The Puritans fled England for religious freedom and settled in America on the Mayflower. They had a difficult first winter with sickness and death. In the spring, the Native Americans helped the settlers by teaching them how to hunt, fish, and grow crops. In the fall, the Pilgrims had a successful harvest and held a three-day celebration, which is considered the first Thanksgiving, to give thanks to God and the Native Americans. Today, Thanksgiving is still celebrated in the US as a time for families to come together and be grateful.

1. The First Thanksgiving

2. In 1621 (England), there was a group of people who all went to the same church, they were called Puritans.

3. The king of England thought everyone should go to his church; but the Puritans didn’t obey. The king told them that they had two options: going to jail or leaving the country. They decided to leave the country.

4. So the pilgrims set sail for America on a ship called the “Mayflower.” The Mayflower carried supplies to help them survive: barrels of water, seeds to plant, clothes and tools to build houses.

5. The trip to America was long and hard. There were storms and the ship was really crowded.

6. WINTER When they got to America, they worked as hard as they could but they could not finish building their homes before the Winter. People were hungry and cold and many of them got sick and died

7. SPRING One day, when the Spring arrived, some Native American Indians came to the settlement. They liked the Pilgrims and decided to help them.

8. They showed them how to hunt and fish. They helped them build houses out of the trees there. They showed them how to grow corn and pumpkins.

9. FALL When the Fall came they were very happy because they had a lot of food and a place to live.

10. They were so happy that they wanted to have a celebration. The Pilgrims invited the Indians and they all ate, drank and danced together.

11. But the first thing they did was to say a prayer of Thanksgiving to God for giving them friends, food, houses and the freedom to go to any church they wanted.

12. The first Thanksgiving lasted three days and they ate turkey, fish, deer, sweet potatoes, corn and pumpkin.

14. Thanksgiving symbols