This site contains a short text explanation of events leading up to the first Thanksgiving held in 1621 and how that has led to today's traditions and celebration of the holiday. Although it is fairly short, it contains many facts which would be useful in a classroom study of Thanksgiving. There is a short quiz at the end based on the information included that can be reproduced and used in the classroom.
Note - there is a link to a YouTube video midway through the information on the page, students may need to be cautioned that it isn't part of the activity.
In the Classroom: Type up the quiz (or use copy/paste, but GIVE CREDIT) and give it to your students before studying Thanksgiving to assess prior knowledge. Use the story page on an interactive whiteboard for students to highlight key words and write a main idea sentence or do practice comprehension or notetaking skills during Thanksgiving season. Older students can read the site on their own at a classroom center and complete the quiz at the end of their session. After reading the story, ask students to write their own story from the perspective of one of the first Thanksgiving participants. Create a class book using their stories using a site such as Bookemon, reviewed here.
A part of the Library's American Memory series, this Thanksgiving site concentrates on the historical origins of the holiday and how its celebration has evolved since the original Thanksgiving proclamation. Be sure to check out the Thanksgiving Timeline
In the Classroom: Make this site the basis for a scavenger hunt for Thanksgiving information.
This simple, text-based site includes a narrative about Thanksgiving, recipes, and more. The narrative provides an excellent resource for a unit that examines the first inhabitants of the Plymouth region (the Wampanoag), their culture, and the impact of the arrival of the Pilgrims upon their lives. The site describes the establishment and eventual deterioration of friendships between the early colonists and the Wampanoag. A study guide and discussion questions are included, along with ideas for enrichment. This is more than the usual cute Thanksgiving story and seeks to debunk many myths.
In the Classroom: Use this site as background for your pre-Thanksgiving lessons or create a scavenger hunt using the questions from the More Information for Teachers section. Have students wok in teams to create a booklet or PowerPoint presentation from a different angle: A Virtual Tour of the First Thanksgiving or a Guide for European Settlers to Life Among the Wampanoags.
Investigating the First Thanksgiving - What was it really like?? Plimoth Plantation museum has added a new Flash-based Thanksgiving lesson that will introduce students to the cultures and customs of both the Pilgrim and Wampanoag peoples. This presentation blends information about lots of everyday activities and customs with a look at what the actual "first Thanksgiving" might have looked like. Requires Flash. A message on the site warns that traffic near Thanksgiving can make the site very sluggish and offers directions to download it to your local computer.
In the Classroom: A complete teachers guide gives you ideas for using this resource in the classroom. Use a projector or interactive whiteboard to introduce the site, then assign students to complete the investigation in small groups or with a partner. You can spread the activity over several days at a computer cluster in your classroom or do it all at once in a lab.
Find out what was on the menu for the first Thanksgiving, debunk some common holiday myths, and listen to pilgrim interviews. This informational multi-media site also features a beautifully designed video that details the history of this American institution – perfect for individual viewing. Note: this site "pauses" before opening. Be patient.
In the Classroom: Use this site as a way to introduce the Thanksgiving holidays in a way that is both educational and fun for students. Share the site with students on the interactive whiteboard or projector. Examine the interesting facts for interesting and little known information, or bring up the document entitled "a Thanksgiving proclamation." Have students read the document aloud, in turns or by volunteers. The document will help students understand the actual v. the myth of Thanksgiving. The site can also be saved as a favorite on classroom computers to be used as a learning center if that method is more appropriate for your classroom.
This Thanksgiving website provides the teachers and students with some new ideas for Thanksgiving vocabulary. The interactive activity challenges students to figure out several word puzzles. There is also a wordbank and lesson plan ideas. Many of the puzzles are printable.
In the Classroom: Get an interactive whiteboard or projector and challenge your students with these unique word puzzles. The narrators of this interactive site are conversation starters (for example, Sam Mantics is the dean and Cinny Nym is another "vocabulary" narrator). Discuss with your students what these names actually represent (semantics and synonyms). This is a great activity for November vocabulary development.
This informative and interactive website introduces students to the first Thanksgiving. The three main areas of this site include "Voyage of the Mayflower", "Daily Life" and "The Thanksgiving Feast". There are video and audio clips, compare/contrast activities and more. This site required FLASH.
