I love Thanksgiving. I love everything about it – but I most love the real historical information. Not the cranberry-sauce-from-a-can version, but the we-were-starving-and-now-we-have-much-to-be-thankful-for version.
When I was nine, my grandmother took me to Plimoth Plantation. It was amazing! It was the first time I really tried to put myself in the shoes of historical figures. It was cool and rainy that day, and the houses were dark and smoky. I remember wondering what it must have been like to be cramped into that whole space, more than one whole family at a time, especially with people very sick, for that long, first winter.
Fast forward a few years. When I began to teach, I really wanted to study Thanksgiving differently. I wanted to teach my kids about the real story, and since North Carolina is pretty far from Massachusetts, it was a good bet that none of my students had been to Plimoth.
That’s when I began to teach a big hands-on history unit about the Separatists, the Wampanoag, and … the Mayflower. My favorite way to kick off this unit was by creating our own version of the Mayflower Compact.
The Mayflower Compact was an agreement created when the people on board the Mayflower realized that they weren’t going to be settling where they planned – and where they had a formal document with the king giving them permission to do so. They needed a new document like that, but it would take time for the Mayflower to get that permission and then bring it back to the settlers. In the meantime, they wanted something that clearly stated their purpose for settling in the New World. This compact, or agreement, is thought to have influenced our Declaration of Independence.
I used the Mayflower Compact as a way to discuss behavior for the upcoming hands-on activities. We talked about the original document, it’s meaning, and why people signed it; then we talked about our purpose for our fun projects to come and what our expectations were. My students then used this discussion to write their own version of the Mayflower Compact, modeled after the original.
That’s why I created this product. Inside you’ll find copies of printables with various stages of scaffolding, in both print and a cursive font, for students to sign or create their own Mayflower Compact. There’s also an informational handout and links to sites with more information. There’s a planning sheet designed to help your students think through each part of the Compact before they begin formally writing theirs. There’s also a comprehension checkpoint that could be used for homework, individual or group analysis, or as a study guide or quiz.
I’ve done all the work for you – everything is here, ready for you to print and hand to your students. Bring the real Thanksgiving to life this year in your classroom, and kick it all off with your own Mayflower Compact.
Get a Create Your Own Mayflower Compact printable pack here.
Looking for other creative, time-saving teaching ideas? Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store here.
