Learning Experience Guide
Title: Thanksgiving: Past and Present
Grade level(s): Kindergarten
Time frame: One Day
Subject matter: Social Studies/American History/Holiday
Teacher information
Name: Connie Schroeder & Sarah Etter
School: Girard Elementary School
City, State: Girard, IL
AAM/TPS Consortium: SIUE
Lesson plan Rationale or Understanding Goal:
Kindergarten students will understand how the tradition of Thanksgiving was begun and how it is celebrated today.
Background Information for Activity:
In order to provide background information, students will listen to the story The Very First Thanksgiving Day by Rhonda Gowler Greene.
Objectives:
Students will analyze pictures of Thanksgiving past and present.
Purpose of Library of Congress Resource:
The students will examine the library pictures of Thanksgiving past and present through the Success model. The pictures will provide a foundation to the understanding of the historical significance of the Thanksgiving holiday.
State Standard/s:
State Goal16:
Understand events, trends, individuals and movements shaping the history of Illinois, the United States and other nations.
Learning Standard A:
Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation.
Resources or Materials needed:
PHOTO #1
Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920
Click on picture for larger image, full item, or more versions
[Rights and Reproductions]
Item Title
[First Thanksgiving].
Ferris, Jean Louis Gerome, 1863-1930, artist.
Created/Published
[between 1900 and 1920]
Notes
Title from jacket.
Photograph of a photo of a painting signed "J.L.G. Ferris."
Detroit Publishing Co. no. 090423.
Gift; State Historical Society of Colorado; 1949.
Subjects
Thanksgiving Day.
Indians of North America.
Pilgrims (New Plymouth Colony)
Conjectural works.
Dry plate negatives.
Paintings--Reproductions.
Related Names
Detroit Publishing Co., publisher.
Medium
1 negative : glass ; 8 x 10 in.
Call Number
LC-D416-90423 <p&p>
</p&p>
REPRODUCTION NUMBER
LC-D416-90423 DLC (b&w glass neg.)
Part of
Detroit Publishing Company Photograph Collection
Repository
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital ID
(digital file from intermediary roll film) det 4a26654 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a26654
PHOTO # 2
Display Images with Neighboring Call Numbers
Neffsville, Pennsylvania. Thanksgiving dinner at the house of Earle Landis.
Collins, Marjory, 1912-1985, photographer.
CREATED/PUBLISHED
1942 Nov.
NOTES
Title and other information from caption card.
Annotation on original negative jacket.
Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
SUBJECTS
Safety film negatives.
United States--Pennsylvania--Lancaster County--Neffsville.
MEDIUM
1 negative : safety ; 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches or smaller.
CALL NUMBER
LC-USW3- 011882-D
REPRODUCTION NUMBER
LC-USW3-011882-D DLC (b&w film neg.)
PART OF
Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)
REPOSITORY
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540
DIGITAL ID
(digital file from intermediary roll film) fsa 8d10757 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8d10757
Additional Resources (not affiliated with LOC):
The Very First Thanksgiving Day by Rhonda Gowler Greene
Methods:
Modeling Activity:
1. Copy and attach each picture (Pilgrim and Native American picture and Family Thanksgiving picture) to a large piece of poster board.
2. Ask students to observe the Pilgrim/Native American picture and note the details carefully.
3. Afterwards, the teacher will call on students individually to name an object they see in the picture, for example: “corn, table, Pilgrim.” Teacher will draw a line to the object the student identifies and write what the student says.
4. Continue until all students have had a turn or allotted time has elapsed.
5. Students will then brainstorm a fitting title for the picture, for example, “The First Thanksgiving.”
6. Repeat above activities with second picture (newer picture.) Students will identify objects such as, “dad, turkey, table.” A fitting title could be “Thanksgiving At Home.”
7. Using a Venn diagram students will then compare and contrast the two pictures of Thanksgiving noting the differences of how the holiday has changed.
Informal Assessment:
Assessment will be based upon student’s participation and responses.
Extention:
Students will talk with their parents about how a holiday tradition has changed in their family. Students will be encouraged to bring in photos of holidays past and present.
1
SIUE AAM/TPS, http://www.siue.edu/education/aam/lesson.htm
Workshop Lesson Guide, October 2007