"The Thanksgiving Story" (Text)

Long ago, in the year 1620, a group of people called the pilgrims wanted to live somewhere they would be free to worship how they wanted to.

They decided to sail across the ocean to a new land called America. They boarded the boat called the Mayflower and sailed across the ocean.

They landed on the shore of America at Plymouth and had to go to work right away building homes and finding food. 

Winter was very hard on the pilgrims and many died. Many more would have died but an Indian named Squanto came to help them. 

He showed them how to plant corn and other plants. He showed them which plants they could use for medicine or food and which ones were poisonous.

That year the harvest was plentiful and they had enough food for winter. They decided to celebrate. Governor Bradford declared a day of prayer and thanksgiving.

They invited the Indians and they feasted, played games and celebrated for three days.

So, on the fourth Thursday of November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, a national holiday honoring the early settlers and their harvest feast known as the first Thanksgiving.

(From Homemade.preschool.com)