Thanksgiving Video Lessons for Teachers
If you’re interested in some Thanksgiving video lessons for teachers, we’ve got you covered. Check out the Edpuzzle Original video lessons on the history behind the holiday!
Illustration by Edpuzzle Staff
This Thanksgiving, help your students discover that there’s more to the holiday than turkey, pie, and Pilgrims with buckles on their hats.
But seriously, those buckles, though...did you know the Pilgrims didn’t even wear them?!
In the first free Edpuzzle original video lesson, learn the whole story of Thanksgiving, and spark student engagement with some facts before the feast. Then, use the second video lesson to explore a Thanksgiving poem and reflect on the idea of thankfulness.
Thanksgiving Video Lesson for Grades 3-12
Edpuzzle’s ready-to-go Thanksgiving video lesson comes complete with built-in questions, and all you have to do is assign it in a couple of clicks.
It can be adapted to a wide range of grade levels from 3-12, so take a look to see how you can incorporate it into your classroom:
Video length: 7 mins. 28 secs.
Assign the video as is, or create your own questions and audio notes to personalize the video even further to your specific group of students.
If you add your own open-ended questions, you can turn on audio responses to hear what your students have to say in their own words!
Key Takeaways From the Thanksgiving Video Lesson
The goal with the Thanksgiving video lesson is to give students the full picture behind the holiday. Here are some of the topics this video lesson dives into:
- The Indigenous Peoples who lived in America for thousands of years before English settlers arrived
- The Wampanoags who lived where the English Pilgrims settled
- Common misconceptions and myths about the settlers
- The National Day of Mourning which honors the Indigenous People who died as a result of European colonization
- What Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War have to do with Thanksgiving
It’s our hope that this Edpuzzle Original video lesson will help fill in the gaps and missing pieces of the traditional story of Thanksgiving.
A Thanksgiving Poetry Video Lesson
This ELA video lesson begins with a reading of the poem "Thanksgiving" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox and explores the literary techniques of juxtaposition and personification.
Video length: 8 mins. 9 secs.
It also features a social-emotional component by asking students to consider what they're grateful for.
If you decide to use these Thanksgiving video lessons in your class, make sure to let us know on Twitter @edpuzzle how it went! And of course, happy Thanksgiving, everyone :)