Plimoth Plantation

Thanksgiving School–Day Five

Since we learned about the life of a Pilgrim girl on Thursday, it seemed only fair that on Friday we learn about what it would have been like to be a Pilgrim boy in Samuel Eaton’s Day. This is, naturally, set up very much like the book we read about Sarah Morton, but Samuel’s day is quite different as he is a boy, and has different responsibilities. Like the other book, this was also photographed at Plimoth Plantation, and it also gives a great idea of what it was like to be part of a Pilgrim family.

In keeping with our “boy” theme, as well as continuing to learn about real people, on Friday we focused on Squanto, in Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving. This is a beautiful book, because of the way the author makes parallels between Squanto being sold as a slave, and the same thing happening to Joseph in the Bible. It is easy to see God’s hand in way the whole Thanksgiving story unfolded when reading this story.

We also read another book in the “If You…” series: If You Were at the First Thanksgiving. There is some overlap between this book and the Mayflower story, but there is enough detailed information to make it worth it. The question and answer format continues to be popular, and I look forward to using more of these books in future unit studies.

Our craft for the day was a Pilgrim boy to match the Pilgrim girl we made on Thursday. They can both ride in our paper plate Mayflowers, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they also hunt the turkeys we’re going to be making next week!

This was also field trip day–we went to the St. Louis Art Museum to view their pre-Columbian and Native American art collections.

Thanksgiving School–Day Four

On Thursday, we learned about the lives of people (both real and fictional) who lived around the time of the first Thanksgiving. We started with another book by Kate Waters: Sarah Morton’s Day. These books are very popular with Turkey and Bunny, because they really show what it would have been like to be a child in Pilgrim days, and because the children featured in them were actual residents of Plimoth Plantation (although these accounts are likely fictionalized). They learn everything from how they ate (children standing up), to what they wore (lots of petticoats for the girls!), to what kind of chores they had (lots of them!). And the photos are all set at Plimoth Plantation, so they really get a feeling for what the homes looked like.

As long we were learning about a Pilgrim girl, we also decided to also learn about an Indian girl in The True Story of Pocahontas. This is a “Step Into Reading” book, which made it perfect for Turkey and Bunny to practice reading aloud. They really like learning about real people, so this was a good book for them, even if they were once again confronted with some of the injustices found in history.

CPH publishes a book that we read every year–Thanksgiving: A Harvest Celebration. I really like this one because it doesn’t shy away from mentioning God, and the fact that we should still be thankful to Him, not only on Thanksgiving, but every day.

Since we had focused on Pilgrim girls, our craft was a Pilgrim girl which will eventually go into our paper plate Mayflowers. I found a package of these crafts at Jo-Anns for around $1 on clearance, and I’ll be able to use them for a few years, including with Ladybug when she starts school, so I’m very please with my find!