In the Classroom: Get an interactive whiteboard and take your students back to the 1600s! Teachers can utilize the comparing and contrasting activities to help their students have a better understanding of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags. Check out the "For Teachers" section of this site, Scholastic will be providing a detailed teaching guide in November 2006.
Find resources and activities appropriate for Thanksgiving in this collection from TeachersFirst.
In the Classroom: Use these resources to connect Thanksgiving to your curriculum in almost any subject or select one or two ideas to highlight along with your regular lessons.
The Census Bureau offers lots of Thanksgiving statistics, from the total weight of all the turkeys raised in the US to the total amount of food consumed on Thanksgiving. You can plan a huge party with this one!
In the Classroom: Choose a statistic your students can estimate then use this site to help develop estimation and number sense--all in a holiday spirit. Gobble, Gobble! An interesting question to ask: what other data would you like to learn from the U.S. census the next time they do one?
This seasonal website was created by a teacher. It offers many enrichment activities all about Fall and Thanksgiving. Some examples of activities include: "Catch the Falling Leaves," "Fun in the Garden," and "Find the Differences." Educational topics include numbers, counting, problem solving, logic, and art. Many of these activities require JAVA and/or FLASH. Get them from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
In the Classroom: Your class will "eat up” these free resources all related to Fall and Thanksgiving. All of these activities are ready for your interactive whiteboard (or projector).
Provide this link in your fall newsletter as free (educational) activities for students to use during the fall break.
The Mayflower comes alive as you explore the passenger list with accompanying personal history and genealogy. Click on the Pilgrim History link for a history of Thanksgiving and other Mayflower-era topics, including authentic recipes.
In the Classroom: Only a visit to a far away museum could get any better than having the full-text primary sources which are available with a click on the left menu. The Mayflower experience would come to life as students fictitiously become one of the voyagers. Perhaps students could adopt a Mayflower ‘ancestor’ and write how they are alike or unlike. Around Thanksgiving, teachers may want to try some of the original recipes for an authentic Mayflower ‘flavor’ to their lesson plans.
This informative website presents the students with information on numerous "Pilgrim" topics. There are authentic pictures and a lot of information. Topics include "Who Were The Pilgrims," "Who Were The Wampanoag," "The Mayflower," "Building a Home," and more!
On the right side of the website, there is a list of other relevant topics (Thanksgiving, Growing Food, What to Wear, Playing and Learning, What's for Dinner, and several others).
In the Classroom: A teacher could use this website for research projects. Incorporate this website into your lessons on pilgrims, the Mayflower, and Thanksgiving. Use this site to help prepare for Colonial Days at your school.
Use these entertaining prompts to start your class blog entries or writing activities for Thanksgiving.aybe even write a script for a Thanksgiving podcast?
This activity is a good one for the Thanksgiving season or anytime. A powerful five minute video gets students reflecting on their lives and appreciating how much they have when compared to children in other parts of the world.
In the Classroom: Start off by asking students to write a journal entry to answer and explain, “Do you ever think that you might have it easier compared to some other kids?” Show the video on your classroom whiteboard or projector. Have students use one of TeachersFirst online compare/contrast graphic organizers such as the Venn Diagram tool (reviewed here) or another one of your choice that can be printed from Freeology (reviewed here) to juxtapose their way of life with the way of life of people their age who have very little compared to them. Teenagers need reality checks when it comes to their wants verses their needs. As a follow up, have students work in groups to brainstorm ways that they could actually make a difference for children who endure lives of poverty. Check with your school nurse or social worker to see if there is a family in the community that could use some extra kindness and have your students come up with a plan that your class could put into action right now. Let them experience the enduring lesson and joy that comes from helping others.
Use Education World's Vocab-u-lous! features to help build your students’ vocabulary. There are numerous word banks for students to use as they figure out which of the challenging words fits in the context of the sentences. The activity sheets are arranged by the words' beginning sound, and by holiday categories, such as Thanksgiving words and Presidents’ Day words.
Be aware: this site has several advertisements, some pop-up.
