Themes and Thoughts.

Gratitude, Thankfulness, Compassion, Sharing, Religion. -Alice W. Brotherton.

It is better to give than to receive. - Proverb.
Harvest comes not every day, though it comes every year. - Thomas Fuller.

A Thanksgiving Thought.

The day 1 give thanks for having a nose   
Is Thanksgiving Day, for do you suppose 
That Thanksgiving dinner would taste as good
If you couldn't smell it? I don't think it would.

Could apple pies baking - turkey that's basting
Not be for smelling? Just be for tasting?
It's a cranberry-cinnamon-onion bouquet!
Be thankful for noses on Thanksgiving Day.

We laugh and we talk,
oh! she makes such a fuss
as she bustles about
cooking dinner for us.

When we sit at the table
and Daddy says grace,
there's a beautiful smile
on my grandmother's face.

Though the weather is windy
and chilly and gray, our
family is happy this
Thanksgiving Day.
Jack Prelutsky.

Traditions and Customs.

Thanksgiving Day comes on the 4th Thursday in November. It is a legal holiday celebrated throughout the United States. People of all faiths celebrate this day. They give thanks for the many good things in their lives.

This is a family holiday. Families come together from near and far. In some places special religious services are held in the morning. Then comes the traditional feast. Turkey with stuffing is the main dish. It is served with sweet potatoes, squash, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Apple cider is the drink of the day.

Football is the most popular game on this day. For many schools, the Thanksgiving Day game is the most important one of the year. Usually there are several football games to watch on TV.

Macy's department store holds its annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Celebrities, floats, bands, and balloons shaped like famous storybook and cartoon characters appear in the parade. Santa Clans arrives at the end. His coming marks the beginning of the Christmas season.

Stores, classrooms, and homes are decorated with turkeys, pilgrims, Indians, wreaths of dried flowers, and vegetables. Horns of plenty are also very popular.

Charitable organizations serve dinners to needy people. They also send baskets of food to the elderly and sick.

Background.

The first Thanksgiving Day was celebrated by the Pilgrims on 1621. They came from England for religious freedom. They sailed from Plymouth, England, on September 16, 1620. Their ship was called the Mayflower. They landed at Plymouth Rock, in Massachusetts, on December 26, 1620.

The first winter was a terrible time. There was much sickness and starvation. Native Indians taught the Pilgrims how to plant, to fish, to hunt and how to survive in America. The crops did well, and in the fall of 1621 the Pilgrims had a great harvest. They were very thankful and decided to celebrate with a feast. The Pilgrims invited their Indian friends to share this Thanksgiving feast.

Thanksgiving was proclaimed a national day of observance by Congress in 1941.

Dramatizing.

Dramatize the landing at Plymouth Rock with a "You Are There" or "1 Was There" program. With your classmates, role-play the Indians and the Pilgrims. Chose some students to perform the landing of the ship with their descriptions.

When the Pilgrims sailed to this new land, (Put one arm out to represent land, use the other arm to make a boat sailing on "bumpy" waves) They met a friendly Indian band. (Claps hands in a handshake) The Indians taught them to plant, hunt and fish, (Sow seeds, shoot arrow, cast fishing pole) Then they all had a feast with many a tasty dish (Make eating gestures and pat stomach contentedly).

Writing and Language Arts.

Compose a poem (by yourself or with the class), using words related to Thanksgiving. For example.

T-urkey
H-arbor
A-ppreciation
N-~ew World
K—indness
S-ettlement
G-overnor
I-ndians
V-enison
L-nvitation
N-uts
G-obble-gobble

Pilgrim Children.

Pilgrim children worked hard all day.
Pilgrim children had little time to play.
The first child chopped lots of wood.
The second child helped make the family's food.
The third child helped keep the horses fed.
The fourth child made a mattress for his bed.
The fifth child made soap and a candle.
The sixth child turned the meat-roasting handle.
Pilgrim children worked hard all day.
Pilgrim children had little time to play.

Five Plump Turkeys.

This plump turkey spread his tail like a fan.
This plump turkey, away he ran.
This plump turkey flew up in a tree.
This plump turkey gobbled at me.
This plump turkey said, "I'll leave right away,
So the cook can't find me on Thanksgiving Day."

A Game'. Filling Memory.

Whet your appetite and your memory.

First player: "I'm going to Thanksgiving dinner and I'm having a turkey."

Second player: "I'm going to Thanksgiving dinner and I'm having a turkey and stuffing."

Third player: "I'm going to Thanksgiving dinner and I'm having a turkey and stuffing and sweet potatoes."

Continue repeating and adding. Players forgetting items or changing the order are eliminated.

Children perform some tasks, crosswords, puzzles, work with pictures at the blackboard and individually.

