The First Thanksgiving

1. The First Thanksgiving

2. 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.

3. The first Americans were hunters who traveled from place to place to find food.

4. 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.

5. The Indians built their houses from what they could find around them. They made them from clay, trees, animal skins and even tall grass.

6. The first Americans had to make their clothes and shoes from animal skins. There were no stores to buy things.

7. Most of the first Americans walked to get from one place to another. Some made boats from trees. These boats were called canoes.

8. While the Indians were in America some people in England were wanting to come to this place they called “the New World”.

9. They had heard about America from explorers like Christopher Columbus.

10. They came to America for different reasons. Some came for religious reasons.

11. Some came to make money. They were hired to find treasure and send it back to England.

12. England was far away from America. They had to travel by boat. It took them a long time to get there.

13. The English people looked very different from the Indians. Their clothes looked different and they did not speak the same language.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. Today, we celebrate Thanksgiving in November of each year. We give thanks for all the wonderful things we have.

21. Today we celebrate Thanksgiving with a feast. People eat turkey, sweet potatoes, beans, squash, and cornbread. For dessert, we sometimes eat pumpkin pie.

22. Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for all we have.

23. Now it’s time to see what you have learned. Go to the next page and click on the best answer to the question.