How To Teach Thanksgiving Using Children's Books
Reading and History Lesson Plan Ideas for Elementary Students
Oct 15, 2008
Elementary teachers can use children’s literature to teach students about Thanksgiving. Picture storybooks, chapter books, and poems provide Thanksgiving background information and knowledge in an engaging and compelling way.
Thanksgiving trade books can be utilized as part of a whole group social studies lesson, during language arts instruction, or for independent study. Teachers incorporate Thanksgiving books into their regular curriculum by using the books as a vehicle to teach the content, strategies, and skills students need to master.
Laureen Maloney, Head of Children’s Services at the Lackawanna County Children’s Library in Scranton, Pennsylvania, stocks many Thanksgiving themed books and recommends the following for teachers and parents to share with primary aged students.
Thanksgiving Children’s Books for Primary Students
- How Many Days to America?: A Thanksgiving Story by Eve Bunting [Scholastic, 1988]
- Thanksgiving (Rookie Read-About Holidays) by David F. Marx [Children’s Press, 2000]
- Let's Get Ready for Thanksgiving (Welcome Books: Celebrations) by Joanne Winne [Children’s Press, 2000]
- Thanksgiving on Thursday (Magic Tree House #27) by Mary Pope Osborne [Random House Books, 2002]
- Thanksgiving Day at Our House: Thanksgiving Poems for the Very Young by Nancy White Carlstrom [Simon and Schuster, 1999]
- Thanksgiving Day by Anne Rockwell [Harper Trophy, 2002]
- This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story by Laura Krauss Melmed [Harper Trophy, 2003]
- Rivka's First Thanksgiving by Elsa Okon Rael [Aladdin Paperbacks, 2004]
- If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern [Scholastic Paperbacks, 1991]
- If You Were At The First Thanksgiving by Anne Kamma [Scholastic Paperbacks, 2001]
- Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey [Scholastic Paperbacks, 2004]
- Thanksgiving Is for Giving Thanks by Margaret Sutherland [Grosset and Dunlap, 2000]
- Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac [Voyager Books, 2007]
Thanksgiving Lesson Plans Using Children’s Books
Teachers can use Venn diagrams to help students compare and contrast information during a Thanksgiving lesson. A Venn diagram is a graphic organizer made of two overlapping circles. Students label the top of the circles with two topics.
Students write the information the topics have in common in the overlapping area and information the topics don’t have in common in the outside circles. Venn diagrams can be used with Thanksgiving books to contrast life on the Mayflower or at the first Thanksgiving with life today or to compare different Thanksgiving traditions families may have.
After reading about what is means to be thankful, students can create "I’m Thankful" collages either individually or as part of a classroom Thanksgiving Bulletin Board. Students can use photographs, magazine pictures, and found objects to create a collage representing what they are grateful for.
Students can learn about poetry and rhyming by reading and writing Thanksgiving poetry. Older students can write poems about what life was like for the pilgrims and younger students can use poetry to share what they are thankful for.
Primary students can learn reading and history lessons with the help of Thanksgiving themed children’s books. A Thanksgiving theme ties all of the lessons together and allows teachers to use activities such as Venn diagrams, art collages, and poetry to teach grade level content.
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