THANKSGIVING 2010, 25th November

Credit Image: Norman Rockwell
painting, 1943

What is Thanksgiving?
On the fourth Thursday in November, in houses around the United States, families get together for a feast, or a large meal.
The first Thanksgiving
On December 11, 1620, a group of 102 people called the Pilgrims arrived in the USA in the Mayflower. They didn't know much about the territory and their first winter was devastating.
By the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 people because of cold, hunger and disease. However, the harvest of 1621 was a generous one and, to commemorate it, the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast with the Wampanoag Indians, who had helped them to survive their first year by teaching the Pilgrims to plant corn, to hunt, and to fish. The feast lasted three days and some of the foods they ate on their first "Thanksgiving"  were deer, fish, berries, venison, corn and other vegetables.
How Thanksgiving became a national holiday
Only many years later did Thanksgiving become a national holiday due to a woman named Sarah Hale. For forty years Sarah Josepha Hale wrote to each president and asked for a holiday of Thanksgiving. At last she was successful when in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a holiday. On November 26, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs legislation making Thanksgiving Day the fourth Thursday of each November.
Modern Thanksgiving
Nowadays Thanksgiving celebration only lasts one day and people usually spend this time with their families and friends. Unlike in the past, modern Thanksgiving meals include turkey (which has become a symbol of this date), sweet potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie. The idea of Thanksgiving, though, is very much the same: it is a time to give thanks for the many blessings we have.
But for a clearer idea, let's have a look at this great Thanksgiving video from http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/videos#history-of-the-thanksgiving-holiday 
Thanksgiving is indeed one of the most important celebrations in the USA and usually one of the best dinner parties of the year - that's also why so much stuff can be found on the Internet. If you are looking for some more infos / data / materials, make sure to check out the following links:
http://www.ocls.info/Virtual/galleries/Holidays/thanksgiving.asp?search=s&printable=yes
http://712educators.about.com/cs/thanksgiving/a/thanksgiving.htm (Thanksgiving across the curriculum)
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1862503,00.html (top ten things you didn't know about Thanksgiving)
http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/ (great webquest and provides not only links but also audio support)
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/thanksgiving/ (here you can lead your sts to create their own acrostic poem or place words in alphabetical order; there are also the traditional word jumbles, word searches or simply coloring pages ;)
http://holidays.kaboose.com/thanks-printables.html  and / or http://bogglesworldesl.com/thanksgiving_worksheets.htm (as usual, here you'll find mazes, word puzzles,...)
Inevitable are the menus and special recipes for this day - have a look at these by world renowned chef Jamie Oliver at http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/favourites/thanksgiving-recipes. Talking about food... if you are a vegetarian or concerned about the fact that more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten  in the US at Thanksgiving, check out this link http://www.animalacres.org/events/pre_thank_2010.html
and... do watch this clip carefully

Finally... have a great Thanksgiving Day - wherever you are :))))