Key Takeaways
- Replace “Indians” and “Pilgrims” with more specific names: Wampanoag and English or Separatists. As responsible educators, we need to encourage our students to use more accurate terms.
- Tell the story of the Wampanoag, who were instrumental in helping the English survive. It’s important for students to learn that Wampanoag still exist today.
- Research Native tribes in your area and invite them to give a lesson at your school. There are over 500 tribes spread throughout the U.S. If you don’t have tribes close to you, build partnerships with Native American organizations and local museums and universities.
Dr. Star Yellowfish has a challenge for America’s schools and educators: whether you’re teaching tots or teenagers, celebrate your best Thanksgiving lesson ever by teaching an accurate history of the holiday.
Thanksgiving is a great entry point for learning about the culture of America’s first people, says Yellowfish, Director of Native American Student Services for Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) and a member of the Keetowah Cherokees.
Teaching truth, and learning from it, helps us honor all of our students and build stronger relationships with each other says Yellowfish, who shares tips and resources to help educators get started.
What motivated you and OCPS to produce a Thanksgiving lesson plan from a Native American perspective?
Our teachers needed something meaningful, tangible, and easy to follow in their classrooms. And Native parents were frustrated with their child coming home with make-shift feathers and inaccurate stories of Thanksgiving.
What’s the single most important lesson you teach students around Thanksgiving?
How two extremely different communities worked together to coexist and how we can learn from that. [Even though the relationship between the English settlers and Wampanoags was temporary and often strained, it was a rarely achieved peaceful coexistence between early Native Americans and Europeans.]
- With younger children, you can discuss how Wapanoag and English leaders were at the table for three days talking about how they were going to interact.
- With older students, you can hold a more in-depth discussion about the whole idea of diplomacy, political alliances, and leadership. Ask them to brainstorm or write an essay about how they would handle a similar situation if it were happening to them today.
What are some meaningful ways educators can teach their students about Thanksgiving?
- Replace “Indians” and “Pilgrims” with more specific names: Wampanoag and English or Separatists. As responsible educators, we need to encourage our students to use more accurate terms.
- Tell the story of the Wampanoag, who were instrumental in helping the English survive. It’s important for students to learn that Wampanoag still exist today.
- Research Native tribes in your area and invite them to give a lesson at your school. There are over 500 tribes spread throughout the U.S. If you don’t have tribes close to you, build partnerships with Native American organizations and local museums and universities.
- Focus on the importance of the harvest with young students. Teach them about the role of the three sisters—corn, beans, and squash—in Native cultures.
What should educators avoid?
- I heard about a Thanksgiving school assignment that involved giving out Native American names. Our names are a very special and private thing. It’s something we do in reverence. There’s a time and a way to do it.
- Don’t use construction paper feathers. In our culture, feathers are very sacred. You have to earn them. Let me give you a better alternative—teaching children how to make Native American chokers with pony beads and imitation bone. It’s more culturally appropriate and still fun.
- I don’t think there’s anyone still singing the “10 Little Indians” song. [Original lyrics were written for a minstrel show]
Have you had to deal with any pushback from schools or parents?
The biggest criticism I’ve heard is that Native people are too sensitive and we’re taking the fun out of Thanksgiving celebrations at school. But when I’ve talked to parents one on one or in small groups and explain what we’re doing instead, they’re perfectly fine.
If you get resistance from anyone, explain that you’re not taking Thanksgiving away, you’re redesigning it. It’s not a foreign concept to redesign and teach content differently. We do it for math and other subjects. There’s no reason we can’t have really fun, interactive, and accurate lessons around Thanksgiving.
How do kids like the redesign?
My nephew’s parents found out the night before that his public elementary school had planned a typical Thanksgiving celebration, with students dressing as “Pilgrims” and “Indians.” When they expressed their concerns to his teacher and principal, the school changed their plans and redesigned the celebration, all within a matter of hours.
The parents took part by teaching students a lesson about Native culture and the original Thanksgiving. The kids still got to sit down and have a feast. Nobody dressed up in costumes and the students still had a blast because everybody came together in the spirit of cooperation and Thanksgiving. Isn’t that what it’s all about?
