Free 5th Grade Thanksgiving Lesson Plan

Topic:Thanksgiving is different for every culture

Objectives & Outcomes

• Students will understand how Thanksgiving is different for every culture.

Materials

• Images of various cultures celebrating Thanksgiving
• Poster paper and markers
• Scissors

Warm-up

• Ask students to share what they know about Thanksgiving.
• Write their answers on the poster paper.

Direct Instruction

• Tell students that Thanksgiving is a holiday that is celebrated in the United States.
• Ask students to brainstorm what they know about Thanksgiving. Write their ideas on the poster paper.
• Explain that Thanksgiving has its origins in a harvest festival that was celebrated by the Native Americans in the United States.
• Tell students that over time, Thanksgiving has become a celebration that is shared by people from many different cultures.
• Ask students to think about how Thanksgiving is different for different cultures. Write their ideas on the poster paper.

Guided Practice:

• Divide the class into small groups.
• Give each group a different cultural artifact related to Thanksgiving (e.g. a Native American headdress, a Jewish prayer book, a Chinese dragon costume).
• Ask the groups to discuss how the artifact relates to Thanksgiving in their culture.
• Have each group present their discussion to the class.

Independent Practice

• Give each student a piece of paper and a pen.
• Ask the students to think about how Thanksgiving is different for their family.
• Have the students write a paragraph describing their family's Thanksgiving traditions and why they are grateful for their family.

Closure

• Ask the students to share their paragraphs with the class.
• Encourage the other students to ask questions and share their own thoughts on Thanksgiving.
• Ask the students to think about what they are thankful for and write it down on a sticky note.
• At the end of the class, have each student share one thing they are thankful for and stick it to the chalkboard.

Assessment

• Collect the paragraphs and use them to assess the students' understanding of Thanksgiving and the different ways it is celebrated.
• Observe the students during the independent practice to assess their ability to research and write about a culture's thanksgiving tradition.
• Closing the lesson
• Have the students reflect on what they learned about Thanksgiving through the class and write down their thoughts on a sticky note.
• Collect the sticky notes and use them to assess the students' understanding of Thanksgiving.