of presidential proclamations and develop their own Thanksgiving Proclamations, highlighting current issues and sentiments.

Students explore holidays by participating in class singing activities. In this Thanksgiving history lesson, students discuss the importance of Thanksgiving Day and read several poems which discuss the history of Thanksgiving. Students complete a turkey art construction project and identify the size of the Mayflower.