Click on the Lesson Plan title to view the full lesson plan at its source.
You Are the Historian:
Investigating the First Thanksgiving
This highly informative resource was created by the staff of Plimoth Plantation. Through the website, students can play the part of Dancing Shoes, a modern-day Wampanoag Indian, and Sara, whose ancestor was Remember Allerton, one of the original colonists. Because this website can be extremely busy through the Thanksgiving holiday season, they have provided a method for downloading the program to your hardrive so you can show it to the class later. Teaching elements include:
- A letter written by colonist wrote about the 1621 feast day provides primary-source evidence of what happened.
- Information on how the Wampanoag lived, and celebrated at various seasons of the year.
- The facts versus the myths of Thanksgiving.
- How Plimoth colonists prepared for their part of the celebration.