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Lesson Plans
Thanksgiving Lesson Plans from a Native American Perspective
A Story of Survival: The Wampanoag and the English
A Thanksgiving Lesson Plan Booklet from a Native American Perspective (Oklahoma City Public Schools)Harvest Ceremony: Beyond the Thanksgiving Myth, A Study Guide (National Museum of the American Indian)
American Indian Perspectives on Thanksgiving, Grades 4-8 (NMAI)
Additional Lesson Plan Units
Student-Centered Digital Learning Activities
Check out these digital education tools, lesson plans, and resources available for free and downloadable from the National Indian Education Association.Resources from the National Museum of the American Indian
Lesson plans, videos and much more for all ages.Interdisciplinary Stories, Webinars, Films, and Lesson Plans
The Global Oneness Project offers a library of multimedia stories comprised of award-winning films, photo essays, and essays, many with companion curriculum and discussion guides.Native Americans Today
Students in grades 3-5 compare prior knowledge of Native Americans with information gathered while reading about contemporary Native Americans.Alaska Native Stories: Using Narrative to Introduce Expository Text
Students in grades 3-5 use traditional stories of Native peoples to begin a study of animals in AlaskaNative American Dolls (PDF, 1.7 MB, 28 pgs.)
Students in grades K-12 explore the perspectives and experiences of Native doll makers from five tribal groups and discover how their work is keeping old traditions and developing new ones.Pourquoi Stories: Creating Tales to Tell Why
Students in grades 3-5 study three tales and learn about their cultures of origin, then work cooperatively to write and present an original pourquoi tale.Prehistoric Native American Lesson Plan: Pottery-making Methods (
PDF, 295 KB, 5 pgs.)
Students in grades 3-12 experiment with three methods ancient people used to make pottery before the invention of the pottery wheel.Picaria: a Zuni Math Game (PDF, 2 pgs)
Students in grades 6-8 will learn how to play Picaria, a Zuni Pueblo math game similar to modern tic-tac-toe at first, but involving more movement and strategy. Create your own game board and practice mathematical thinking skills while having fun.The Cultural Significance of Naming (PDF, 2 pgs)
Explore the Native American tradition of naming a person and the cultural meaning behind sacred names. This activity features an example from a historic Lakota Sioux chief, a Navajo elder, and a well-known Mexican American writer. (grades 6-8)Background Resources
Native American Heritage Month
Resources provided by the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Features audio and video files.A History of Native Voting Rights
Provides a brief history of the difficulties Native Americans have faced in voting since the passage of the 14th Amendment.The National Museum of the American Indian Native Knowledge 360 Educational Resources
Choose from featured resources in history, civics, geography, and STEM, or search for resources by language, nation, subject, grade, and topic.American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month: November 2024
Statistical data.Native Now: The Dos and Don’ts of Talking Respectfully about and with Native People from IllumiNative (PDF)
NEA's Land Acknowledgement Guide (PDF)
Land Acknowledgements are a reminder that every major city, town, and municipality benefits from the dispossession of Indigenous land and people. It is a formal recognition of that painful reality and history and a small first step in truth, healing, and reconciliation. This guide outlines why land acknowledgements are important, how to approach them, and includes further actions to support Indigenous communities.Smithsonian Education - American Indian Heritage Teaching Resources
Free audio tracks and videos featuring Native communities from the Arctic to the Andes, indigenous geography, artic studies, textiles of the Southwest, traditional culture of the Bering Sea Eskimo People, buffalo hide paintings, and moreTeaching With Documents: Lesson Plans
Search eras for Native American materials.Printables & Posters
Printables
261 North American Indian Designs
Inexpensive collections of Native American designs adapted from textile patterns, wood carvings, ceramics, and other traditional craft forms.American Indian History Timeline Events, policies, legislation and laws related to Indian land tenure from 1598 to the present.
Posters
Videos
Meet Jim Thorpe, a Real-Life Native American Superhero (grades 9-12)
Jim Thorpe, a.k.a. Wa-Tho-Huk (meaning Bright Path) was an Olympic-winning athlete, actor, and humanitarian. Learn more about his life and find opportunities to support Native American people.
Recommended Books from NEA’s Read Across America program
Share stories of Indigenous Peoples and cultures in your classroom with these titles, with related discussion questions, activities, and resources.
ELEMENTARY AND PICTURE BOOKS
- All Around Us by Xelena González
- Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard
- We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
- We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorrell
- Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker’s Story by Joseph Bruchac
- Powwow Day by Traci Sorrell
Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series by Traci Sorell; illustrated by Arigon Starr
MIDDLE SCHOOL
- Ancestors Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids by Cynthia Leitich Smith
- I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day
- Healer of the Water Monster by Brian Young
- Notable Native People: 50 INDIGENOUS LEADERS, DREAMERS, AND CHANGEMAKERS FROM PAST AND PRESENT by Dr. Adrienne Keene
- The Rez Detectives by Steven Paul Judd
- Indigenous Ingenuity: A Celebration of Traditional North American Knowledge by Deidre Havrelock & Edward Kay
YOUNG ADULT
- An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz
- Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
- Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith
- #NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale (editors)
- Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry by Joy Harjo
- Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers; illustrated by Jeff Edwards
