Pilgrim Writing

We learned about the Pilgrims' journey by using the Scholastic website and PebbleGo. The students then wrote about what the Pilgrims wear, eat, and can do. After prewriting, writing their first draft and editing, they made a Pilgrim to hold their final draft.

Thanksgiving Alliterations

In reading we have been working on identifying examples of rhymes, alliterations, and sensory details in poetry. As a part of this study, the students wrote their own Thanksgiving alliterations. On a Circle Map they brainstormed words that started with /t/ or /th/ for Thanksgiving, /n/ for Native Americans, and /p/ for Pilgrims. As a class they then came up with the three alliterations which I recorded on the Promethean Board. They then divided into three groups to write and illustrate them on construction paper.

Thanksgiving Feast

Thank you to all of the parents who donated goodies for the students' Thanksgiving Feast. The students dressed in either brown or black to represent the clothing worn by Native Americans and Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving Feast. They wore hats that they made to go along with their clothes: headbands, hats, or bonnets. They then munched on modern day treats related  to the first feast such as turkey sandwiches, grapes, and popcorn.

Mayflower Experiment

After learning about the Mayflower and the Pilgrim's voyage, the students created their own Mayflower using a walnut shell, playdough, a toothpick, and a paper flag. The students then predicted if their boats would sink or float. We created a quick bar graph about their predictions. The students then tested their boats in a container of water. They found that the Mayflowers created with the least amount of playdough were the ones that floated. It was a great way to explore the concept of heavy and light.

Pilgrims and Native Americans

To help the students learn about Thanksgiving and the relationship between Pilgrims and Native Americans, we visited the Scholastic website. The website is filled with various articles and interactives for the students to explore and learn from. We then used Deanna Jump's Thanksgiving Unit to compare and contrast Pilgrims and Native Americans. The students placed sentences on a hula hoop Venn Diagram with whoever it identified. They then used the Venn Diagram to help them create a t-chart and write comparative sentences.