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THANKSGIVING SOUNDS Match up the beginning letters with the correct pictures in this Thanksgiving-themed printable worksheet for grades PreK-1.Take a virtual voyage on the Mayflower, learn about the Pilgrims, and the Wampanoag. Daily life activities are covered, along with the famous Thanksgiving feast as well. A Thanksgiving Timeline, slideshows, and tours of the ship are all available.http://teacher.scholastic.com/thanksgiving/

WALNUT SHELL MAYFLOWER SHIPS
This is a very sweet art project, where students will make clay and walnut shell ships to sail in the water, with lesson extensions in science. Use the 2nd link for a coloring page of the Mayflower.Not Pilgrim hats, but full-out Mayflower hats… you’ll need blue poster board for the wave base, paper fasteners, white poster board for the sails, chenille stems, and the instructions here.

PILGRIM CHILDREN NAME GAME
Pilgrim names were quite different than modern children’s names. Find some examples in this student printout, where each name needs to be matched with its owner and definition.You can either download the application or use the online exhibit for this resource. Use the 2nd link for the teacher’s guide to this interactive activity. Students will become history detectives, using primary sources, examining cultures in contact, considering different perspectives, and putting together a museum exhibit.This “webisode” from PBS details the idea of freedom, religious dissenters, the Pilgrims, William Bradford, and the voyage to America aboard the Mayflower. It’s highly interactive, with photos and printable documents sprinkled throughout.

THANKSGIVING IN AMERICAN MEMORY Read the first proclamation declaring a formal Thanksgiving observation, and find the history of Thanksgiving with the timeline at the top of the article. Click on the 2nd link to learn about Thanksgiving on the 19th century prairie, Thanksgiving for workers, or Thanksgiving during the Civil War. Several photos and primary documents are included in this interactive Thanksgiving exhibit .Students will be using portraits of the Pilgrims to examine what they can tell us about this period and people in American history. Several activities are suggested; you can also use the portraits as writing prompts, to create Pilgrim journals, or to write Thanksgiving skits. Use the 2nd link to access a collection of interesting personal items from 17th century households.

THE HUNGER SITE Last but certainly not least, I always include The Hunger Site at Thanksgiving as an extremely easy but useful way to give. Simply assign your student helper of the day to click once each day to give cups of food; sponsors donate them and it costs your class nothing.