Thanksgiving Mini Unit Study

Okay, so everywhere I look, people are gearing up for Christmas–and right now,

 I am drawing my virtual line in the sand here

to stop the craziness and to just say no to Christmas until after Thanksgiving!! lol.

I am going to relax, breath and just be thankful.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time to teach your kids about all of God’s blessings. And we all have so much to be thankful for. Agreed? Alrighty, then.

Don’t miss out on this  great chance to teach some extra US History, too. We live about 20 minutes from Plymouth, MA, so our area is loaded with pilgrim history. I hope this post makes it a little easier for some of  you moms out there.

A Mini Unit Study for Thanksgiving

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

“Thus out of small beginnings greater things have

grown by His hand Who made all things out of nothing,

and gives being to all things that are; and as one small

candle may light a thousand, so the light enkindled here

has shone to many, yea, in a sense, to our whole nation;

let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.”

   —William Bradford. 1630

History:

Scholastic First Thanksgiving and Mayflower Virtual Tour

Image and Text of the The Mayflower Compact

Selected Portions of William Bradford’s Journal Of Plimoth Plantation 

George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation 

Lincoln’s 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation

Read Aloud:

An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Lousia May Alcott (short story)

Stories of the Pilgrims by Margaret Pumphrey (free text via Baldwin Project!) – I have read selected portions of  this book to my kids each Thanksgiving for I don’t know how long!

Excellent selection of  Thanksgiving Poetry here (Thanks, Ambleside Online!)

Character Training :

“To be Thankful, You Must Be Thoughtful.”

Age specific ways to teach your kids thankfulness here

Hands On:

Martha, Martha, Martha. You did it again! Love these paper Pilgrim bonnets: easy instructions here

Photo Credit: Martha Stewart

Thanksgiving Recipes from the Past

LOVED This beautifully simple art project: finger paints, glitter, leaves…what more could your kids want?  here

Photo Credit: Jones Design Co. (go visit…adore this site!)

And while your kiddos are crafting up a storm, you can make these adorable Thanksgiving Placecards, from, who else? Martha Stewart. 🙂  here. 

And if you are looking for a good read, try Choosing Gratitude by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. You will be blessed!

ENJOY!



2 thoughts on “Thanksgiving Mini Unit Study”

  • Thanks for the ideas, Sarah! You did the work that I was planning to do in getting things together for making Thanksgiving time more than just eating a turkey dinner on the 4th Thursday of November! (We always do more than that anyway, but I was going to look up some news ideas for this year.)

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