A Pilgrims Journal Teacher Page Lesson Plan

[Teacher and Parent Resources] [Children's Journal Project]
[Project Extensions] [Bibliography]

Objective: Students will create a Journal of a Pilgrim child's experiences surrounding the first Thanksgiving using Internet and library resources. Excerpt from Project: Scenario:The year is 1620, you are10 years old and your family is leaving England, the country you were born in to begin a new life in America. They are leaving because the only religion allowed there is the official church of the government, and anyone who dares to contradict the church (and state) could be jailed or even executed...For the children aboard the Mayflower, the 65-day journey across the Atlantic must have seemed very long... Motivation: Students will imagine that they are about to set sail with the pilgrims. Their pilgrim diary begins with a tale of their journey... George C. Wales American, 1868 - Mayflower, Cape Cod Bay, 1921 California State Library long loan Copyright retained by the artist.           [ Go to Children's Journal Project...] Project Extensions: Have students create their own web pages for their diaries, complete with drawings of their 'experiences' that have been scanned into the computer OR create the actual journal using parchment or construction paper. Create drawings with water colors or crayons and cut and paste into the journal.   Have students use E-mail, chat rooms or discussion forums with students living in Plymouth Massachusetts today. Seek out relatives of families who traveled on the Mayflower and interview or write letters to them asking about their family stories.   Ask Jeeves-Students can fill in their questions to obtain relevent educational links. Plymouth Massachusetts Homepage. Historical links, as well as links to the town as it is today. Mayflower Compact Directory of Plymouth Schools to locate elementary schools in that community. Map of Plymouth Massachusetts: http://www.thehistorynet.com/HistoricTraveler/images/map_ma.htm [ Go to Children's Journal Project...]   [Back to Top]