Transcript The First Thanksgiving

The
First
Thanksgiving
A long time ago before Christopher
Columbus, people lived in the land we
now call America. They are the real
first Americans. They are the Indians.
The first Americans were hunters
who traveled from place to place to
find food.
They traveled to America by walking
over a land bridge made of ice.
The yellow star on the map shows
where the land bridge once was.
The Indians built their houses from
what they could find around them.
They made them from clay, trees,
animal skins and even tall grass.
The first Americans had to make their
clothes and shoes from animal skins.
There were no stores to buy things.
Most of the first Americans walked
to get from one place to another.
Some made boats from trees. These
boats were called canoes.
While the Indians were
in America some
people in England
were wanting to come
to this place they
called “the New
World”.
They had heard
about America
from explorers
like Christopher
Columbus.
They came to
America for
different reasons.
Some came for
religious reasons.
Some came to make
money. They were
hired to find
treasure and send
it back to England.
England was far away from America.
They had to travel by boat. It took
them a long time to get there.
The English people looked very
different from the Indians.
Their clothes looked different
and they did not speak the same
language.
The Indians were scared of the
English when they met them for the
first time. They wondered who these
strange people were and why they had
come to their land.
The Indians and the English wanted to
learn about one another, but they
spoke different languages. Therefore,
it was hard for them to talk and
understand each other.
The English were unfamiliar with the
land so the Native Americans helped
them by showing them what foods to
eat and what crops to grow.
Pocahontas was a Native American
princess. She was Chief Powhatan’s
daughter. Pocahontas helped the
English people by bringing them food
and helping them to communicate and
trade with the Indians.
During the first year,
the Indians taught the
Pilgrims how to plant
crops and hunt for
animals. When
harvest time came,
the Pilgrims and the
Indians decided to
give thanks and
celebrate together.
The Pilgrims and
the Indians had
a big meal called
a feast. They
ate turkey, deer
meat,
cornbread, and
pumpkin pie.
This was the
first
Thanksgiving.
Today, we celebrate Thanksgiving in
November of each year. We give
thanks for all the wonderful things we
have.
Today we celebrate Thanksgiving
with a feast. People eat turkey,
sweet potatoes, beans, squash,
and cornbread. For dessert, we
sometimes eat pumpkin pie.
Thanksgiving is a
time to give
thanks for all
we have.
Now it’s time to see
what you have
learned. Go to the
next page and click
on the best answer
to the question.