Three Young Pilgrims

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, celebrate with your children by reading about the catalyst for this day of appreciation in Three Young Pilgrims. Told from the perspective of the children of an emigrating family, Three Young Pilgrims recounts a simple story but includes enough additional facts and details to interest older children as well. It provides a unit study in one book with the inclusion of this historical data. One aspect I specifically appreciate is the way author Cheryl Harness sensitively deals with the loss of many lives during the difficult winter. Enjoy this historical read-aloud picture book as you give thanks for the sacrifices of our Founding Fathers.

Narration

Narration, or telling back in your own words what has been read to you, is an excellent skill to aid memory and to teach a child to focus his attention. Parents are commonly advised to begin teaching this skill after the child turns six years old. When a child narrates, he tells you all he knows about a topic or story. It is best to begin practicing this skill with smaller selections.

The first time you read Three Young Pilgrims aloud to your child, stop partway through the story and ask him to tell you what has happened so far. Do not prompt him with questions. Accept his answer with the understanding that what he tells you represents what he has understood and internalized.

Map Skills

On the map in the book, follow the route of the Mayflower from Europe to North America. Your child may enjoy laying a piece of white paper over the map and tracing it.

A Cross-Section

A cutaway drawing of the Mayflower is included in the book. This provides an opportunity to mention different visual perspectives. Contrast a simple line drawing of a house with a cross-section. Perhaps your child would like to create a cross-section of his own.

Timeline

Point out the timeline in the book. Timelines are rather abstract for young children, but most children can begin to understand a sequence of events. Choose three to five events in the story and write each on an index card (perhaps illustrated for the pre-reader with a simple line drawing). Instruct your child to place the cards in the order in which they occurred.

Foods

The final double-page spread features information about the Indians who lived near Massachusetts Bay. Sketches of a variety of food and animals are in the four margins. Make a list of the foods familiar to your child and foods that are not. Which foods are included in the Thanksgiving Day celebration?

P is for Pilgrim

Encourage your young child’s phonetic learning by pointing out familiar letters in the text. Create a notebook page for the letter p. At the top, write the capital (big) and lowercase (small) letter in large print. Have your child trace over the printed letters with his finger. As he traces, give him directions such as, “Start at the middle line, pull down straight going below the baseline (or bottom line), push up, and circle forward.” As he traces the letter again, pronounce the sound. Avoid adding “uh” after the consonant sound; rather, isolate the sound as best you can to create a puff of air.

On your notebook page, begin a list of words that begin with a p, using pilgrim as the first word. Your child can add simple drawings and coloring pages that include sound-specific pictures to the notebook page. Scour the text together for more p words. If your child can find one or two without assistance, he is beginning to independently identify the letter’s shape.

Add notebook pages for other sounds drawn from other story readings. It is easiest to begin with the consonant sounds (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, qu [present these together], r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z). For example, add b when reading Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? (Nancy White Carlstrom, Aladdin, 1996).

More Ideas

Follow up your readings of Three Young Pilgrims with two additional titles on the same theme—The Thanksgiving Story and The Pilgrims of Plimoth. Both are well-illustrated and readily available.

Our FirstYear™ e-newsletter for the third week of November will include fun, traditional Thanksgiving projects that coordinate with this theme. Sign up for it at http://homeschoolingtoday.com/newsletters.

Resources

Three Young Pilgrims by Cheryl Harness (Aladdin, 1995)

The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh (Aladdin, 1954)

The Pilgrims of Plimoth by Marcia Sewall (Aladdin, 1996)