In the Classroom: Just try to take the dictionaries away from your students when you project a Vocab-u-lous activity sheet on your whiteboard (or projector) or hand them the printable version of the worksheet. These are useful for SAT preparation and other tests that assess vocabulary, as well as building a strong vocabulary necessary for better reading comprehension and oral and written communication. When using this activity with a class set of computers, provide a link from your class web page to a reputable online dictionary. For additional practice, provide this link on your class website for students to access at home.
This site provides a daily jigsaw puzzle depicting an aspect of life at Colonial Williamsburg. Choose the current daily puzzle or a different one from the archives. Archive categories are broken down into: Trades, Animals, Spring, Sites, People, Misc, Winter, Military, Valentines, Christmas, Autumn, and Thanksgiving. Jigsaw puzzles teach visual/spatial skills in addition to providing an engaging way to present history.
In the Classroom: This site can be used in several different ways. Use it on an interactive whiteboard or projector as a center during social studies time. Have students solve the puzzle and then write about what they've revealed. Put it on classroom computers and have students use it for a morning warm up. This site will work for all ability levels because you are able to change the number and style of the pieces in the puzzle window.
This is a teacher and professional resource containing lesson plans and links for promoting diversity and addressing racial divides. This site contains excellent lesson plans on diversity, discrimination, multiculturalism, and tolerance. Each plan focuses on a person or event of a specific racial group, or a problem common to all multicultural groups. The plans do not specify a grade level, though many could be adapted for use from middle elementary level to high school. From Japanese internment to celebrating Thanksgiving in an American school, the plans and activities are excellent, varied, and fresh. The lesson plans are VERY detailed and provide objectives, but no correlation to standards. Many of the individual stories are available in MP3 format. You can listen to the stories using Windows Media Player or on any MP3 player, as well. Some of the lesson plans require Adobe Acrobat. You can get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom: Use the lesson plans that are relevant to your class as you study different cultures, history, racial tensions in the U.S. , or even character education. Share the stories on your interactive whiteboard or projector. With older students, have cooperative learning groups explore different lessons. Have the groups create a multi-media presentation sharing their discoveries. Have the groups create an online book using a tool such as Bookemon . You could also use this site as the core of a contemporary topics debate series.
This site celebrates the major works by Native American authors. There are three booklist levels, grades K-4, grades 5-8, and grades 9-12 and above. As part of NEA's Read Across America program, links to tools to help parents and teachers encourage more reading among the young. Books include fiction, essays, poetry, and nonfiction articles.
In the Classroom: Use this site as a reference when picking extra reading materials during a Native American unit or as you approach November and Thanksgiving. Teach students how to find book reviews online after they've selected a book they would like to read. Have students create multi-media book “reports.” Give students choices like a wiki, blog, PowerPoint, or even an online book review using a tool such at Bookemon (reviewed here).
The National Women's History Museum site includes a rich collection of resources. Although the collection is certainly deep on issues related to women's suffrage, there is also information on women in World War II, women and education, women and the Progressive movement, and women spies. There are good photographs of artifacts from the women's movement, and a nice collection of lesson plans, grouped by grade level.
In the Classroom: Of course, the site would be useful to students doing research on the women's movement in general, or on the role of women during several important historical eras. In the "educational resources" section, there is a collection of quotations from women that would be great for creating displays for women's history month. There is also a group of quizzes that could be adapted for classroom use. The section focused on the women of Jamestown includes the stories of Native American women as well as the role of early European settler women and could supplement the usual Thanksgiving lessons on the new American colonies. There are also free lesson plans and classroom activities that teachers should take advantage of!
Use this small but good-quality collection of free seasonal clip art to spice up your classroom worksheets and handouts. Can be used in school publications and on Web pages.
Social studies, history, and government teachers - be warned - this site may be the best FREE gift you receive this year. To sum it up in one word - WOW! The highlight of this site is ready-to-go lesson plans (with standards) divided by age level (elementary, middle, and high school). These FREE lesson plans are available online via a PDF file or you may order a FREE CD (they say it is a $150 value).
