We remember to be grateful for those who help us, for friends, for family and for all the delicious food that we have. We eat turkey, corn and potatoes because that is what they ate at the first Thanksgiving.
Turkey is almost unheard of here! When I showed people pictures of Thanksgiving food, everyone thought that we ate chicken! I made a big point of telling everyone that we eat turkey. With the younger kids, I did art projects in which they made turkeys. It was very cute seeing four year olds running around saying “turkey, turkey, turkey!”
With the older students, I talked more about the history of Thanksgiving. Then I told them about the present day Thanksgiving traditions. What does your family do on Thanksgiving? What is your favorite part of the day? My family always eats at my grandmother’s house for lunch. We have turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, corn pudding and my favorite, pumpkin pie. While we are eating, we all go around the table and say what we are thankful for this year. I wanted to share this tradition with my students. With my fourth to sixth graders, I gave them each a strip of paper to write “I am thankful for…” I then took all of the strips and made a big paper chain with them to hang up around the school!
By the end of the week, everyone at the school knew what Thanksgiving was and was excited to wish me a Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday. Spanish people love holidays and traditions, so they were very accepting and understanding of our special day.
