On that day, we commemorate the first Thanksgiving when the English pilgrims first arrived in Plymouth on the Mayflower. They had a very difficult first year of illness and hunger and many of them died. The Wampanoags, native Americans who lived in those lands, helped them by bringing them food and warm clothes and blankets, and teaching them to plant new crops in this land that was so new to them. They also taught the pilgrims to fish and hunt. They celebrated their first harvest by having a big feast where all the English pilgrims and the Wampanoags ate, drank, played games and sang songs together, and gave thanks for the harvest. The pilgrims gave thanks for their new friends, the Wampanoags, who had helped them so much, and without whom they would not have survived. That first celebration lasted three days.
Nowadays, we also have a Thanksgiving feast, in which we eat similar foods to what the pilgrims and native Americans ate at that first celebration. We do this to honor the pilgrims and Wampanoags, but we also give thanks for all the good things in our lives, and we say "thank you" to our family and friends for their love, help and support.
Last year at the CEIP Playa Honda, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we encouraged the children to send "Thank you" notes to each other. We put little mailboxes in each classroom where the students placed their messages. During the last week in November, the mailboxes were opened and the children read their messages. We also put up a wall display in the corridor for all to see, representing the story of the First Thanksgiving.
by Cristina Efres
If you would like more information and activities you can visit:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/history/first-thanksgiving/
http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/feast/
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/thanksgiving/short-stories/the-first-thanksgiving.html
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| The First Thanksgiving, Wall Display |