The elementary topics range from Colonial America to U.S. Presidents (with a focus on George Washington) to the History of Thanksgiving to The Pledge of Allegiance and MANY others. The middle school topics include the Declaration of Independence, Our National Documents, The Gettysburg Address, Religious Expression in School, and several others. The high school topics vary from the Mayflower, to Federalists 47, the First Amendment, and more. Each grade level also includes lessons on character education.
In addition to the wonderful lesson plans, the site also highlights the four themes of the foundation: Unity, Progress, Freedom, and Responsibility. There are also links to some fantastic social studies sites and a wealth of research information about America. Some of the lesson plans and printables require Adobe Acrobat. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom: Obviously, the lesson plans are useful for all grade levels. Take advantage of these free resources. Many include printable activities for your students to try out. Although the site isn't highly interactive, it does have some great ideas to incorporate into your class to bring history alive.
Make the lesson plans more "technologically advanced" by having students create a wiki or blog entry. Have your high school students complete the lesson on the First Amendment and then have them have a virtual debate about the First Amendment via a class wiki. Have your elementary students complete the lesson on U.S. Presidents and then have each student write a blog entry pretending to be one of the presidents (a great mini-research project). Have your middle school students complete the lesson on the Gettysburg Address and then try to create their own "Address" to talk about the current state of our nation. Have them share their "Address" on a video using YouTube or or TeacherTube (explained here).
This is a collection of craft projects based on toys or articles that Native American or colonial children might have used. There are complete instructions for each item, with illustrations.
In the Classroom: Try using this unit with a study of Thanksgiving, colonial settlements, or Native Americans of the eastern U.S. Share the hands-on crafts and be sure to take digital pictures. Ask students to write explanations of the crafts on your class wiki (with the accompanying pictures)! Or include the link to directions for one of these crafts on your class web page for students to try as a summer activity.
This site contains how-to videos and printables for kids. Topics include science, paper airplanes, cooking, origami, cartooning, puppets, music, dance, math, and holidays. A summary next to the activity title gives the appropriate level, the number of views, and a starred evaluation of the demonstration. Holiday craft ideas and demos finish up the educational portion of the offerings.
In the Classroom: Share the video clips on your interactive whiteboard or projector to accompany curriculum topics in science, art, physical education, language arts, health, or family/consumer science. Or show the videos to a class as examples for writing how-to (demonstration) speeches and/or videos done in language arts classes. Challenge students to create their own videos using a site such as SchoolTube (reviewed here). Look here also for ideas of holiday craft projects. Share the link on your class web page for students to try activities at home during breaks.
Teachers First Edge Review: For moderately adventurous technology users. Want a word Cloud with Style? Create one here! A word cloud is an image of words that show the most frequent word in a larger font than the others. Create a visual representation of a passage to pull out and identify important words or show the text in an interactive, visually appealing way. The resulting cloud pops out the words as you roll over them, so viewers can “see” each word separately. See a sample, created by the TF Edge review team. Explore the gallery for many inspiring examples, including some that use the customizable image shapes uploaded from your own computer (premium feature). Some features may change slightly after the beta phase, but developer Hardy Leung assures TeachersFirst users, "Even after beta you'll be able to save the animated version of the Tagxedo for free to your computer or to the web without the paid version. I may require a membership, though unlikely, but even then I'll make sure there is a free version for teachers and students."
Tagxedo requires Silverlight. The site will appear as a blank page with the "Install Silverlight Plugin" button if your computer does not have it installed. See your tech folks to allow download and installation of this plug-in if school computers do not have it and/or are "locked down."
In the Classroom: Skills required: NO membership required to create a cloud, though saving may require a (free) membership in the future, according to developer Hardy Leung. Click “Create” and then “Words.” Paste URL to “cloud” words from a web page or copy/paste (or type) a passage of words into the given field. (Repeat words to make them larger). Experiment with various settings and “themes” to create the different colors and shapes of the word cloud. Change the theme, shape, direction, layout, and other parameters easily. Click SAVE to easily download a static image of various sizes or take a screenshot using shortcut keys. Saved images do not have the cool “pop-out” feature (rats!), though the developer tells TeachersFirst that users will be able to download animated versions in the future. You can also save and obtain the direct URL to your animated cloud. Be sure to bookmark it or copy/paste the URL for safe keeping in a document, wiki, etc. During beta, the tool allows you to save and copy embed code, but this feature will cost money later.
