Presidential Thanksgiving Day Proclamations (Past Proclamations)
Proclamations - The White House (This Year's Proclamation)
Plimoth Plantation Website Resources
Thanksgiving Print Resources from Kaboose

 THANKSGIVING BIBLE VERSES

Psalm 50:14 -- Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
Psalm 69:30 -- I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
Psalm 95:2 -- Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
Psalm 100:4 -- Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name.
Psalm 107:22 -- Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.
Psalm 116:17 -- I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
Psalm 147:7 -- Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving...

THANKSGIVING DAY (Classroom Use K-5)

The fourth Thursday in November in Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving is our oldest national holiday and most Americans do not have to go to school or work.

Thanksgiving started over 370 years ago with the Pilgrims. In the fall of 1620, one hundred and two Pilgrims came to the United States from England. They came on a boat called the Mayflower. Most of the people came for religious freedom. All came for new lives.

The first winter, the Pilgrims were hungry, sick and cold. They were unprepared for the harsh winter and because they had no homes and very little food, many of them died. The Indians helped the Pilgrims. They taught the Pilgrims to plant and store corn, pumpkins and squash to see them through the next winter.
In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrim leader, William Bradford, ordered a day for giving thanks to God. Church services were held, followed by a feast of wild turkey and quail. That first Thanksgiving the Pilgrims and Indians feasted for three days on the food prepared by the Pilgrim women. They gave thanks to God for their new land and the help that they had received from the Indians.

When George Washington became President in 1789, his first proclamation was to declare a national day of Thanksgiving to thank God for His care and protection.

TEACHING TIPS for using Thanksgiving Proclamations in the classroom

Make copies for the entire faculty and for your class(es) to take home

Offer your copy to other teachers, if it is not duplicated, or place it on the faculty bulletin board

Tell the pupils about the Annual Thanksgiving Day Proclamation by presidents of the United States urging the whole country to give thanks to God

Use Lincoln's and Washington's Proclamation from this web site

Ask a pupil, or several pupils to read the Proclamation in an assembly or class

Request the principal to announce it in the school bulletin or at a faculty meeting

Use as a study project for the entire class

Use the historical background of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving observance as a background for current study of our American affluent living conditions

Discuss difficult words or new ones, making clear their meaning

Ask pupils WHY Presidents write a Proclamation for the entire nation

Have pupils write themes on Thanksgiving and/or their own proclamation

OTHER RESOURCES

We do appreciate hearing from our Teachers!
If you have a Thanksgiving Teaching Tip or how you personally used the Presidential Proclamation, please let CEAI know. info@ceai.org

AMERICAN CHRISTIAN HERITAGE WEEK - Thanksgiving week - annually since 1992

THE POWER OF GIVING THANKS - By Jeff Jacoby

COMMENTS FROM TEACHERS

"I always look forward to receiving from you proclamations from the President...and have made it a practice to copy the Thanksgiving one for every staff member in my school. Thank you so much for all that you do to help us! I am grateful for our organization."
L.A.P.

"I read (in an abbreviated version) the proclamation from the President to my kindergarten class. They were impressed we had a message from the president. God is at work in our public schools. Thank you for CEAI and it's encouragement to us to be faithful."
J.L. Oregon