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November Week 2
The Pilgrims meet the Native Americans
picture from http://www.plimoth.org/learn/education/kids/coloring.asp
Materials needed
The set of pilgrim forms/cutouts from the last lesson. For this lesson you will need three native men (one for Samoset, Squanto, and Massasoit) as well as the Mayflower, a Dad, Mom, and Child Pilgrim, a pilgrim house and a wetu. Again, you can simply hold these or you can add sticks to them to make them more like puppets.
Lesson:
Read scripture.
This passage comes from one of the songs in our Bible. The person singing is happy because God has always been present, even when life got tough.
Last week we learned about a Pilgrim family who traveled to North America to begin a new life where they could read their Bibles and worship God in the way that they wanted to do. Remember they got on the Mayflower ( hold up the ship and make the family and animals “get on board”). You’ll remember that is was a very difficult trip across the ocean. ( make the ship go up and down on “waves” and some of the Pilgrims get sick). When they arrived the first place they found was not a good spot for their new home so they look some more. Finally, they found some land that had a great meadow. They anchored the ship, that is they put an anchor down in the water to keep the ship from floating away. It was November when they landed and winter was coming soon. During the day ,the Pilgrims went to the meadow and began to build houses ( have the Pilgrim Family leave the ship and pretend to be building). At night they returned to the ship. (They return.) It was a difficult winter. Many people died. The Pilgrims prayed and prayed for help and guidance from God. Some even began to wonder if God had forgotten them. Others knew that God would show them a way. The Pilgrims saw some of the Wampanoag People at a distance but it was not until spring that they first spoke to each other. They were a little afraid of each other. (ask the children) Have you ever been to a new place where you didn’t know the people who were there? like moving to a new home or coming to a new school? (wait) Remember how scared you felt? The Pilgrims felt scared, too. They didn’t know what might happen in this new place. Did you ever have a new person move into a house near you? Did you ever have a new person come to school? Someone you didn’t know. Someone who spoke a different language then you. (wait) That can seem a little scary, too. That is how it was for the Wampanoag People. They had seen European travelers before and sadly, some of the Europeans had not been truthful and had stolen things and even stolen people. So, it took a long time before the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people spoke to each other. In March, an Abenaki man named Samoset walked right into the village of the Pilgrims. ( make the Samoset figure enter the story) The Pilgrims were surprised when Samoset spoke to them in English which he had learned from the English fishermen.( Puppets jump and whisper). They welcomed Samoset and invited him to stay. They talked a long, long time. Samoset told them there was a man who spoke better English than he could speak. A couple of days later, Samoset brought a man named Squanto to visit the Pilgrims. (Bring in the Squanto figure) He was the last of the Patuxet People. He had been captured by some bad English people who had taken him to Spain to sell him and many other Native people. There were some Christians who learned about the bad English people and they when to the slave market and rescued all the Native American people they could find. They taught Squanto about God and they taught him Spanish. Later, Squanto became a servant in England where he learned English and then he finally got to come back to his home in North America. But once he was here, his home and all the people were gone because of a terrible illness. So, he went to live with Chief Massasoit ( Show the children a figure for Chief Massasoit and a wetu where he might live ) and the Wampanoag People. The Pilgrims were amazed by Samoset and Squanto’s stories. They never expected that they might meet a Native person who could speak English. They were very grateful to God that Squanto could speak English and was kind to them. Squanto taught them about how to build warm wetus ( but mostly the English were too proud to give up their English style houses.) He taught them how to plant and cook corn. He taught them how to live in this land that was new to them but home to him. Squanto even introduced the Pilgrims to the great Chief Massasoit.( bring in the Massasoit figure again) Together they created a treaty, a promise of how they would live together. They promised to never steal from each other and they promised if anyone tried to hurt them the other would come and help them be safe. For more then 50 years they worked together, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag. The Pilgrims were grateful that God had brought them so much help and the Wampanoag were grateful that the Pilgrims were trustworthy people. There would be trouble with the people who came after the Pilgrims but in 1622, the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag became good neighbors with each other.
Let’s sing our thankful song.
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