Safety/Security: Use without registration or logins (for now). Save all works or URLS created immediately after creating! You can make your saved clouds visible to the public or not by choosing the “hide from gallery” option.
In the classroom: This is a terrific visual tool to share on an interactive whiteboard or projector. In primary grades. Enter a group of related words into the text box, such as sight words, words with the same spelling cluster, or vocabulary terms. Then have students roll over the words to read them aloud as they pop out (only works in the ONLINE version of the clouds). Paste in a passage or URL for a political speech to visualize the politician’s “message.” Analyze advertising propaganda by visualizing the language used in TV or print ads. Create word clouds of historical texts of inauguration speeches as time capsules of the issues of the day. Use this site as a way to help students see and memorize terms and important vocabulary, especially visual learners. Use it also when writing poetry or reading passages of great literature to “see” themes and motifs of repeated words and images. Have students paste in their own writing to spot repeated (and monotonous) language when teaching lessons on word choice. Students will be surprised to see what words appear to be dominant. ESL and ELL students will eagerly use this site since word order will no longer be a problem for them. Have students work in groups to create word posters of vocabulary words with related meanings, such as different ways to say “walk” or “said” and decorate your classroom with these visual reminders of the richness of language. Use themes and shapes that coordinate with the word cloud (for example, use a bird shape when creating a cloud about flight or a heart when interpreting a love poem. Consider using a word cloud as a first week of school activity where students discuss summer vacation or what they did over the summer. As a first day activity, students could also make a cloud with words about themselves, then have classmates guess which cloud matches which person.
For a free gift for special occasions, make word clouds about mom for Mother’s Day or Thanksgiving “I am thankful” visual poems. Share them by emailing the URL or in printed form.
Teacher’s First Edge Review: For moderately adventurous technology users. This site allows users to create online scrapbooks including photos, video clips, and music. Users can “Start with a Theme” or “Start with a Blank Page.” Add stickers, backgrounds, text boxes, and more. Be aware many of the themes are free, but some are for a fee. The ones for a fee say "purchase" at the bottom of the screen. This site requires Flash. You can it both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom: Skills Needed: This site is fairly easy to navigate. Users must be able to access photos (from several websites or personal computers) to use in the scrapblog. View the short introduction tutorial to learn more about site. Learn how to edit photos, add stickers to your pages, add backgrounds, add text, add videos, and more! There is the option to view the scrapblogs on full screen (see the box on the top right side of the screen). If you want to control the speed of the blog, you must have it on full screen. Once on full screen, look for the turtle and hare slider to slow down the speed. When completed, you can share your scrapblog via URL, on many social networking sites, or by printing out the pages. You don't need to register to USE this site, but you do need to register to save or share your scrapblog.
Safety/Security Concerns: an email address is required for sign up to use this service. Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how.
Classroom Uses: This amazing site has countless possibilities in the classroom. After a field trip, use this site to share the experience with families and as a review for the class. Can't take a field trip? Create a scrapblog of a fictitious "visit" to the historical site, showing what you have learned without even visiting. Rather than having students create traditional "book reports" or reports about famous people or events, use this site to create a multimedia presentation with photos, text, music, and more (include attribution for the Creative Commons images they may use). What would Jefferson have included in a scrapblog about his time in Philadelphia in 1776? Elementary classes could make whole-class scrapblogs about the important people and places in your school or community, using digital pictures you take yourselves. At Thanksgiving, have students make a scrapblog about the things they are grateful for. Share this link on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom. This is a perfect site for students to use to make free "homemade gifts" for Mother's Day, Father's Day, or Grandparent's Day.
Here is a sample of a scrapblog created by the TeachersFirst Editors
Teachers First Edge Review: For slightly adventurous technology users. Record a message and embed it into your favorite site or provide a link to share for free. Send to a friend by entering your email and the email of the recipient. Here is an example of a Vocaroo created by the Teacher’s First Review Team, explaining a biology concept for high schoolers. Recording the message is easy and embedding into a site such as a wiki or blog has never been simpler! No login or registration is needed. Although, if you choose to send a message via email, you must choose a password to use at the site. Vocaroos are stored on their server. Created messages can also be downloaded to individual computers. Visit their FAQ's for frequent questions and responses. The Vocaroo recording service requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom: Skills needed: Users need to be able to navigate controls on the website and sound levels on their computer. Copy/pasting embed codes is also a necessary skill for insertion in a website. Email the sound clip very easily.
