Thanksgiving Facts
The first Thanksgiving feast was celebrated in 1621 and lasted for three whole days! About 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians celebrated together and gave thanks for the bountiful harvest. Here are some facts to share with your students…. *The Pilgrims did not always wear black. They often dressed in colorful clothing. There isn’t any evidence that they wore buckles on their hats and shoes. *The Wampanoags brought five deer to the first feast. *Male turkeys are called toms, and female turkeys are called hens. The young turkeys are called poults. *Turkey, geese, ducks, clams, and eels were part of the first Thanksgiving feast. There probably were no cranberries on the menu.
Hornbooks
Your students may be surprised to learn that Pilgrim children did not have schoolbooks! Instead, they used hornbooks. A hornbook is a thin wooden board with a handle. A printed hornbook page usually included letters of the alphabet, numbers, and a prayer or verse from the Bible. The page was mounted on one side of the board. It was covered with a clear piece of horn. The handle sometimes had a hole in it so that it could be worn around the child’s neck or fastened to his belt with twine. Each child went to school until he could read and write everything on his hornbook. Print the hornbook pattern from my Printables page. Cut a piece of poster paper in the same shape—just a little bigger. Glue the paper to the poster board. Punch a hole in the handle and add string if you wish. Have students write their lessons on the hornbook for the day. You might want to use the following Pilgrim vocabulary words on your hornbook. These words were taken from the books Samuel Eaton’s Day and Sarah Morton’s Day. Visit my Bookshelf page to see these books.
Pilgrim Vocabulary
breeches- knee-length pants churning- making butter by hand coif- tight fitting cap coney- adult rabbit fetch- to get dally- waste time gammy- clumsy hasty pudding- oatmeal hone- sharpen morn- morning narry- not Oh marry!- Oh, no! poppet- doll pottage- thick stew snare- trap task- chore upgrown- grownup Thee- you wee- little or young
Check out these books! Don’t forget to visit my Bookshelf page!!
The First Thanksgiving by Linda Hayward Pilgrims of Plymouth by Susan E. Goodman Samuel Eaton’s Day by Kate Waters Sarah Morton’s Day by Kate Waters Tapenum’s Day by Kate Waters Three Young Pilgrims by Cheryl Harness A Visit To Grandma’s by Nancy Carlson Gracias, The Thanksgiving Turkey The First Thanksgiving
by Jean Craighead George by Joy Cowley