As students read the suggested informative text, they encounter plenty of details that they can use to compose their own paragraphs about the first Thanksgiving, or harvest feast, between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims.
Practice writing a narrative letter, a compare and contrast, an informational paragraph, and an opinion paragraph using 4 different prompts inspired by the Thanksgiving historical fiction picture book, The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh.
More detail about the prompts:
Prompt #1: Sensory/Descriptive — Letter about the Mayflower Journey
Prompt #2: Compare/Contrast — New Plymouth versus Virginia Colony
Prompt #3: Explanatory — How did the Native Americans help the Pilgrims?
Prompt #4: Persuasive/Explanatory — Why should we be thankful?
This picture book-based writing lesson correlates with The Thanksgiving Story. As students learn of the many difficulties that the Pilgrims faced, they will better understand why the pilgrims were so thankful.
See also Thanksgiving Writing Prompts for Squanto’s Journey by Joseph Bruchac.
