Thanksgiving Day at School

What is Thanksgiving?

The Puritans were a group of English Protestants emerging around the mid-16thcentury who sought “to purify” the Church of England (Anglican Church) from the influence of the Catholic Church. They were persecuted by different English monarchies for criticizing the religious corruption of the Church of England. When King James I established that it was a crime not to belong to the Church of England, a group of Separatists fled from England to Holland in 1607. Later, they came to America aboard the Mayflower and founded the Plymouth Colony in 1620. This particular group of Separatists are also known as “Pilgrims” or “Pilgrim Fathers".

After signing the Compact, the Mayflower passengers explored the Cape Cod area and decided to settle down in a location they named Plymouth after the harbour in England from where they left. The historic landing took place on December 21, 1620. During the first year the Pilgrims went through all kinds of problems. The diseases, the lack of food, and the harsh winter conditions killed many of them. The Wampanoag Indians teach the Pilgrims good fishing spots and farming techniques which they soon begin to employ.

In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims celebrated their first successful harvest inviting the Wampanoag tribe to three days of feasting. The President of the United States, George Washington proclaimed “Thanksgiving Day” a nationwide holiday on November 26, 1789. Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States “the fourth Thursday of November” to honour the memory of the Pilgrims.

How to Celebrate Thanksgiving Day at School

Decorations

Nothing sets the tone for a holiday like classic decorations. Whether in your classroom or throughout your building, make your atmosphere look and feel like Thanksgiving.

• Have a decoration contest between classrooms: Students vote on the most festive!
• Have your students do Thanksgiving crafts that can be displayed in the classroom and hallways.
• Create a “Thankfulness Wall” where students can write and post what they’re thankful for.

Donations / Giving

One of the best aspects of Thanksgiving is the opportunity to give to others. Christmas frequently receives the bulk of attention when it comes to finding ways to share love, but Thanksgiving is a prime holiday for it too! Not only will individuals benefit from your school’s generosity, but the students benefit from learning that it is indeed more blessed to give than to receive.

• Host a Thanksgiving dinner for those students’ families who may be poor.
• Hold a donation contest between classes or grades.
• Hold a food drive where students can donate canned goods.
• Create gift baskets stuffed with food, gift cards, or even whole turkeys and deliver them to students’ homes.

Activities

• Take time out of the regular educational grind to make thanksgiving crafts together. These can be brought home to families or used to decorate the classroom.
• Play games with Thanksgiving themes that incorporate thankfulness, history, or autumn.
• Host a class or school meal that features the best Thanksgiving foods and traditions around the same table.

Sharing Experiences
Beyond just sharing activities, it can be a lot of fun and extremely meaningful when students and teachers share their Thanksgiving thoughts and experiences too.

• Tell stories about favorite Thanksgiving memories. Or, after this year’s Thanksgiving, have students share details and pictures of how they celebrated. You can even set up blog posts, a Facebook page, or a Twitter hashtag where students can share with one another.
• One classic activity is to simply take time to share what you’re thankful for with one another. Sit down, put away the electronics, and have a good chat with each other. Everyone is thankful for something!
• Another way to enhance the reflections on gratitude is to have students write short poems, notes, letters, or blog posts that express their thanks.

Study

Of course we don’t want to eliminate the academic opportunities implicit in Thanksgiving. Try some of these approaches to turning a holiday into a lesson that, hopefully, will enhance their understanding and appreciation.

• Read about the original Thanksgiving from William Bradford’s “Of Plymouth Plantation” text. This pilgrim shares his group’s experiences before, during, and after this inaugural Thanksgiving meal.
• Have your students research the original pilgrims, from their religion to their clothing, from their names to their stories.
• Learn about survival in the wilderness; after all, that’s exactly what the pilgrims had to do when they landed in New England in wintertime!
• Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday. Have students listen to, read about, or find immigrants and hear their reflections on this holiday and on America in general.

Sources:

1. TeachHub