Practice writing informational, opinion, and narrative paragraphs using 4 different prompts inspired by the Thanksgiving historical fiction picture book, Squanto’s Journey by Joseph Bruchac. All writing prompts align with Squanto’s Journey, but any book can be used if desired. The four prompts include two different kinds of informational paragraphs, a convincing opinion paragraph, and a narrative paragraph describing a scene from Squanto’s life. The prompts are as follows:

• Prompt #1: Explanatory — Squanto’s Positive Character Traits
• Prompt #2: Persuasive — Should the Natives befriend the English?
• Prompt #3: Sensory/Descriptive — What did a person see, hear, smell, taste, and touch at a harvest feast in 1621?
• Prompt #4: Compare/Contrast — How was a harvest feast different for the Native Americans and the Pilgrims? How was it similar?

 As students read Squanto’s Journey, they get the story of Thanksgiving from a different perspective, that of the Native American who helped the Pilgrims.See also Thanksgiving Writing Prompts for The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dagliesh.