Thanksgiving Lesson Plans

1. An Invitation - The student will be able to create an invitation the Pilgrims can use to invite the American Indians to the Thanksgiving feast.
2. Family Traditions - The student will be able to describe one family tradition and how it was started.
3. Going Shopping - Making healthy choices during the holiday season is a struggle for most people. In this lesson, students create Thanksgiving day meals using the correct number of servings from each food groups.
4. How a Day Becomes a National Holiday - The student will be able to compare the ways the different US holidays started.
5. Learning to Trade - The student will be able to trade items with classmates to get the items that they want.
6. Moving to a New Land - The student will be able to explain the difficult choices the Pilgrims had to make when they were deciding whether to move to America.
7. Native Americans: Fact or Fiction - The student will be able to correct ten common myths about the early American Indians.
8. Planning a New Town - Students practice their map drawing skills in this lesson. They work with a small group to create a new settlement that is similar how Plymouth is set up.
9. Sales Brochure for America - The student will be able to create a brochure highlighting the reasons why someone should join the Pilgrims in America.
10. Thankful Quilt - Students work together on this assignment to create a quilt of thankfulness.
11. Thanksgiving Food Drive - Thanksgiving Food Drive Introduction to new key words, pre-math skills, the importance of community involvement, and love of neighbor.
12. Thanksgiving Myths - The student will be able to name five Thanksgiving myths and provide the correct information about the myth.
13. Thanksgiving True History - Students will be aware of the discrepancy between the true history of Thanksgiving and the traditional history.
14. The First Winter - The student will be able to conduct an experiment to see how well the pilgrims' homes protected them from the cold.
15. The Logistics of a New Settlement - The student will be able to make a list of priorities as the leader of the Pilgrims.
16. The Mayflower Was This Big - The student will be able to describe how big the Mayflower was by comparing it to modern day objects.
17. The Pilgrims and Google Earth - The student will be able to follow the route of the Mayflower using Google Earth.
18. The Pilgrim's Feast - The student will be able to describe and taste the foods that were eaten by the Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving.
19. The Pros and Cons of Being a Pilgrim - The student will be able to debate whether it is worth the risk to join the group on the Mayflower.
20. The Ultimate Thanksgiving Lesson Plan - Our entire staff sat down for this one. Over 500 years of teaching experience! The goal was to create the components of a thanksgiving feast lesson that reinforces as many core curriculum areas as possible. Of course, it has to be a fun and engaging activity for students.
21. Traveling at Thanksgiving - Thanksgiving is the most traveled holiday of the year. Use this opportunity to have your students practice statistics and probability.
22. Traveling on the Mayflower - This activity helps students see what life was like on the Mayflower as it brought the Pilgrims to their new home.
23. Why Did the Pilgrims Come? -The student will be able to create a Power Point presentation showing the details behind why the Pilgrims chose to come to America.

Thanksgiving Lesson Plans From Other Sites

1. Let's Talk Turkey: The Cost of Thanksgiving Dinner- How does your family celebrate Thanksgiving? Are you joined by friends and/or family for a special feast? What do you eat?
2. Stuff the Turkey Tag- A PE activity.
3. Thanksgiving- 12 wonderful poems.
4. Thanksgiving Bargain Shopping - Let's talk turkey about Thanksgiving grocery shopping! Students work in groups to compare grocery store prices to shop for Thanksgiving dinner.
5. Thanksgiving in American Memory
6. Thanksgiving Friends- You need to find a class that will exchange email with you. I have found that many teachers are willing to do this. It can be friends or someone new.
7. Thanksgiving Quilt - Begin the lesson by brainstorming a class list of things your students are thankful for.
8. Thanksgiving Stations- To pre-assess younger students abilities in three areas--in particular throwing.
9. The Telling: A Thanksgiving Story - With the use of literature, students compare and contrast different points of view on the first Thanksgiving.
10. The Ten Little Indians Count - Did you ever have fun blowing feathers in the air? This activity is a fun, hands-on activity that uses a Thanksgiving theme to incorporate one-to-one counting to 10.
11. Turkey Time- The purpose of this activity is to give students the opportunity to use their chasing, fleeing, and dodging skills in a fun holiday situation.