Unraveling Thanksgiving !

Template for Designing Mini-Unit of Doing Social Studies Project

Name: Ana Luisa D. de Moura

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Overarching
Goal(s):

Objectives:

Lesson
ideas:

Resources:

Topic: Unraveling Thanksgiving

Students will gain a new understanding about the Thanksgiving holiday.

Students will learn that every story has more than one side to be learned about.
Students will learn about Thanksgiving, and the National Mourning Day.
Students will be able to understand where do resources come from, and whether or
not to trust them.
Students will be aware the Pilgrims perspective about Thanksgiving.
Students will acquire the Indians (Patuxet and Wampanoag) perspective about
Thanksgiving.
Students will be able to compare and contrast perspectives about Thanksgiving, and
realize that every story has more than one viewpoint.
Students will learn when Thanksgiving became a holiday, and about the National
Mourning Day.
Students will gain knowledge, and will be able to differentiate primary and
secondary resources.

Lesson #1- Thanksgiving, what do we know about it?

Lesson #2 - Thanksgiving, what do others know about it?
Lesson #3 - What are primary and secondary sources, and where do they come from?
Lesson #4 - How Thanksgiving became a holiday?
Lesson #5 - What did you learn about Thanksgiving? Activities

Bruchac, J. (2007). Squantos Journey. Florida: Harcourt Inc.

Dalgliesh, A. (1995). The Thanksgiving Story. New York, NY: Aladdin.
Grace, C.O., & Bruchac, M.M. (2001). 1621: A new look at Thanksgiving.
Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.
Library of Congress (2013). Library of Congress. Retrieved November 02, 2013
from http://www.loc.gov/index.html
Live Leak (2011, June 24). Tribe meets white men for first time. Retrieved November
13, 2013 from http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=305_1308772777
National Museum of the American Indian. (2013). Retrieved November 13, 2013
from http://www.nmai.si.edu/home
Pilgrim Hall Museum. (2013). Retrieved October 22, 2013 from http://
www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org/
Plimouth Plantation. (2013). Retrieved October 30, 2013 from http://
www.plimoth.org/
Waters, K. (1993). Samuel Eatons day. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Waters, K. (1996). Tapenums day: A Wampanoag Indian boy in Pilgrim times. New
York, NY: Scholastic

Unraveling Thanksgiving !2

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- Lesson #1
Objective(s):
Students will gain an understanding of Thanksgiving from the Pilgrims perspective;
Students will comprehend why people wanted to move from England;
Students will learn about the Mayflower, and the Speedwell;
Students will understand why the Pilgrims have a harvest feast - a feast that now is known as the
first Thanksgiving;
Students will be familiarized with the tradition of saying Thanks on Thanksgiving.
Lesson #1: Thanksgiving, what do we know about it?

First, the teacher will ask the students to complete a KWL (Know, Want to Learn, and Learned)
chart on what they know, and what they want to know about the history of Thanksgiving. This gives
the students an opportunity to compare what they knew first, and how much they have learned after
some classes when the KWL chart is presented to the students. The learned part will be completed
in Lesson #5.
To start with the Thanksgiving theme, the teacher can read aloud some of the KWL charts, or
encourage the students to share what they know about Thanksgiving, while the teacher writes main
ideas on the board.
After that, the teacher will read aloud The First Thanksgiving Story (1995) that explains why the
Pilgrims came to the United States, how they got here, and how some of them survived the first
harsh winter.
Teacher will share Samuel Eatons day (1993) and children will discuss how different life was back
in 1621 with the aid of the Pilgrim Hall Museum Website on the projector - teacher should be going
through parts of the website that shows how was the life of a Pilgrim, such as About the Pilgrims,
and Beyond the Pilgrim Story.
Teacher will explain why people started to say Thanks on Thanksgiving.
As an exit slip, students will have to pretend they were at the first Thanksgiving dinner, and will
have to say thanks to something. Students can either write down on a paper, or say it to the teacher.

