Beyond the Feast: The Real Story of Thanksgiving
Independent Google Slides Lesson | Grades 9-12 | SEL + ELA Aligned
Teach your students the truth behind Thanksgiving with a respectful, meaningful, and student-friendly independent lesson. This resource helps students rethink the traditional Thanksgiving narrative, explore Indigenous perspectives, and reflect on gratitude in a thoughtful way — all while building reading, critical thinking, and SEL skills.
Perfect for Thanksgiving week, sub days, block periods, or as a calm, reflective lesson before fall break.
This no-prep Google Slides lesson includes:
- Warm-Up Reflection: Students reflect on what they’ve been taught about Thanksgiving and activate prior knowledge.
- True or False Interactive Game: Students will determine whether the 3 statements provided are true or false, and then will answer a reflection prompt
- Student Choice: Students choose to read a 2-minute article or watch a short video explaining the National Day of Mourning.
- Native Land Digital Activity: Students identify the Indigenous nations connected to the land where their school is located.
- Create Your Own Land Acknowledgment: A student-friendly explanation of what a land acknowledgment is + a guided writing task.
- Final Reflection: A thoughtful closing prompt to help students process what they learned.
SEL + ELA Skill Building: Students practice...
- Self-awareness
- Social awareness
- Reflection + meaningful writing
- Perspective-taking
- Informational text understanding
- Critical thinking
Why Teachers Love It:
- Completely student-led
- Great for block periods, Friday classes, or Thanksgiving week
- Perfect blend of truth, gratitude, and SEL
- Creates meaningful conversation and respectful awareness
- Helps students understand history and build empathy
Perfect For...
- Thanksgiving week
- Independent work days
- Sub plans
- Calm, reflective class periods
- ELA + Social Studies crossover
- Brain breaks with purpose
Make This November Meaningful: Teach students the truth and the gratitude behind Thanksgiving with this ready-to-use, thoughtful Google Slides lesson.