Pilgrims, Native Americans, and Thanksgiving Day

Perhaps it was the field trip to Plimoth Plantation or seeing the Mayflower replica.  Maybe it was just the plethora of information to peruse, or the fact that we lived in Massachusetts for a few years.

Regardless of the reason why, we have a fun time studying the Pilgrims, Native Americans, and Thanksgiving during the month of November. 

 

Some years, like this year, we are studying that exact time period in history.  During those years, no special unit is completed.  We simply study through the material during our lessons. 

However, on the years when we are studying other historical time periods, we usually take some time, and work through a unit study on Pilgrims, Native Americans, and Thanksgiving Day. 

Some of our favorite books are:
Thanksgiving: A Harvest Celebration, by Julie Stiegemeyer
The Thanksgiving Story, by Alice Dalgliesh
Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving, by Eric Metaxas
Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims, by Clyde Robert Bulla
The Pilgrims at Plymouth, by Lucille Recht Penner
On the Mayflower: Voyage of the Ship's Apprentice and a Passenger Girl, by Kate Waters
Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl, by Kate Waters
Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy, by Kate Waters
Tapenum's Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim Times, by Kate Waters
The Adventurous Life of Miles Standish, by Cheryl Harness
N.C. Wyeth's Pilgrims, text by Robert San Souci

A few new to us books that we found at the library this past visit are:
The Story of Thanksgiving, by Robert Merrill Bartlett
Thanksgiving Is..., by Gail Gibbons
The Pilgrims' Thanksgiving from A to Z, by Laura Crawford
The Wampanoag, by Kevin Cunningham and Peter Benoit
1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving, by Catherine O'Neill Grace and Margaret M. Bruchac