LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

Whitley Craig
Riverheads Elementary School
Third Grade

A. TITLE The First Thanksgiving

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON AND UNWRAPPING OF THE STANDARD
With Thanksgiving coming up, my teacher and I discussed including a Thanksgiving
lesson in the social studies curriculum. This worked out nicely because we have a
classroom timeline where we have been adding important dates, explorers, etc. We
have just finished the explorer unit, so we are approaching the 1600s on our timeline.
This lesson will allow us to continue this notion by moving into the next century,
which is when the first Thanksgiving occurred. We hope this allows the students to
see when these events occurred in relation to one another.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES (Underlined=Whole Group, Italicized=Small

Group of the Day)
Understand what are
Know what are the
Do what are the
the broad
facts, rules, specific data
specific thinking
generalizations the
the students will gain
behaviors students will
students should begin
through this lesson?
be able to do through
to develop? (These are
(These knows must be
this lesson? (These will
typically difficult to
assessed in your lesson.)
also be assessed in your
assess in one lesson.)
lesson.)
The student will
The student will know:
The student will:
understand:
Write about the first
Thanksgiving is an
Thanksgiving.
American holiday.
Americans are a

Describe the
people of diverse
The first
tradition of
traditions.
Thanksgiving was
Thanksgiving.
different than our
modern
Thanksgiving.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
Objective
The student will..

. understand Americans are a people

of diverse traditions.
know Thanksgiving is an American
holiday.
know the first Thanksgiving was
different than our modern
Thanksgiving.
describe the tradition of Thanksgiving.

write about the first Thanksgiving.

Assessment
What documentation will you have for each
student?
Students will participate in
discussion.
Students will complete a WebQuest.

Students will complete a Webquest.

Students will write a letter about the

first Thanksgiving.
Students will write a letter about the
first Thanksgiving.

E. MATERIALS NEEDED
Virtual Field Trip - http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/
WebQuest Handout Copies
Timeline Dates
Scroll Paper Copies
F. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING
3.12 The student will recognize that Americans are a people of diverse ethnic
origins, customs, and traditions, who are united by the basic principles of a
republican form of government and respect for individual rights and freedoms.
3.9 The student will write for a variety of purposes.
a) Identify the intended audience.
d) Write a paragraph on the same topic.

G. PROCEDURE
(Include a DETAILED description of each step. Write what you will
SAY and DO.)
Activity Element
Procedures and management
Step-by step procedures including questions and main points
Preparation of the
Gather supplies for the activity.
Learning
Make copies
Environment
Lesson
We will begin by discussing the upcoming holiday.
I will ask them what they know about the United States
holiday.
We will then begin discussing how the tradition began.
o This will be done by adding the date and event to our
classroom timeline so the kids can see where the first

Thanksgiving fits in relation to other events we have

been learning about.
I will tell them we will be taking a virtual field trip to the first
Thanksgiving.
They will be filling in the blanks on their WebQuest handout
as we go along. This will require them to pay close attention
because this information will be used later in the lesson.
The WebQuest will go through the following parts and include
the following discussions:
o Home Page (Introduction)
o The Mayflower
The 1620 voyage from England to America was
more than 3000 miles and beset by autumn
storms.
o The Journey
They wanted to reach Virginia, but landed in
Plimoth, Massachusetts instead.
o Daily Life
Already weakened by their two-month voyage,
most of the passengers failed to survive the first
few months in their new home.
Fortunately, native people called Wampanoag,
or "eastern people already lived in the
Massachusetts Bay area.
o The Feast
The English colonists we call Pilgrims
celebrated days of thanksgiving as part of their
religion. But these were days of prayer, not
days of feasting.
Our national holiday really stems from the feast
held in the autumn of 1621 by the Pilgrims and
the Wampanoag to celebrate the colony's first
successful harvest.
o Slideshow of the Celebration
Ducks were probably the main course.
The diners enjoyed seafood, cabbage, onions,
corn, and squash.
Between meals, the Pilgrims and the
Wampanoag played games.
As we finish our WebQuest, the students will be told they are
going to act as if they were a Pilgrim at that first Thanksgiving
Celebration. They must write a letter back home to Great
Britain telling about the celebration. They will use their notes
from the WebQuest to complete their writing.

Closure

As the students finish, we will briefly discuss how the celebration is

the same and different from our Thanksgiving today.

Clean-Up

Have students stack handouts.

Clean up materials.
Recycle any paper scraps.

A. DIFFERENTIATION

I know that a lot of my students could take notes during the WebQuest
without having a handout. On the other hand, I know this would be
very difficult and time consuming for other students in my class. I
created the fill-in-the blank handout so that we could be most effective
with the time we have, while ensuring they got the most important
information from the WebQuest. At the bottom of the handout, I
included a space for students to write interesting facts if they find any
that stand out. This allows the students who could be more
independent with this activity an opportunity to extend their thinking
beyond filling in the blanks.

B. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL

YOU DO ABOUT IT?
During the whole group discussion, there could be hesitation in
participation. If this is the case, I will allow the students to think-pairshare. This will allow students to bounce ideas off of one another before
having to share their ideas. This could alleviate some stress and lack of
participation.
There could be students who want to yell out answers during the
discussion. If this is the case, I will verbally praise and call on those who
are raising their hands. This will allow the discussion to continue without
focusing on negative behaviors.
Lastly, the internet could be down during my lesson. If this
happens, I will have a Thanksgiving book ready. The students would
record one thing they learned and share as a class. They could then use
these facts to write their letter as a Pilgrim.