The very first thing I remember being taught was in second grade, we learned all about Squanto and how he approached the villagers who were starving and helped teach them how to plant and how to raise animals so that they would survive. Because of this, the Native Americans and the villagers all celebrated by having a large feast.

The first activity we did was the class split in half, and half of us dressed up in paper costumes made to look like “pioneer wear.” And then the other half dressed up as Native Americans. Then we all put our desks together and drew food to make it look like a large feast. Then we all sat and “ate” together. Luckily the teacher had brought juice and crackers so that we didn’t have to eat paper.

This is an interesting blog post because as I read the instructions I tried to dig deep and remember what I was taught in elementary school about the First Thanksgiving. To be honest, I don’t remember much. I find it sad that I don’t really know that much about the true meaning of this beloved holiday! The real reason we celebrate Thanksgiving has definitely gotten lost in the commercialization of it.

I remember talking about the pilgrims and Native Americans coming together and celebrating a successful harvest by creating a large feast. I remember there being corn, bread, pumpkins/gourds and turkey. I can picture a drawing of Native Americans in the loin cloths and face paint and the pilgrims in their white and black clothing (and weird hats) standing around a picnic-like table.

Around Thanksgiving we would make the hand turkeys to take home to our parents. Sometimes we would used dried corn kernels and glue them to a piece of paper. I remember the term friendship and kinship being used to describe the relationship between the pilgrims and Native Americans.

As a young boy I remember going to kindergarten the week before Thanksgiving break. This was the day we go to dress up. I remember learning a variety of different lessons on who the Pilgrims were and who the Native Americans were. I remember learning about where they both came from, what they wore and what they ate. So that day my mom sent me to school wearing baggy brown clothes and a paper headband with a feather glued to the back. When I got there, there was two different tables set up followed by an area that was completely closed off. The first table had pieces of paper, markers, crayons, feathers, and other crafting materials. Here, we took a piece of paper, laid our hand down flat and traced around it. Then we were told to color our hand like a turkey so I colored the palm brown, and the fingers different colors with my thumb being the face. Then I added feather to the fingers and finished off my turkey with an orange beak. The next table I went to had big ice cream cones, the brown ones, I believe they’re called sugar cones? Anyways, the table also had frosting and different candies such as: jelly beans, skittles, sweet tarts and so on. What we did was we frosted a the bottom of a plate and stuck the ice cream cone upside down on the plate. Then we frosted the cone and decorated it like a tepee with different colors and such. After this was done we set it aside to dry and then the rest of my class went and sat in the closed off area. Here they set up a table with chairs all around with a ton of different sundae making materials. There was ice cream, candy, syrups, cones and bowls. My teacher a couple parents started three lines and asked each of us what we wanted, a bowl or a cone and then they put ice cream in them for us. Then we got to add all the different toppings we wanted and then we went and sat down. After sitting down my teacher began to talk. She said things like: “Remember this week when we talked about the big feast with the Pilgrims and the Indians? Well that’s what we’re doing right now! Some of you have dressed as Indians and some have dressed like Pilgrims. This represents the first Thanksgiving.” and “I want each of you to go around the table and tell us what you’re thankful for.” This began to spark conversation. Rather than talking our ears off about the first Thanksgiving she showed us what it was like with our ice cream. As a kid, all I think I learned from this was that the Pilgrims came over on three boats to have dinner with the Indians. Obviously I know more ab\out it now but that’s what I got from that whole experience. I think when were kids we don’t really understand things but learning back then we didn’t have the biases we have now. We just thought the Pilgrims and the Indians were friends and that they had dinner together. Now I know that the Pilgrims really came to America because of religion an that’s why the first Thanksgiving happened.