Early American History: Squanto and Thanksgiving ~ Week 3 Lesson Plan For Kindergarten and First Grade

Early American History Button CRH Feature

2013_10_12_IMG_0393 Tate Farms Pumpkins 800

This post is part of the Early American History series.  For a suggested class schedule, an overview of the entire course, and links to more lesson plans, please see the introductory post.

In this lesson you will be teaching your students about Squanto, the help he gave to the Pilgrims, and the first Thanksgiving in America.

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post. I am an affiliate of Amazon, and will receive a small commission if a link on this page is used to make a purchase.

Suggested General Resources

Additional Items Recommended For This Lesson

Week 3 Lesson Plan

For suggestions on how to conduct each activity below, please see the introductory post.

Year and Subject
1621: Squanto helps the Pilgrims, and the first Thanksgiving.

Map Activity
Find Malaga, Spain and Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Story
Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgivingby Eric Metaxas

Timeline Figure
Please click here for Timeline instructions and free printables.
Pilgrim & Native American

History Journal
Please click here for History Journal assembly instructions.
Page 5: Maze (The Light and the Glory : Children’s Activity Book – page 24)
Page 6: Squanto and Pilgrim Coloring Page (The Light and the Glory Children’s Activity Book – page 30)

Activity: Ring & Pin Game
Read from page 23 of Great Colonial America Projects: You Can Build Yourself. Follow the instructions to make the Ring and Pin Game. I recommend using unsharpened pencils or blunt sticks for younger children. I plan to use sticks instead of pencils and wooden rings (from a craft shop) instead of plastic rings to make the game slightly more authentic.

Food: Stewed Pompion (Pumpkin) or Pumpkin Pudding
The early Pilgrims ate stewed pumpkin regularly. Find the recipe on this page of the plimoth.org web site.

Timesaver snack idea: pumpkin pudding made from a mix.

Craft Ideas

In class the kids used beans and seeds to create a mosaic.  Kids seem to always enjoy mosaics – not only is it sensory play, but they get to be creative too!

Please see my American History Pinterest Board for craft ideas!

Additional/Take-Home Activities
Thanksgiving Poster: The Light and the Glory : Children’s Activity Book (page 33)
Squanto Mini-Book from Biography Mini-Books: Famous Americans (page 27)


Copyright 2015 Kathryn Depew




Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.