Resource(s):
Dalgliesh, A. (1995). The Thanksgiving Story. New York, NY: Aladdin.
Pilgrim Hall Museum. (2013). Retrieved October 22, 2013 from http://www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org/
Waters, K. (1993). Samuel Eatons day. New York, NY: Scholastic.
- Lesson #2
Objective(s):
Students will gain an understanding of Thanksgiving from the Indians (Patuxet and Wampanoag)
perspective;
Students will be aware of the discrepancy between the true history of Thanksgiving and the
traditional history;
Students will compare the different points of view of Thanksgiving;
Students should be able to name the tribe of native americans that shared the feast with the pilgrims.

Unraveling Thanksgiving !3

Lesson #2: Thanksgiving, what do others say about it?

To start the class, the teacher should ask students to summarize what was seen in the previous class.
Teacher should explain that every story has different perspectives, and will conduct an activity to
exemplify that:
- Half of the class should be sitting down as watchers;
- Others must be in different locations of the classroom, or even outside looking through the
windows, as watchers as well;
- One student will perform a simple action that happens in class. For example: a student
getting up from his seat, stopping at anothers students desk to get a pencil, dropping the
pencil, getting it from the floor, and grab more items on his way to a final spot.
After the act is done, the teacher must ask the students to share what they saw. Maybe someone that
was looking from another angle did not see what the student got from a specific desk, and so on. To
end this task, teacher should explain that every person that was present at the moment has a different
point of view, and might interpret what happened in a different way.
Following this explanation, teacher should announce to the students that they will see the same story
from the previous class, but from a different perspective, and will read Squantos Journey aloud.
To enhance the new perspective learned, the teacher should share parts of the book Tapenums Day:
A Wampanoag Indian boy in Pilgrim times (1996) with the class.
Teacher can share the video Tribe meets white men for first time (for 7-9 minutes) to exemplify that
maybe, the Indians that were here when the Pilgrims came reacted the same way as the ones from
the video.
A class discussion will be conducted about the short movie, and about the books. The teacher must
ask the students to name some differences and similarities from the perspectives learned.
To finish this class, children will fill a Venn Diagram comparing the Pilgrims, and the Wampanoag
perspectives.

Resource(s):
Bruchac, J. (2007). Squantos Journey. Florida: Harcourt Inc.
Live Leak (2011, June 24). Tribe meets white men for first time. Retrieved November 13, 2013 from
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=305_1308772777
Waters, K. (1996). Tapenums day: A Wampanoag Indian boy in Pilgrim times. New York, NY:
Scholastic.
- Lesson #3
Objective(s):
Students will understand what primary and secondary sources are;
Students will acquire abilities to identify and differentiate primary and secondary sources;
Students will practice how to navigate internet websites in order to find information regarding a
specific topic. In this case, information about the Mayflower, Pilgrims, Wampanoags, and the first
Thanksgiving.

Unraveling Thanksgiving !4

Lesson #3: What are primary and secondary sources and where do they come from?

Analyzing the words primary and secondary, the teacher will ask the students to try to explain the
differences between a primary, and a secondary resource.
After that, putting it together with some of the students ideas, teacher must state that primary
sources are original records made by the people who were a part, and witnesses something that
happened. Teacher can mention some examples, such as:
- Images: photographs, videos, paintings, ...
- Objects: clothing, pottery, tools, ...
- Texts: proclamations, letters, agreements, maps,....
Following the examples, the teacher should ask the students to try and name a few more. (3-5
minutes).
Teacher must explain how primary and secondary resources are different mentioning that secondary
sources are images, texts, objects, among others, created by someone who had access to the primary
source.
After this, teacher should go to the computer and show students (following on the projector) on how
to search on the internet. Teacher should go to the websites below (about 5 minutes each), and ask
the students about the types of sources they are looking at. Teacher should also ask some students to
explain why that example is a primary, or a secondary resource.
As an exit slip, teacher should ask students to name a primary source seen in one of the websites
they went through together.

