Since 1863, a national Thanksgiving has been held every year. That year Abraham Lincoln named the last Thursday of November a day of thanks, after years of letters from the writer Sarah Josepha Hale. A law of 1941 set the fourth Thursday of November, from 1942 on.
Seven pages on how Thanksgiving became a holiday. Pages 1 to 3 each have a short text and four questions: page 1 tells of days of thanks before the holiday and Washington's of 1789, page 2 of Sarah Josepha Hale's 17 years of letters and Lincoln's day of 1863, and page 3 of how the day moved in 1939 and the law of 1941. Page 4 is a timeline from 1600 to 1960: children write each event's year from the box of years, then find the years between. Page 5 matches causes to effects. Pages 6 and 7 plan and write a letter to persuade a leader to start a new holiday, as Hale wrote to make Thanksgiving a day for the whole country.
Read page 2 aloud and talk about why Hale kept writing. Before pages 6 and 7, brainstorm holidays children would start as a class, and model a reason with because. The letters can go to your principal or to the class next door.
Read a page together and ask what holiday your child would start, and why. Talk about the Thanksgiving traditions in your own family.
How Thanksgiving became a national holiday, from George Washington's day of thanks in 1789 to the law of 1941. Children read about Sarah Josepha Hale's 17 years of letters, answer questions, read a timeline, match causes to effects and write a letter to start a holiday of their own.
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