Southdown Kindergarteners Celebrate Traditional Thanksgiving
Learning about the very first Thanksgiving in America nearly 400 years ago was a fun experience for Southdown Primary School kindergarteners, who celebrated the holiday with classmates and family members a few days early in their classrooms.
“This tradition started almost 20 years ago at the Woodhull Kindergarten Center,” explained Southdown teacher Stephanie Winzer. “This year, students dressed in traditional Pilgrim and Native American attire after learning about the events leading up to the [first] Thanksgiving holiday.
In the days prior to the feast, kindergarteners studied the Pilgrims’ voyage to the new world on the Mayflower as well as tales of friendship and lessons learned from the Native Americans. Lessons centered on the customs and culture of the earliest American settlers and those who lived here prior to the arrival of the Europeans.
Kindergartners learned all about the life of the Pilgrims and the hard work that was a daily staple for men, women and children. The Pilgrims’ days were long ones and the winters in early America could be brutally tough.
Students sang festive songs for their guests last week, including “A Turkey Named Bert,” “Five Fat Turkeys,” “The Earth is our Mother” and a special song of thanks for their families. Ms. Winzer called the musical performance “heartwarming.”
With the songs out of the way, the youngsters sat down to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal catered by Southdown’s school cafeteria.