Resource(s):
National Museum of the American Indian. (2013). Retrieved November 13, 2013 from http://
www.nmai.si.edu/home
Pilgrim Hall Museum. (2013). Retrieved October 22, 2013 from http://www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org/
Plimouth Plantation. (2013). Retrieved October 30, 2013 from http://www.plimoth.org/
- Lesson #4
Objective(s):
Students will gain knowledge how Thanksgiving became a national holiday;
Students will get to know the National Day of Mourning;
Students will gain a more in-depth understanding of why some people do not celebrate
Thanksgiving.

Unraveling Thanksgiving !5

Lesson #4: How Thanksgiving became a holiday?

Teacher must start the class asking the students if Thanksgiving is a holiday. At least the majority of
the students will answer yes, either because they celebrate it, because they have heard about it, or
because they have access to a calendar.
After that the teacher must ask the students questions such as:
- How do you know that?
- What if I do not celebrate it? Is it still a holiday?
- Who decides if it is a holiday or not?
With access to computers, and the abilities learned from the previous class, students will be divided
in small groups (of 3 or 4), so the children can look for sources to evidence whether Thanksgiving is
a holiday or not. (10-15 minutes)
After that, each group should briefly share their findings with the class.
Following the discussion, the teacher can access the Library of Congress and share some primary
sources with the students. The teacher can go through the website with the students following on the
projector, but the teacher should make sure to share the following files:
- A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting and Prayer, 1678;
- George Washingtons Recommendation of a Public Day of Thanksgiving, from 1789;
- Abraham Lincolns Thanksgiving Proclamation, from Oct. 3, 1863.
Teacher should mention the importance of such documents.
While talking about the sources, the teacher can discuss the website, and refresh the memory of the
students showing what makes that website trustable.
Teacher should ask the students if they think the American Indians celebrate Thanksgiving, and to
justify their answer.
Teacher should talk about the National Day of Mourning, that happens on the same day as
Thanksgiving since 1970, and explain the reason for that.

Resource(s):
Library of Congress (2013). Library of Congress. Retrieved November 02, 2013 from http://
www.loc.gov/index.html
- Lesson #5
Objective(s):
Students will fill the same KWL (Know, Want to learn, Learned) chart from Lesson #1, so we can
evaluate it;
As a group, the class will discuss the different perspectives learned about Thanksgiving;
Students will discuss about primary sources, and what they have learned about it;
Students will make a project about their new discoveries to be displayed in school.

Unraveling Thanksgiving !6

Lesson #5: What did you learn about Thanksgiving? Activities

In order for students to correlate all of the perspectives about Thanksgiving learned in class, the
teacher will read aloud the book 1621: A new look at Thanksgiving (2001) that addresses
Thanksgiving from different perspectives.
For the final class about Thanksgiving, a short discussion (about 5 minutes) will be held to talk
about what they have learned. Like the Venn Diagram made from the Pilgrims and Indians point of
view, the teacher will ask the students to think about, and decide which perspective they believed to
be true before classes, and if they changed their minds about it.
While the students are thinking about what they learned, the teacher should give back the KWL
chart, so the students can finish filling the Learned part, and the class can talk about on how their
perspectives changed about the subject.
Still as a group, the class will choose a title for the board that will expose the following work:
For the final part of the class, the teacher will ask the students to make a visual or written
representation about what they have learned about Thanksgiving that will be exposed in the
classroom, or school board with the title chosen by the class. Students can chose from:
1. Drawing;
2. Poster;
3. Poem;
4. A monument (a picture will be taken);
5. Letter to someone telling what they have learned, or
6. A small book telling other students what they have learned.
Resource(s):
Grace, C.O., & Bruchac, M.M. (2001). 1621: A new look at Thanksgiving. Washington, D.C.:
National Geographic Society.