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VUSD
The VUSD Web Index was created as a resource for staff and students of the Vacaville Unified School District as part of the VUSD Gateway pages.
For recently added sites and contact information regarding the Index see the Web Index Home Page.
Links for Thanksgiving
Native Americans and the First Thanksgiving
PILGRIM HALL MUSEUM: Learn about the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth and the holiday's later significance.
FIRST THANKSGIVING PRIMARY READING LESSON IDEAS: Stories, printables, poems, crafts, songs, and educational resources about Thanksgiving.
LEARNING ABOUT THE EARLIEST AMERICANS: A 50-page lesson plan for elementary students on Native Americans introducing the concept of the land bridge, Pueblo cultures, and Eastern Woodlands peoples. Map skills, writing tasks, deciphering facts from opinions, learning appropriate vocabulary, and numerous student activities round out this unit.
HOW INDIAN CORN CAME INTO THE WORLD: Read the Ojibwa Legend of the origination of corn on Earth, then have your students discuss the story, write about it, answer the questions, and use the research topics for further investigations.
NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY OF CORN: Learn about the fascinating history of corn or maize, an indigenous plant in North America. Particularly fascinating are the Native American uses of corn and corn husks, including Iroquois cornhusk bed mats and Seneca foot mats.
A GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN CULTURE: Set of 8 lesson plans for grade 5 on North American Indians: looking at clothing and shelter, weaponry, hunting, art, tribes, and conflicts.
THE FIRST HARVEST-HOME IN PLYMOUTH: Reading and discussion question about the Pilgrims' journey, their reasons to come to the New World, the difficulties they encountered there, and their Thanksgiving celebration.
GIVING THANKS Multimedia slideshow of a traditional Native American Thanksgiving address to offer thanks.
MAYFLOWER HISTORY Facts about the Mayflower, the Pilgrims, and early Plymouth Colony.
COLONIAL WILLIAMSBUG KIDS ZONE games, activities, and resources about life in colonial America from History.org site.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FIRST THANKSGIVING Virtual investigation for elementary students from the Plimoth.org foundation.
THE FIRST THANKSGIVING: Interactive Scholastic activity on the pilgrim's life on the Mayflower, their daily life and the first meal.
Lessons and Information about Modern Thanksgiving
LEARNING WITH CORN: A Brainpop-style animation for elementary students about growing corn including the life cycle of corn, how it's harvested, where it goes, and what can be made from corn. teacher's guide:
CARING IN ACTION: Ideas from NEA for both educators and students to incorporate the practice of kindness in their everyday lives.
YAHOO KIDS' LIST OF THANKSGIVING LINKS
HOLIDAYS.NET: Several links to Thanksgiving related sites
TEACHER'S FIRST LIST OF LINKS: about Thanksgiving
Puzzles, Games and Art Activities
CORN CAREERS CROSSWORD PUZZLE: After your students have researched the history, growth, harvesting, and uses of corn at the Learning with Corn link above, try this Corn Careers crossword puzzle, defining the various jobs involved in corn production.
MORE THANKSGIVING PRINTABLES Bingo sheets, mazes, coloring pages and more.
WRITING ACTIVITIES FOR THANKSGIVING: A list of writing topics from traditional thank you notes, to instructional exercises, to letters, descriptive paragraphs, and more.
TREE OF LIFE PAPER QUILT: Template for making a "quilt" using brown paper bag Colonial-style quilts.
THANKSGIVING GAMES from FamilyFun.go.com