Thanksgiving

• Define the word “thanksgiving” and explore what it means to be thankful.
• Discover what the Reformation was and how it impacted the churchgoers of England.
• Find out who the Separatists were and why they had to leave England.
• Learn about the Pilgrims’ emigration to Holland—where they went and what they discovered there.

• Learn why the Separatists decided to leave Holland.
• Find out how they obtained financial backing to make the trip and build a colony.
• Discover how they traveled to America, what their journey was like, and what the ship, the Mayflower, was like.
• Examine what some of the “Saints” and “Strangers” were like, what their roles were, and how they worked together.

• Discover what the Pilgrims found when they reached America.
• Explore the problems in finding a suitable location for their new colony.
• Examine how the Pilgrims fared the first winter and some of their challenges.
• Find out how the Pilgrims interacted with the Native Americans as they began to build their settlement.

• Discover the crops the Pilgrims planted that first spring.
• Explore the early development of Plymouth settlement.
• Find out more about the harvest celebration—what the festival was like, who attended, and what they ate.
• Learn more about the Wampanoag Indians—what they planted and how they lived.
• Study the history of the Thanksgiving holiday in America.

The Thanksgiving study is part of the Unit Study Adventure series, designed to be a four-week study for grades K-12. The daily lesson plans have been written in two levels in this study:

Lower Level (elementary grades)
Upper Level (junior/senior high grades)

By having these two levels for each day, the whole family can learn together. This study also includes Thanksgiving Lapbook.