How to Teach Students About The History and Traditions of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving offers a unique opportunity for teachers to explore history, culture, and economics, creating lessons that resonate with students of all ages. The Juice’s current events and nonfiction articles for students are written at multiple reading levels, so teachers can easily find engaging informational texts on Thanksgiving themes. This guide explores Thanksgiving classroom ideas for elementary through high school across a variety of subjects like ELA, ESL, Social Studies, and Economics.

Whether teaching about the origins of Thanksgiving, exploring modern traditions like the US Turkey Pardon, or analyzing the economic impact of Black Friday, The Juice provides articles and Thanksgiving lesson plans for every classroom.

Thanksgiving lesson plan ideas for economics

Black Friday economics lesson

Using The Juice, teachers can explore Black Friday as an engaging way to connect Thanksgiving to economics. By examining the costs and impacts of Black Friday, students can learn about supply and demand, consumer behavior, and the economy.

Lesson Idea

• Ask students to read an article on Black Friday
• Have a class discussion about seasonal consumer habits and how retailers prepare for this busy shopping day
• As a formative assessment for social studies, have them predict Black Friday’s impact on holiday sales and household spending this year. 

This lesson uses current events for students to anchor content to the real world while introducing students to economics-related informative reading materials.

Economics lesson on the costs of hosting Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving dinner is more than just food — it’s a significant economic event for families across the country. Analyzing the costs of Thanksgiving can be an engaging way for students to understand budgeting, inflation, and regional cost variations.

Lesson Idea

• Have students read an article on the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving meal in various states
• Use this to build a Thanksgiving lesson plan focused on economic factors such as transportation costs, supply chain issues, and inflation’s impact on prices.

This Thanksgiving social studies lesson uses real-world data and infographics to make informational texts on economics informative and relatable.

Thanksgiving social studies lessons

The turkey pardon tradition

The Presidential Turkey Pardon, a fun Thanksgiving tradition, offers a unique lesson in the intersection of history, politics, and culture. Teachers can use informative reading articles from The Juice to cover this annual event and its roots.

Lesson Idea

• In a Thanksgiving social studies lesson, students can research the history of the Turkey Pardon and discuss its significance
• Follow this nonfiction article with a creative activity where students imagine what they would “pardon” in their lives.

Teaching students about the Turkey Pardon combines current events lessons with cultural awareness, ideal for a Thanksgiving social studies lesson.

Native American tribes and cultural awareness

Teaching about Thanksgiving provides an opportunity to discuss Native American history. Using The Juice’s informational texts on Native American tribes, students can learn about the rich cultural heritage of indigenous groups across the United States.

Lesson Idea

• Create a Thanksgiving lesson plan where students choose a Native American tribe to research, focusing on its history, traditions, and geographic location
• Have students present their findings as a social studies formative assessment

Exploring indigenous history is a meaningful way to teach informative reading and promote understanding of Native American culture as part of a Thanksgiving social studies lesson.

ELA Thanksgiving lessons with current events

Why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving?

The Thanksgiving meal is steeped in history. Use videos explaining why we eat turkey on Thanksgiving as a fun and engaging way to tie history to current traditions.

Lesson Idea

• Use an ELA news article from The Juice that discusses the origin of the Thanksgiving turkey tradition
• Have students write a summary or complete vocabulary-building exercises using key terms from the video

This is a fantastic Thanksgiving lesson plan for using current events in ELA that connect tradition with history.

Heartwarming Thanksgiving stories for elementary students

Highlighting Thanksgiving stories that focus on kindness and community provides opportunities for students to see the good in their communities and encourages empathy. The Juice’s informative reading articles feature uplifting Thanksgiving stories.

Lesson Idea

• Assign a “bright side” article on community efforts during Thanksgiving
• Pair with vocabulary-building exercises in the article
• Have students answer the embedded reflection prompt

These Thanksgiving classroom ideas bring Thanksgiving’s spirit of giving to life while practicing current events lessons and informative reading.

Thanksgiving lesson plans for ESL classes

For ESL classrooms, The Juice offers articles translated into 70+ languages, making it easy for English learners to access Thanksgiving nonfiction article content.

Thanksgiving vocabulary and traditions for ESL

Thanksgiving introduces new vocabulary and cultural concepts, making it a perfect topic for ESL instruction. The Juice’s multilingual support enables ESL students to read articles in their native language, then in English, helping them build language skills through context.

Lesson Idea

• Create a Thanksgiving lesson for ESL students by selecting articles that explain Thanksgiving traditions
• Start with their home language
• Have students read the English version to support comprehension and vocabulary retention
• Follow up with vocabulary-building exercises focused on Thanksgiving words

These Thanksgiving classroom ideas are ideal for ELL students to connect Thanksgiving traditions with vocabulary-building exercises in English.

ELA Formative Assessments and Thanksgiving Lessons

Interactive Assessments with The Juice

Using The Juice’s informational texts on Thanksgiving topics, teachers can create formative assessments for ELA activities to gauge student understanding of key nonfiction reading standards.

Lesson Idea

• Search for a Thanksgiving article that is keyed to your current ELA nonfiction standard. 
• Assign the current events article to your class
• After reading a current events article on Thanksgiving, have students answer the comprehension question

This allows teachers to measure student progress and understanding.

Bringing It All Together: Thanksgiving Classroom Ideas with The Juice

The Juice provides a wealth of resources to create meaningful, informative, and engaging Thanksgiving lesson plans. Whether teachers are using current events lessons in economics or historical informational texts on Native American tribes, The Juice makes it easy to curate content-rich lessons for Thanksgiving.

• Formative Assessments: These ideas allow teachers to track student comprehension through quizzes, reflections, or presentations, turning each lesson into a formative assessment tool.
• Cross-Curricular Potential: From economics to ELA, Thanksgiving themes can bridge multiple subjects, making it easier for teachers to engage students through real-world applications.
• Support for ESL: With articles available in 70 languages, ESL teachers can integrate Thanksgiving into language lessons, reinforcing vocabulary and cultural understanding through Thanksgiving lesson ESL resources.

Thanksgiving offers endless possibilities for creating engaging, educational, and meaningful lessons across subjects. Teachers can introduce Thanksgiving topics that foster cultural awareness, critical thinking, and language development with The Juice’s news articles, videos, infographics, and background informational texts. Embrace these Thanksgiving lesson plans to bring tradition, history, and community values into the classroom this holiday season. Using The Juice as a content foundation paired with culturally aware Thanksgiving teaching practices, teachers can craft rich Thanksgiving-themed lessons. These lessons support students’ literacy and social studies knowledge and create a memorable holiday experience in the classroom.