Free History of Thanksgiving Lesson
If you’re a teacher, you know that the week before a holiday break can be brutal. Teachers and students alike are ready for a few days off, and it can be extra difficult to get students to concentrate. When I was teaching I loved fun holiday-themed lessons and activities. But so many of the ones available felt like they were simple “time-fillers.” And while we all love a good turkey craft, there is so much more to the history of Thanksgiving!
I wanted my students to be engaged while still learning valuable information. That’s why I love this interactive game from Plimoth Patuxet Museums. It’s called You Are the Historian: Investigating the First Thanksgiving.
I’ve also created some worksheets to go along with the game so that you can see what your students are learning. In addition, I created a Google Slides version of the worksheet so you can use this lesson if you are teaching virtually.
Free History of Thanksgiving Lesson Plan
Activity Description
In this activity, students follow Alex, a student reporter who has been asked to write an article about the First Thanksgiving. The students will visit four historical locations to learn about Thanksgiving. At each location, students will complete a task to earn a secret password.
Here are the four tasks:
- Sort Wampanoag artifacts to learn how their culture has changed over time
- Read a primary source to learn what happened when the Pilgrims met the Massasoit for the first time
- Compare artifacts to learn what it was like to live in Plymouth and Patuxet
- Examine a primary source to learn what happened at the first Thanksgiving
Also, mysterious riddles help students along the way.
Students must earn all four passwords to complete the game and read Alex’s article.
A few things to know:
- This activity will take students at least 30 minutes, but probably closer to an hour.
- All text will be read to students (so make sure they have headphones).
Lesson Steps:
1. Ask students what they know about the First Thanksgiving. List students’ ideas on the board. Do students know the names of the groups who feasted together? Do they know where it happened?
2. Tell students they will complete an online game to learn all about the history of the first Thanksgiving. Read objectives:
- Sort Wampanoag artifacts to learn how their culture has changed over time
- Read a primary source to learn what happened when the Pilgrims met the Massasoit for the first time
- Compare artifacts to learn what it was like to live in Plymouth and Patuxet
- Examine a primary source to learn what happened at the first Thanksgiving
3. Help students get to this website: https://youarethehistorian.org/
4. Pass out student worksheets OR help students access the Google Slides version of the worksheets.
5. Students could work with a partner or by themselves to work through the online activity. They will record their learning on the worksheet as they go. Walk around assisting students.
6. After students are finished, ask students to share what they learned (page 4 of the worksheet). Compare students’ new knowledge with their previous ideas that were written on the whiteboard.
Download the History of Thanksgiving Lesson Plan
I hope this History of Thanksgiving lesson plan makes learning about Thanksgiving engaging and creates a meaningful learning experience in your classroom. To help you teach this lesson, I’ve created Google Slides to guide you and provide a place for students to answer questions.
To download the google slide presentation, simply click the button below.
More Resources
If you need even more help teaching, I’ve also created interactive history units full of engaging and meaningful lessons. Your students will love these units, and I know you will love having everything planned and prepped for you!
Looking for more free social studies lessons? Check out these other free lesson plans I have created. In addition, all lesson plans are Google Classroom compatible – perfect for both in-person and distance learning!
This is an amazing resource! I love it! What do you do if you have to break it down over a couple of days? It doesn’t appear to save your progress on the website.
I don’t know if this is the correct answer, but I noticed you can get to different locations by clicking the map icon. Maybe it will allow students to just begin with the next location they need to go to. Ex: They finished locations 1 and 2, so the next day they would use the map to go straight to location 3.