1-2-3 Come Do Some Thanksgiving Pilgrim Activities With Me
Do you read ”The Littlest Pilgrim” by Brandi Dougherty?
I think part of the reason my students enjoy this story so much, is that they truly identify with Mini, the main character, for they too are young and often feel left out.
Mini is too little to chop wood, bake bread, hunt, build a cabin, or fish. (A nice list of things that the Pilgrims did).
However, she’s not too little to pick berries and make a special Native American friend; which in truth is the very essence of why the Pilgrims survived.
Because of my students’ enthusiasm for the story and their empathetic identification with Mini, I designed 3 quick, easy and fun writing prompt activities that I think your students will enjoy.
* The first one: “When I was younger I was too little to . . .” features 4 different “toppers” for them to choose from then color. See the samples on the cover.
* The next one is a comparison-contrast activity, where students complete the prompts: “It’s great being a kid because…” then compare that with “I look forward to being an adult because…”
Students can choose a boy or girl Pilgrim worksheet.
* Finally, a Pilgrim girl bookmark, has children make a list of words (character traits) that describe Mini.
The activities are different enough so that you can do all three, or give children a choice of the top two, then build vocabulary and practice descriptive character traits, as a whole group.
Besides the black & white patterns for students, I’ve also included full color templates, so that you can quickly and easily make a sample to share. My finished examples are also included.
To practice "text to self" we discuss times in our lives that we felt just like Mini.
Completed projects make a sweet bulletin board.
I’ve included 2 posters for the center of your display.
This craftivity is a quick, easy and fun way to reinforce the "sequencing and retelling a story" standards, while relaying factual information about the Pilgrims at the same time.
Children color the objects on the “slider strip” then cut and glue it together.
As they pull on the end of the “slider” the various pictures go through the window”, so that children can take turns retelling the story to a partner or reading buddy, then take their Pilgrim home to share with their family, once again practicing these standards.
Storytelling sliders are also an easy & interesting way to assess comprehension.
I’ve included a “sequence the story” worksheet for this, where students color and trim the picture “windows” then glue them in the correct order on the blank worksheet.
So that you can quickly and easily make an example, I’ve included a full-color slider pattern. There are patterns for both a boy and girl Pilgrim.
I’ve also included a “Here’s What Happened…” writing prompt worksheet, as another way to check comprehension plus practice sequential writing, hopefully using a variety of ordinal numbers or other transitions.
The featured FREEBIE for today are some fun acorn-themed craftivities, which make a nice "sanity saver" for the last day before vacation.
Well that's it for today. Thanks for popping over.
The Sandhill Cranes are migrating and make a stop over in a marsh close by.
So time to bundle up to go see this truly awesome sight, as literally 1,000s swoop in honking away. Wishing you an inspiring day.
"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly." - Langston Hughes