The purpose of this unit is to introduce the children to the experiences of the Pilgrims in their migration from Europe to America in search of religious freedom. The Unit will also give the children opportunities to work cooperatively for the common good, learn about ways in which the Native Americans were philanthropists and begin to perform random acts of kindness.

The learner will:

• define pilgrim as someone who goes on a journey, for a specific reason.

• write about the physical conditions on the Mayflower journey from the point of view of a pilgrim.

• state why the pilgrims left their home.

• role-play the experience of not understanding or being understood.

• define the core democratic values.

• write about the experience of the pilgrims in Holland/The Netherlands and the core democratic values.

• recall information about the voyage to America.

• solve a problem as a group.

• role-play the relationship between the sailors and Pilgrims on the Mayflower.

• define a community as a group of people who come together for a common purpose.

• recognize the Pilgrims as a group of people who formed a community in order to establish religious freedom.

• write a set of rules for his/her group.

• compare the group’s rules to the “Mayflower Compact.”

• define philanthropy as the giving of one’s time, talent and treasure for the sake of another or for the common good.

• define and give examples of community capital in history and in the classroom.

• state how Samoset and Squanto acted as philanthropists to the settlers.

• set goals for performing philanthropic acts of his/her own.

• Monitor student participation throughout the unit with a simple grid. Divide a page into boxes equal to the number of students in the class. Write a name in each box and leave room for comments. Keep the paper accessible during the lesson so you can jot notes in the boxes, make an X for an incident of non-participation or write comments for later reference. Refer to the notes after the lesson to help with individual reteaching, behavior modification or documenting student comprehension.

• Assess journal entries or class stories for understanding of concepts.

• Students write an acrostic poem with words and phrases that demonstrate their understanding of the journey of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower and their interaction with the Native Americans. See Lesson Five: Native American Philanthropists, Attachment One: Acrostic Poem.

• End of Unit Test (Lesson Five, Attachment Two)

I deliberately chose not to end this unit with the Thanksgiving meal. I would also suggest that this unit not be done around Thanksgiving time. I like the students to recognize this as a historical event and to think of its message at other times of the year.