Many times Thanksgiving is over looked as a time to do a program because Christmas seems so much more exciting. That is not so, a Thanksgiving program can be used to teach students the history of the beginning of this country and can encourage the students to learn to be thankful for the things that are around them.

Thanksgiving time is a perfect time to put on a short program. These programs can teach a lot of history as they are put on. Use words that you want your students to remember and know such as: Mayflower, Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims, Indians, country, England, etc. It is a perfect time to let the students express what they are thankful for and use a prop showing that. Students love props and so this is one easy way to let them use a prop.

Thanksgiving programs should include the history part of Thanksgiving, turkeys, families and then and now. A comparison of then and now would be great to incorporate into a program.

Of course, Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without telling what we are thankful or. This is a great way to include other kinds of music other than Thanksgiving type of music. There could be two sections here. A section of things that everyone is thankful for such as: our country (put in a patriotic song), our bodies (put in an exercise song), school (put in a learning song), friends (put in a friendship song). This section of the program could give a lot of diversity to what you are doing during the program.

The second section of the program could be about things that individual students are thankful for. It could include little segments of things that the students are thankful for such as: A student could say I am thankful that I can dance and then let them do fifteen seconds of their favorite dance, or I am thankful that I can tumble and have them do fifteen seconds of tumbling. This area could be real fun for students that have an imagination. Maybe they are thankful that they can tell a joke and they could tell a joke, etc.

I can see great potential for doing a power point presentation using the students? art. Their names should be displayed and they could do a one line narration during the program of what they are thankful for.

To end the program find something that is common to the audience such as patriotism. Have the audience participate in singing. Audience participation in songs really helps get the audience into the program instead of just watching the program as an observer. That way they become part of the entertainment.

Maybe it is time to give Thanksgiving its proper place and maybe alternate each year with a Thanksgiving program and then a Christmas program. It might give everyone something to look at.