Pilgrims & Indians Lesson Plans

Here are our lesson plans for a pilgrims & indians themed week!

The subjects included in these lesson plans are: science, math, rotation day subjects, music, sensory, craft, literacy, nature study, social studies, and "anything else." If you've seen our daily schedule you'll know that we cover more topics each day than just these. Certain plans for any of the subjects we cover that don't get their own section in the lesson plans can go there, so if there's a certain song I'd like to sing during circle time or we're working on a certain sports skills it would go there.

Now on to the actual plans! I'd like to add really quick that anything with an * next to it matches the theme specifically. While I usually try to make all the plans as themed as possible, or at least have ties to the season we're in or some other thing that is going on like a holiday I only put an * next to the things we're doing that are specific to the theme, which this week is pilgrims and indians!

Monday:
Science: Mayflower Sink/Float. For this activity you just need to fill up a bin with water and make a little boat out of foil with your child. Then have them add things to the top of the boat to see how much it takes to make it sink.
Math: Color by number pilgrims. 
Rotation Day Subject: Social Studies: Social Studies is every day this week. I'm doing this because when doing a unit based on people from another time there is a lot of social studies lessons to be had.
Music: Intro to Antonio Vivaldi. I print out a picture of our famous musician of the week and put it in a frame on my desk, along with an index card with their name written on it. We listen to and discuss their music.
Sensory: Painting with fall spices. You can do this fun sensory art activity a couple of different ways. You can mix some fall spices into washable tempera paints of fall and neutral colors. You can make your own paints with flour, water, and the spices, using the spices to give the paints their color. Some ideas for fall spices to use: allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice. Encourage your child to smell the paints, and finger paint with them to experience the different sensory elements of them.
Craft: Bingo marker Indian corn. 
Literacy: Syllable sorting. Use this super cute printable to help teach your child about syllables, the words have pictures and are fall themed!
Nature Study: Talk about nature walks. We're going to be taking a nature walk as part of Tuesday's lesson plans so the day before doing that it is great to take the opportunity to discuss what to do on a nature walk, things to look for, safety precautions, etc.
Social Studies: Life for pilgrim children vs life for children today. 
Anything Else: "I'm a Little Indian" song & pilgrim vs Indians chart. The website I just gave a link to did cute venn diagrams for pilgrims vs Indians and life for pilgrim children vs life for children today.


Tuesday:
Science: Dancing raisins science experiment.
Math: Pilgrim Addition Work 
Rotation Day Subject: Geography: Water formations vocab. We'll discuss each of the following terms: river, delta, isthmus, waterfall, peninsula, bay, lake, and ocean. I will want her to be able to identify these at a different date.
Music: Further study of Antonio Vivaldi. This can include reading biographies about him!
Sensory: Fall playdough mats.  Make some playdough in some fun fall colors with your child and then let them use playdough mats (after you've laminated them of course).
Craft: Native American Pattern Headbands 
Literacy: Pilgrim & Indian sight word cards.  Sight word practice for kids perfect for this theme and the Thanksgiving holiday approaching!
Nature Study: Field Trip: Nature Walk. You can print out a scavenger hunt list with pictures if you'd like or just let your kids lead the way. I'm opting for the second one. We'll do our nature study on what interests her.
Social Studies: Learn about pilgrim jobs. Check out books from the library, and watch videos online to learn about the jobs that pilgrims had. This printable is helpful with this lesson.
Anything Else: "Five Pilgrims" poem hand motions.


Wednesday: 
Science: Magnetic vs not magnetic. Put out some materials and a big magnet like this one and let your child explore with them to see what is magnetic and what isn't, and then talk about it!
Math: Pilgrim roll & cover die practice. 
Rotation Day Subject: Foreign Language: Learn French numbers.
Music: Further study of Antonio Vivaldi.
Sensory: Apple cinnamon sensory bin. Fill up a bin with rolled oats and some cinnamon stickers. Then add in some artificial apples (you can find them at Dollar Tree), and some other apple things you may have (erasers, gems, etc.)
Craft: Native American Hand Print. 
Literacy: Pilgrim Suitcase craft/writing.  Wonderful more hands on writing prompt for this theme.
Nature Study: Further exploration of found interest, and recording results in science journal.
Social Studies: Watch educational videos on topic of pilgrims/Indians/the first Thanksgiving.
Anything Else: Mayflower Song


Thursday:
Science: Make our own butter. Science lesson to fit the theme! Pilgrims had to make their own butter, and you can too by putting some whipping cream in a jar with a good lid and shaking it up together!
Math: Even Steven & Odd Todd. Make these cuties to help aide in your discussion of what numbers are even and what numbers are odd.
Rotation Day Subject: Cooking Lesson: Make Mayflower Doughnuts. 
Music: Further study of Antonio Vivaldi.
Sensory: Apple oobleck. 
Craft: Pilgrim Hat Craft. These are all super cute and would look adorable for the kids to wear at a Thanksgiving party.
Literacy: Build a word apple tree.
Nature Study: Further exploration of found interest and record findings in science journal.
Social Studies: Native American Homes Lesson. Discuss wigwams, grass houses, adobe houses, igloos, tepees, etc.
Anything Else: I haven't filled this spot out yet because I plan on taking an educational field trip either this day or the next day but haven't decided what it will be. We plan on going somewhere to learn about Native Americans.

Friday:
Science: Gummy bear science Very fun and tasty science experiment to end the week with.
Math: Fractions with pretend play cake. We have the Melissa & Doug Birthday Party Cake . It makes a great tool for learning about fractions.
Rotation Day Subject: Family Newspaper:  Family Newspaper. This is great for literacy as well, but we just do it every Friday. It also helps us to record and remember events in our family. We just write down some events that happened in our family in a newspaper style.
Music: Finish study of Antonio Vivaldi, still listening to his music. Make a tin can music maker. 
Sensory: Fall sensory bin. There's lots of options for this, you can come up with your own like I am going to! I'm sure I'll make a post on ours later.
Craft: Thanksgiving Crowns & popsicle stick tepees. I wrote popsicle stick tepees but I decided we're going to go with this toothpick version instead, called Tepee Village.
Literacy: Sorting syllables with play food. Just like we sorted words with different amounts of syllables in the beginning of the week, we're going to do it in a more fun hands-on way to end the week. We'll use pretend shopping baskets and play food and sort the foods into groups based on how many syllables are in their name.
Nature Study: Make sure all the findings from exploring the current interest from the nature walk are recorded in the science journal.
Social Studies: First Thanksgiving Activity. This is one of the our favorite activities to do when Thanksgiving is approaching, we do it every year! It's so interactive and helps kids to feel more like a part of the First Thanksgiving story. We are going to do it at the Thanksgiving feast play date my daughter is hosting as well.
Anything Else: I haven't filled this spot out yet because I plan on taking an educational field trip either this day or the day before but haven't decided what it will be. We plan on going somewhere to learn about Native Americans.