Date: _________

Grade Level: K
Subject Area: Social Studies
Topic: Thanksgiving

Technology Used: iPad & Projector

Time Frame: Possible 2 Day Lesson

Objectives: Students will learn about how the Pilgrims and Native Americans lived, Then and Now.
Materials/Resources: Student & Teacher iPads with Headphones and Internet Access, Work Sheet,
Classroom Video Projector and Audio Amplifier.
GPS Standards: SSKH1 The student will identify the purpose of national holidays and describe the
people or events celebrated.
d. Thanksgiving Day
SSKH3 The student will correctly use words and phrases related to chronology and time to explain how
things change.
a. Now, long ago
b. Before, after (Then)
Procedures:
1. Teacher will discuss the Terms Then and Now.
2. Show BrainPop Video on the History of the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving.
3. http://www.brainpopjr.com/socialstudies/holidays/thanksgiving/
4. On the Blackboard, Whiteboard or Active Board Make a Then and Now Column. Add key
words & ideas to each row based on procedures 5 & 6.
5. Use the Talk About it Activity (in BrainPop Jr.) with your students to discuss the differences
between modern immigrants and the Pilgrims.
6. Discuss Thanksgiving with your children. What has changed since the Pilgrims first arrived in
1620? What traditions are largely the same? Encourage your children to think about the
meaning of Thanksgiving. What are your kids thankful for, and how is this different than
what the Pilgrims were thankful for?
7. On Teacher iPad, demonstrate the program Puppet Pals.
8. Explain how we will be using this App to create a puppet show with the characters talking
about then and now events. Relate these events to how Pilgrims and Native Americans lived
in 1620 and how they would live now. Have the students use ideas from activities 5 &6.
9. As an extension for this activity, you can have the students take a picture of themselves with
the iPad(s) and then add their image(s) into Puppet Pals as an additional character for their
Puppet show(s).
10. Circulate around the room as a guide to assist students with this project.
11. Choose students via Popsicle sticks to show their puppet shows on the Active Board (connect
their iPad(s) with the VGA Cable in the iPad cart and the audio cable from the amplifier.
12. As an Extension Activity, use whole class discussion using the Word Wall selection in
BrainPop Jr. about Thanksgiving.
13. Close Activity Question Ask random students about how they will be spending their
Thanksgiving break.
Modifications: None should be required.
Assessment/Evaluations of Objectives: Visual observation, Puppet Pal creation(s) & auditory responses to
questions posed during class discussion.
Closure: Wrap up with Easy Questions Quiz in BrainPop if time allows.