The First Thanksgiving Lapbook for Elementary and Middle School

Learn about the struggles and triumphs of the pilgrims who came over to North America from Europe to seek a new life in this “The First Thanksgiving” lapbook.

Teach your students the history behind that first Thanksgiving day with these Thanksgiving lapbook printables. Learn all about the pilgrims and the help provided to them by the Native Americans.

Your students in grades 2 to 9 will learn why the Puritans left Europe, what the Mayflower Compact was, who the Wampanoag people were, and how Squanto and the Native Americans helped the Pilgrims survive. Plus lots more about the first Thanksgiving!

If this is your first time completing a lapbook, read this first to learn how to fold your folders to create the lapbook base.

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Here are the resources used in the First Thanksgiving Lapbook:

Required Resources:

1. The Plymouth Colony (Events that Shaped America) by Gianna Williams & Janet Richecky OOP but used copies are cheap and easy to find

OR The Landing of the Pilgrims by James Daugherty

2. Giving Thanks: The 1621 Harvest Feast by Kate Waters

OR The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern

OR Tapenum’s Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim Times by Kate Waters

3. . . . If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern

4. The printable First Thanksgiving Lapbook packet from the Free Resource Library (see below)

Optional, but helpful, books for additional study:

People of the Breaking Day by Marcia Sewell

The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George

Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac OR Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving by Eric Metaxas

The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh

The Very First Thanksgiving Day by Rhonda Gowler Greene (perfect for your younger kids that are learning alongside their older siblings)

Online Resources:

Plimouth Paxutet Museum answers all of your questions about the Mayflower, the Pilgrims and Wampanoag, and the First Thanksgiving

The Mayflower Voyage

The Wampanoag

Chief Massasoit Ousemequin

List of primary sources related to the 1st Thanksgiving

Videos

The First Thanksgiving (this one is great for your younger kids!)

Pilgrim Colony Facts from History Heroes

A Reading of the Mayflower Compact

The Pilgrims and the Mayflower Compact

The Real Story of Thanksgiving (includes the back story of Squanto’s kidnapping by Thomas Hunt)

American Experience: The Pilgrims 2015 PG This is a well-researched documentary about the Pilgrims’ voyage and the first ten years of Plymouth Colony. Best for middle school and up.

The First Thanksgiving Lapbook Activities:

• Puritan Separatists – Write about the struggles of the Puritan Separatists in Europe inside the matchbook.
• Wampanoag – Write about the struggles of the Wampanoag inside the matchbook.
• Plans to emigrate – Answer the questions about the Puritans inside the flap book.
• Mayflower Voyage – Answer the questions about the voyage on the Mayflower inside the fan fold book.
• The Mayflower Compact – Write about the Mayflower Compact inside the book.
• My Compact – Make your own compact and put it inside the envelope.
• The First Winter – Describe the struggles and triumphs of the colonists during the first winter inside the fan fold book.
• The First Visitors – Write about the colonists first Native American visitors inside the layered book.
• Squanto and Hobomok – Describe the help given by Squanto and Hobomok in the book.
• A Harvest Celebration – Write about their harvest celebration on the shaped fan.

Get your copy of The First Thanksgiving Lapbook from the HHO Shop

Other Printables Related to Thanksgiving Day:

• Thanksgiving Turkeys Notebooking Page
• Thanksgiving Word Search
  
• Thanksgiving Writing Prompts
  
• Thankfulness Character Study

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