Safety/security concerns: Future saving of Vocarros is unsure depending upon server space. Before using with students, you may wish to obtain permission from administration and/or parents. Be sure to check your school’s acceptable use policy. Students should be made aware of acceptable use and consequences of misuse of the service.
Possible uses: Record snippets of information as reminders on your class web site or instructions for students to follow. This is terrific for learning support students or non-readers! Have students describe aspects of classroom learning experiences to share with others, such as what they learned from a science experiment or found out about life in colonial America. Record a quick message for an absentee and email the link to him/her explaining how to catch up on missing work. Create tutorial pieces that students can use as study aids (or have them create them for each other). Use this site in world language classes or for ELL students: have students record and listen to their own pronunciation or send short messages to each other to translate. Have students use this site to practice speeches before the presentation to hear their speed, tone, and words. Use this site for research presentations, instructions for a substitute, or many other possibilities. With younger students, read a short story on Vocaroo, and have student follow along using a picture book. Or have the students read their own stories into Vocaroo and email the readings to their parents! For Mothers Day, why not have students record messages for mom or grandma? Another idea: create a class wiki where parents can "find" the entire selection of Vocaroos for Mother's Day (or another holiday). Record Vocaroos of each student talking about the importance of Moms for Mother's Day or how grateful they are for certain things at Thanksgiving. Embed them all in a class wiki to share with parents. Just email the URL for the collection.
If you choose to have students email one another (or their families), rather than using personal email accounts consider creating a teacher Gmail account and set up subaccounts for up to 20 students to register (by code name or number). Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.
Popcorn! offers a bowlful of information on that universally-loved food. Not only does it list the history behind the food, but it provides games, trivia, arts and crafts, printables, reading and math lessons, science and health lessons and a booklist dedicated to the topic of...POPCORN! Who knew there were so many children's books based on this simple treat?
This site requires Flash. Some of the lessons and printables require Adobe Acrobat. You can get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom: The site can also be incorporated into social studies and history for the many uses of popcorn by various cultures. For example, include the site in a Thanksgiving unit. Follow the seed to plant information for a life cycle unit in science. Add it to a health curriculum under healthy eating habits and food groups. Do not forget to check out the worksheets and lessons for math and reading.
TeachersFirst Edge entry: for moderately adventurous technology users. Voicethread allows you to upload images (from your digital camera, scanner, or even paint program). You can also upoad PowerPoint slides. Then students can record or write their own comments and/or narration about the images/slides. Other listeners can "comment" back, as well. TeachersFirst is providing the link to the VoiceThread home page but suggests that you first watch this quick explanation about two types of FREE educator memberships being offered for classroom teachers (one free, the other with premium features and more students, but at a cost). You can click to go to the home page from there. Access to the ed.voicethread site (as opposed to www.voicethread)is restricted to grades K-12 students, educators, and administrators.
VoiceThread explains how to set up a classroom account and has some ideas for classroom use, as well. Ideas from the TeachersFirst Edge review team are listed below, under "In the classroom."
In the Classroom: Skills needed: join the site (free). You will be logged into your account immediately after you fill in the registration form. You must "apply" to designate your account as an educator account once it is set up. Click on "browse" to see many examples, including tutorials. Watch the "One Minute Voicethread" to get a very quick overview of how easy it is to create a digital story. Set up student identities. Use first names only. You need to know how to locate and upload saved pictures or PowerPoint files. If you want to use audio, the COOL tool,you WILL need a microphone, either plugged into your computer or built in. They can be purchased for less than $10 at a discount or electronics store. Once you create a Voicethread, it can be shared by clicking :share" from the menu or at the end of viewing it and copying the URL to send via email or other means, inviting others to comment back. Ed voicethreads have comment moderation turned on by default and are private by default. As the teacher, you can change these settings.
