Thanksgiving Means More Than Giving Thanks

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Thanksgiving Means More Than Giving Thanks

• October 19, 2009
• Trish Baker

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Education World Lesson plans and Webquests
already created http//www.education-world.com/
And INFOhio Safe and reliable
resources www.infohio.org
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Introduction- The U.S Congress has decided to
change the name of the holiday celebrated on the
last Thursday in November. The name
Thanksgiving, the lawmakers say, doesnt
capture the entire spirit of the day. The
holiday should be a day for more than just giving
thanks. Now, Congress has asked your class to
help choose a better name.
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TASK Working in teams, your class
will Brainstorm what the day called
Thanksgiving is all about. Research
Thanksgiving customs and experiences. Identify
character traits that might be demonstrated in
our Thanksgiving practices. Choose a new name
for the holiday. Present your research and
rationale for your new holiday name.
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PROCESS Working in groups of four, complete the
following steps Step 1 As a group brainstorm
everything that comes into your minds when you
think of the holiday called Thanksgiving. Ask
yourself the following questions- Who do you
spend the day with? What do you do on that
day? How do you feel on that day? Whats your
favorite part of the day? What do other people
do on Thanksgiving? What special events happen
in your community? What special events happen in
other parts of the country? Record your thoughts.
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Step 2 Each team member will have a different
role- 1 The Historian 2 The Newspaper
Reporter 3 The Social Worker 4 The Team
Leader
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1-The Historian researches past
Thanksgivings, beginning with the first
Thanksgiving, and gathers at least 10 facts about
the history of the day. The Historian
will use INFOhios World Book Student and
EBSCOhost, Student Research Center Grades 6-8 to
take notes and create their bibliography.
World Book Student gives citation information
at the bottom of each article. While
searching with EBSCOhost, filter your search by
clicking Primary Source Documents.
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Step 2 continued- 2- The Newspaper
Reporter researches the Thanksgiving events that
happen in their own community along with
events around the country. The newspaper
reporter will use Newsbank and EBSCOhosts
Student Research Center Grades 6-8 from
INFOhios Core Collection. The reporter will
gather at least 10 facts about the events that
happen during the Thanksgiving holidays and
create a bibliography. 3- The Social
Worker researches character traits and makes a
list of at least 5 traits other than
gratitude. List the 5 traits and what they
mean. The social worker will use EBSCO Images
and the Student Research Center Grades 6-8.
Use the Photo Analysis worksheet to record
the character traits in the images you see. Look
for your 5 words in World Book Students
dictionary and record their definitions.
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Step 2 continued- 4- The Team Leader
organizes the information grouping similar
thoughts under such headings as Our Thanksgiving
Traditions or Past Thanksgivings.
The team leader also makes sure each group member
is on time and on task. The team leader
will take all bibliographies and create one
bibliography for all the teams
research. Step 3 Each team member uses
INFOhios electronic resources to find the
information needed. Each researcher also
takes notes and creates a bibliography.
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Step 4 Team members will share their research,
beginning with the Social Worker, who lists 5
character traits other than gratitude that might
be considered when choosing the holidays new
name. The Team leader records the 5 character
traits. The Newspaper Reporter and the Historian
share the facts they have gathered and the
Team Leader records them. The team matches
each character trait to a fact . Step 5 The
team chooses one character trait it thinks bests
fits the spirit of the November holiday, and
creates a new name around that character
trait.
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Step 6 The team works together to create a
PowerPoint presentation The Historian creates
one slide with 3 to 5 bullets listing the most
important facts about the past Thanksgivings.
The Reporter creates one slide with 3 to 5
bullets containing the most interesting events
that happen in your community or around the
country. The Social Worker creates one slide
listing 3 to 5 character traits and what they
mean.
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The Team Leader creates a title slide and two
concluding slides. The first concluding slide
presents the character trait the team decided
should be emphasized on the November holiday
and explains why that character trait was
chosen. The final slide shows what your team
thinks the new name for Thanksgiving should be.

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The class votes on the best name to recommend
to Congress!
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More lesson plans, webquests and fun
activities from Education World! Pumpkins! ht
tp//www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson
323.shtml
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Another Education World WebQuest -- Women of
the Century Propose to students the following
scenario You have just accepted a job as one
of the editors of a new encyclopedia that will
highlight the greatest women in history. You
need to research potential candidates For
recognition in your field of specialty the
arts, medicine, politics, science, or sports
and select the women who are most deserving of
inclusion in the Encyclopedia of Notable
Women.
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Another site with ideas and activities! www.a
bcteach.com
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Another idea using Worksheets from
www.abcteach.com
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Online Citation makers www.easybib.com www.b
ibme.org (free but have to register) www.citati
onmachine.net World Book Student Citation
Maker
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Any other ideas or suggestions to share?
Thanks for your time.