The Indians taught the Pilgrims the best place to hunt and fish. Make this simple habitat classification game for an individual or a small group of children to play.

Draw and label simple pictures of a water, a land, and a sky habitat on 9" x 12" pieces of tagboard, as shown. Cut out pictures of animals that live mostly on land, mostly on water, mostly in the air and mount them on tag-board. Laminate the habitats and the animal cards, or cover them with clear contact paper for years of use. Tape the habitats together to make an answer board that can be folded for storage. Encourage the children to sort the pictures into the appropriate categories. If an animal lives mostly on land, where will his picture go? In the water? In the air? Extension activities could include naming the animals in each category, answering animal riddles, or sorting pictures of vehicles (boats, planes, trains and so on) in the same manner.

Native American Pictoqraphs.

Contest: Use the pictographs to write a message to a friend. The audience: tries to solve the problem.

A Pilgrim Song

Children find partners and sit facing one another. Partners hold hands, bend knees, and press against each other's feet as they rock back and forth and sign to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".

It's Happy Thanksgiving.

It's Happy Thanksgiving,
Thanksgiving! Horray! We're going
to dinner at Grandma's today.

1 love it at Grandma's it's cozy
and snug, I love giving
Grandma a Thanksgiving hug.

1 help make the gravy. I pour
and stir, it smells so delicious, 1
love helping her.
Bobbi Katz.

Thanksgiving.

Ivy O.Eastwick

Thank you
for all ray hands can hold apples red and melons gold, yellow corn
both ripe and sweet, peas and beans so good to eat!

Thank you
for all my eyes can see -lovely sunlight, field and tree,
white cloud-boast in sea-deep sky, soaring bird and butterfly.

Thank you
for all my ears can hear -birds' song echoing far and near, songs of little stream, big sea, cricket, bullfrog, duck and bee!

All in a Word.

Thanks

• for time to be together, turkey, talk, and tangy weather
• for harvest stored away, home, and health, and holiday
• for autumn's frosty art, and abundance in the heart
• for neighbors, and November, nice things, new things to remember
• for kitchen, kettles' croon, kith and kin expected soon
• for sizzle, sights, and sounds, and something special that abounds.

Thanksgiving Quiz.

1. What did the Pilgrims eat at the first Thanksgiving?
   о Meat and seafood
   о Vegetables and fruits
   о All of the above
2. When did the first Thanksgiving celebration take place?
   о 1621
   о 1777
   о 1849
3. Which holiday comes closest to Thanksgiving in the number of people who travel?
   о Memorial Day
   о July 4th
   о Labor Day
4. Why do we call a turkey a v'turkey"?
   о A frightened turkey makes a "turk, turk, turk, turk'" noise.
   о Its name steins from the word "tuka" which means "peacock" in India.
   о Its name comes from the Native American word "firkee" which rhymes with turkey.
   о All of the above
5. The wild turkey is one of the world's fastest birds.
   о Тrue
   o False
6. Why is it an insult to call someone a turkey?
   о Because turkeys aren't very small.
   о Because turkeys smell.
   о Because turkeys are mean.
   о All of the above
7. What do you call the bright red thing that hangs under a turkey's chin?
   о A snood
   о A wattle о A beard

Concepts - the End

The following ideas are most easily understood by young children.

• Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks. People celebrate by having a dinner with family and friends.
• Turkey and a variety of vegetables are served because that is what the
  Pilgrims and Indians ate at the first Thanksgiving feast.
• The Pilgrims and Indians worked together and shared. The Pilgrims we
  re thankful for the friendship and help of the Indians and for having
  enough food for the winter.
• The Indians and Pilgrims dressed and lived differently than people do
  today.
• The Pilgrims left England and crossed the ocean to have a better life.

Songs.

For Thanksgiving
(Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Thank you, thank you very much
For everything that 1 can touch.
Thanks a lot for nature's food.
And for when I'm feeling good.
Thank you, thank you very much.
For moms and dads and friends and such.

Gobbly, Wobbly Turkeys ...
(Ten Little Indians)

One little, two little, three little turkeys,
Gobbly, wobbly, bobbly turkeys,
hurry, scurry, worry, turkeys,
It's Thanksgiving Day!
The End.

If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring? - Pilgrims.

Which cat discovered America? - Christofurry Columbus.

Why do turkeys always go "gooble, gooble"? - Because they never learned good table manners.

What key has legs and can't open doors? - A turkey.

What has feathers and webbed feet? - A turkey wearing scuba gear.

How can you send a turkey through the post office? - Bird class mail.

Why did the turkey cross the road? - It was the chicken's day off.

Why was the turkey the drummer in the band? - Because they had the drumsticks.

What do you call a dumb gobbler? - A jerky turkey.

What sound does a space turkey make? - Hubble, bubble, bubble.