Home > Archives > Holidays & Special Days > Special Theme Page

A Feast of November Resources

This week, Education World editors dug down into our archives to bring you some great resources for "evergreen" November teaching themes. Below you will find links to first-rate resources for teaching about Thanksgiving, Native Americans, Veterans Day, and the Great American Smokeout. You can scroll through the resources or click a topic to go directly to the specific resource you're looking for!

• Thanksgiving Lessons, Articles, and Resources
• Native American Lessons, Articles, and Resources
• Veterans Day Lessons Articles and Resources
• Great American Smokeout Lesson Ideas

THANKSGIVING LESSONS, ARTICLES, AND RESOURCES

• The "First Thanksgiving" -- A Feast of Activities
  Want to cook up a feast of across-the-curriculum fun? The table is set with a plentiful selection of ideas. Dig in!
• It's Turkey Time!
  "Gobble, gobble, gobble..." Increase your students' knowledge and skills when you use turkeys as a teaching theme.
• Pilgrim Projects
  Have you had your fill of feathers? Are you tired of gobbling your way through a month of turkey activities? This year, try a Pilgrim project instead. There's not a turkey among them! Included: Activities for students of all ages!
• A Thanksgiving Language Lesson!
  A middle school teacher stirs persuasive writing into the Thanksgiving feast as students create restaurant menus, advertisements, and presentations designed to attract Thanksgiving Day customers.
• Great Sites for Teaching About Thanksgiving
  Education World has searched the Web to find ten great sites for Thanksgiving fun. Whether you're looking for games, crafts, coloring pages, recipes, or creative lesson plan ideas, one of these sites is sure to have what you need.
• Are You Teaching the Real Story of the "First Thanksgiving"?
  Are you teaching the true Thanksgiving story or is the version you're passing on to your students really a blend of fact and myth? Ready to set the record straight?
• The Thanksgiving Story: The Pilgrims Revisited
  The Internet is full of useful materials for "de-myth-tifying" the Pilgrims, the Indians, the Mayflower, and the First Thanksgiving. Whether you teach kindergarten or college, you'll find valuable information about the hearts and minds of the faceless historical figures behind this traditional American holiday.
• Back in the Day: Lessons from Colonial Classrooms
  Encourage your students to experience the lives of colonial children by providing some of the same activities children enjoyed -- or endured -- more than 200 years ago. This article includes authentic lessons from colonial times -- plus six great colonial WebQuests!

NATIVE AMERICANS LESSONS, ARTICLES, AND RESOURCES

• Activities to Celebrate Native American Heritage!
  November is National American Indian Heritage History Month. Education World offers 12 lessons to help students learn about Native American history and cultures. Included: Activities that involve students in dramatizing folktales, learning new words, preparing traditional foods, and much more!
• Exploring Native Americans Across the Curriculum
  Blast stereotypes with these across-the-curriculum activities for students of all ages.
• Great Sites for Teaching About Native Americans
  These ten sites are among the best on the Web for teaching about Native Americans. Included you will find sites about Indian groups, legends, homes, flags, and much more.
• Students Use Technology to Preserve Inuit Heritage
  Students in Arviat, Nunavut, Canada, interviewed local elders and studied traditional skills as part of the Arviat Iglu project. In the process, the kids used technology tools of the present to learn about the past and to preserve it for future students.

• Speakers, Projects Bring Veterans' Stories to Classroom
  Teachers use a variety of ways to educate students about the historic significance of Veterans Day. Some teachers ask students to interview a veteran, some invite current members of the military to talk to their students, and others use the holiday as a chance to focus on the historical time line that evolved Veterans Day into a national holiday. Included: Classroom activities for teaching about Veterans Day!
• Remembering D-Day: Great Sites on the Web
  June 6 is the anniversary of the World War II invasion at Normandy. Here you'll find links to a handful of interesting D-Day Web sites.
• Great Sites for Teaching About The Forgotten War
  Education World looks at five Web sites commemorating the Korean War.
• Great Sites for Teaching About Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, a second bomb fell on Nagasaki. Education World offer links to some of the best sites for learning and teaching about these important historic events.
• Great Sites for Teaching About World Wars I and II
  These eight Web sites are among the best on the Web for teaching about the World Wars.
• America's Freedom Documents!
  Education World presents ten lesson plans for teaching about three important freedom documents -- the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Lessons include such activities as creating time lines and posters, writing new amendments, and charting the three branches of government!

• The Great American Smokeout: Anti-Smoking Activities "Permeate" the Curriculum
  The annual Great American Smokeout is a great time to get out the message: Smoking kills! Included -- a "pack" of activities to drive home the anti-smoking message and a "carton" of anti-smoking Internet sites to visit!