I read this book aloud to my second grade classes. They were fascinated with Sarah and admired all her hard work. They were thankful themselves that Sarah was persistent and did not give up. There are lots of great nonfiction books out there about Thanksgiving but most all of them focus on the Pilgrims and the Indians that celebrated the first Thanksgiving. This one, however, tells a completely different story - one that I'm sure very few people know about. In response to the story, one of my classes worked together to create a ThingLink to share what they had learned. Check it out below.
There is a wonderful book in our library titled Thank You, Sarah! It is the story of Sarah Hale who is credited with saving Thanksgiving! Who knew it was in danger? Apparently, many, many years ago, Thanksgiving was not a national holiday. Those who did celebrate it, celebrated on random days. The holiday was still quite popular in the New England area, where the first Thanksgiving was held, but in other parts of the country people weren't really interested. Sarah believed that Thanksgiving was an important tradition and should be a national holiday celebrated on the same day by everyone across the country. She wrote thousands and thousands of letters to presidents in the hopes of creating the national holiday. Four different presidents all told her no. It was at this time that the Civil War broke out in our country and people who normally celebrated Thanksgiving forgot all about it. They had many other things on their mind. However, Sarah thought that the war meant we needed a day of Thanksgiving even more. Sarah continued her letter writing campaign - this time writing to President Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln agreed with Sarah that Thanksgiving was much needed and he declared it a national holiday to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every November. Sarah was finally victorious! After thirty-eight years and thousands of letters, her hard work had finally paid off! I read this book aloud to my second grade classes. They were fascinated with Sarah and admired all her hard work. They were thankful themselves that Sarah was persistent and did not give up. There are lots of great nonfiction books out there about Thanksgiving but most all of them focus on the Pilgrims and the Indians that celebrated the first Thanksgiving. This one, however, tells a completely different story - one that I'm sure very few people know about. In response to the story, one of my classes worked together to create a ThingLink to share what they had learned. Check it out below.
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About me . . .Formerly a classroom teacher. Currently a School Library Media Coordinator. I loved being in the classroom, but now that I am in the library I can't imagine doing anything else! The library is my favorite place to be. From my rocking chair to my ABC rug to the smiling student faces checking out books, the library just can't be beat! Archives
March 2020
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