Melissa Quidor SPE 202

Grade/age level: 5th/6th Grade

Subject: Thanksgiving (History of/Writing prompt)
Learning Objective

SWBAT understand the history of the first Thanksgiving

SWBAT think about how they would feel if they were children who came
over on the Mayflower and write about it

Prerequisite Knowledge

Students should know what Thanksgiving is and what occurs during the
holiday.

Procedure

Anticipatory Set Thanksgiving Brainstorming activity

- Give students paper and 5 mins to make a list of things that they know
about Thanksgiving
- Students will take turns sharing what they have written about the holiday
Read The Pilgrims First Thanksgiving to class
- Talk about what happened in the book such as who the Pilgrims are, how
they came to America, who the Indians were, the struggles the Pilgrims
went through during their first year in a new place, etc.
Give students writing prompt Write about how you think you would feel
and the things you might have done if you were a Pilgrim who came to
America on the Mayflower and were at the first Thanksgiving.
- Have students share some of their ideas of how they would have felt and
what they would have done if they were Pilgrims who came over on the
Mayflower

Rationale

Thanksgiving is an American holiday so a general knowledge about the

holiday and how it came to be is important for students to have.
Being able to write about your opinion on a topic or an idea is necessary to
meet the NJ Common Core Standards for English/Language Arts.

Assessment

Answers to brainstorming activity

Writing sample

Accessibility/
Differentiation

Hands on brainstorming activity

Auditory and visuals reading book

Common Core
Standards
Materials Needed

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.1
Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

The Pilgrims First Thanksgiving By: Ann McGovern

white board , markers, paper, pencils

Reflection:
On Wednesday, November 19th, I taught my second lesson to the 6th grade class that I have been
working in all semester. It was a lesson on the history of Thanksgiving. After having a quite successful first
lesson earlier this semester, I was fairly confident about my lesson plan and teaching my students about the
history of Thanksgiving.
As I began this lesson, the students seemed to be very receptive and engaged. During the anticipatory
set I had planned, which was to brainstorm about Thanksgiving, I made the mistake of telling the students to
write down 5 things they knew about the holiday. This led to a student having a small meltdown when I told
him it was time to share because he had not written 5 things down yet at the time. Looking back on my lesson, I
would not have put a number value on the anticipatory set. Next time I would just tell students to take a few
minutes to brainstorm about Thanksgiving. I feel as if I handled this situation correctly and got the student back
on track. The lesson moved on smoothly for a while after this small incident. The students were engaged while
I read them a book about Thanksgiving. I knew this because as I read, I randomly called on different students to
ask them questions to gage their understanding and engagement. This seemed to work out well and keep the
students on task as I read aloud to them.
Then, I asked the students to write a paragraph about how they would feel if they were a pilgrim who
had come over to America on the Mayflower. This activity went well for a majority of the students. While they
were writing their paragraphs, one student became very distressed and threw a large meltdown, grabbing both
me and another student in the process. My cooperating teacher stepped in at this point and directed me to get
the student away from the student having the meltdown and to take the other 10 students out of the classroom to
another room while she calmed the distressed student down. I ended up taking the other students to another
room and continuing my lesson as best I could with them there. Once she got things under control, my
cooperating teacher came to get me and the class so that we could continue the rest of the lesson back in our
room. I ended up finishing the lesson with the all the students and I believe it ended up successful despite the
things that occurred early in the lesson.
Looking back on my lesson, I am glad that things did not go as planned. I feel as if this was some great real life
experience that I was able to work through and grow from. By things not going smoothly, I was able to seek
guidance from my cooperating teacher and learn how to handle these less than ideal kinds of situations that
could happen while I am teaching a lesson. Even though the lesson didnt go as planned, I still feel like this was
a great experience and that I learned a lot about myself as a teacher.