Overview:

This activity is designed to help the students learn; about the origins of Thanksgiving Day as a National Holiday in the United States, how to research for information on the Internet, and how to present that information to the rest of the class as a group project.

Anticipatory Set:

The students have been show how to use Internet search engines and are now ready to find out about specific topics

Objectives:

At the end of this lesson the students should be able to:

Identify some of historical figures the involved in the founding of the Plymouth Colony.

Describe how that these colonist reached their new home.

Research topics using the Internet.

Present information to the rest of the class in an oral format.

Targeted Standards:

Strand: History

Content Standard I: Students are able to identify important people and events in order to analyze significant patterns, relationships, themes, ideas, beliefs, and turning points in New Mexico, United States, and world history in order to understand the complexity of the human experience.

K-4 Benchmark I-B—United States: Understand connections among historical events, people, and symbols significant to United States history and cultures:

Materials: Computers with Internet access KWL Chart.

Procedure: Brainstorm with whole class about what they know about Thanksgiving Day, and what they want to know. Then divide the class into three member teams. Assign each team one of the topics about Thanksgiving Day. The teacher then explains the assignment: i.e., how to do the Internet search, how to prepare the information for an oral presentation by answering the questions about the topic, how to cite the source of the information, and what questions that should be answered. Have the first group go to the computers and begin their search. The rest of the class may begin an art project related to Thanksgiving.

Assessment: See Rubric

Modifications:

The teacher should talk slower for the LEP children.

The teacher should check for understanding of the instructions.