Teacher Pattern November 2008

For a Thanksgiving Puzzle for kids to color, cut out, and reassemple, just click here (PDF)»

Print out as many puzzles as you need from the PDF file. Back the copied puzzles onto tagboard before cutting into pieces.

After you have read the story below, hold up the pieces of your puzzle, naming the pictures on each one. Then, with children at tables with their own puzzles, tell the story again, encouraging them to find the pieces that correspond to the story. The very youngest may not be able to put the puzzle together, but they can enjoy identifying the pieces.

Thanksgiving Story

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever!” (Psalm 107:1)

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States.  It is a day set aside to give thanks to God for the many blessings of the year.

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1619 by the Pilgrims who settled near the James River in Virginia. This was a Thanksgiving of prayer and did not include feasting, probably because there was so little to eat.

In 1721 after a successful harvest, Governor William Bradford planned a Thanksgiving celebration. The feasting lasted three days and included wild game, corn and other crops grown by the settlers. About ninety Native Americans also attended the celebration.

President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day to be observed on the fourth Thursday of November in 1863. It wasn’t until 1941 that congress declared Thanksgiving Day to be a legal federal holiday.