Of course, you should be sure that you have the RIGHTS to any images you upload. Fair Use does not apply when you put an image on the web!
Safety/security: TeachersFirst recommends that you explain the VoiceThread projects via a note sent home and obtain parent permission to post student work to the web, even anonymously. Then invite parents to share in the results (The VoiceThread classroom page tells you more about this). TeachersFirst does not recommend using actual, identifiable pictures of children. Let them draw a picture or take a digital picture of an object that somehow represents them (middle schoolers will love that idea!). If you allow others to "comment" on student Voicethreads, the experience can be both wonderful and a bit intimidating. Use this opportunity to promote ethical and kind interaction with other students and their projects.
Possible uses: Elementary classes can create or take pictures, then ask each child to talk about the images. Each child can comment on the SAME pictures, creating a collaborative collection of responses. After a field trip or special class event, you can assign groups of students to explain each of the digital pictures you took and how they relate to curriculum topics. In art class, students can critique works of their own or of fellow students. In language arts classes, students can scan and comment on writing pieces as part of a reflective phase of the writing process. Or post an image as a prewriting activity and allow students to respond orally in an idea-generating phase. In social studies, have students provide a picture of a grandparent then narrate what they learned about that grandparent from interviewing him/her. Have students create narrated pictures as gifts (for parents or other care givers) for special occasions, winter holidays, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc.. During a science experiment or demo, have a student take pictures of the steps. Then ask students to "narrate" them by commenting on what is happening. The narration assignment could even be a center activity or an assignment on a few classroom computers for students to rotate through. What a great way to review and apply key vocabulary! Be sure they identify their voices if you are using a single class account and want to be able to assess understanding. Other ideas: narrated local history projects (pictures of local sites), audio "museum tours" of artifacts (photos) or war veterans telling their stories along with images of their uniforms or old photos. Speech/language, ESL/ELL or early childhood teachers could use this tool to promote vocabulary development and oral expression.
Hear and see the language of the pilgrims, try recipes, make crafts, read stories, and more with these kids activities from Plimouth Plantation. This site also has printable pages for younger students. Note: the sound files for the Pilgrim talk require FLASH, and you must turn up your computer's volume! You can get Flash from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
In the Classroom: Share this link on your teacher web site for November or try some of the activities in your elementary classroom. The stories would make great read-alouds during Thanksgiving week. Share the stories on your interactive whiteboard or projector.
This multi-level lesson plan explores the topic of corn from the agricultural point of view; students learn vocabulary, the growth process, products, and the history of popcorn. The plan includes a variety of children's books about corn and popcorn and appropriate links.
In the Classroom: Include this lesson as part of your study of Thanksgiving or in a science unit on plants. Be sure to include some of the related links on your teacher web page for students to visit at home or during indoor recess.
Nice collection of teacher-created interactive tests, quizzes, exercises and puzzles, spanning multiple skill levels and topics. Includes crossword puzzles to be done online for all ESL levels and by word-type or subject (Ex. Thanksgiving words).
In the Classroom: This site is excellent for ESL teachers looking for new ideas and activities to use in their classroom. During down-time, have students complete the grammar quizzes, at their respective levels, helping them practice English in a fun way.
TeachersFirst's Thanksgiving Resources 
Investigating the First Thanksgiving - What was it really like?? Plimoth Plantation museum has added a new Flash-based Thanksgiving lesson that will introduce students to the cultures and customs of both the Pilgrim and Wampanoag peoples. This presentation blends information about lots of everyday activities and customs with a look at what the actual "first Thanksgiving" might have looked like. Requires Flash. A message on the site warns that traffic near Thanksgiving can make the site very sluggish and offers directions to download it to your local computer. 
The Mayflower comes alive as you explore the passenger list with accompanying personal history and genealogy. Click on the Pilgrim History link for a history of Thanksgiving and other Mayflower-era topics, including authentic recipes. 
This informative website presents the students with information on numerous "Pilgrim" topics. There are authentic pictures and a lot of information. Topics include "Who Were The Pilgrims," "Who Were The Wampanoag," "The Mayflower," "Building a Home," and more! 