by Learning Harbor™ Resources for Teachers
for Kindergarten
Early Addition Joining Sets Turkey Theme for use with Google Slides™ Google Classroom™
Thanksgiving has some pretty interesting
traditions, from Pie Eating Contests to 5K Turkey Trots, this holiday is filled
with more than just stuffing! It all started way back with the pilgrims. In
Plymouth, Massachusetts, November of 1621, the Wampanoag tribe shared their
food and their cooking with the English Pilgrims, who shared their food cache
and cooking styles in return. It was a time to celebrate the autumnal harvest.
Life was good. Or, well, as good as it can be in 1621. Wild game was definitely
on the menu for that first Thanksgiving. We’re unsure whether it was turkey,
but that fowl was plentiful near where the festivities took place. There were
root vegetables and, surprisingly, a fair amount of fish and fruit, such as
shellfish and berries. Although there could have been a turnip or two, there
were definitely no potatoes. They didn’t become a sustainable crop in the new
colonies until much later. And as for that pumpkin pie, that came later. With
no butter, wheat flour, or even an oven, pie was out of the question.
Today we know the menu must-haves: turkey,
potatoes and pie. These are staples among Thanksgiving fare. They grace the
table every fourth Thursday in November. Seventeenth-century citizens kept up
the custom; George Washington named a November 26 as a day of thanks. In 1864,
Lincoln made Thanksgiving a Federal Holiday the last Thursday in November. In
1939, there was a fair amount of scuttlebutt over which Thursday was the
Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving. Finally in 1941, FDR made the fourth
Thursday in November a National Holiday. The day has accumulated a fair amount
of other traditions since then.
These days, Thanksgiving typically involves
travel. In fact, air travel for Thanksgiving is the busiest time of the year
for most airlines and airports. The Sunday after Thanksgiving is projected to
see 2.88 million people take to the skies in 2017. The Wednesday before
Thanksgiving will also super busy. Plane, train, or automobile, we take to the
air, rails, highways in order to get the friends and relatives in time for the
feast! There are other thanksgiving traditions that stem from the feast. It’s
the cracking of the wishbone. Every turkey has a wishbone. Tradition has it
that the wishbone is removed, dried and then wished on. Whoever gains the
larger piece of the wishbone will see their wish come true so says the legend.
This cracking or snapping of the wishbone, in general, goes back to ancient
Roman times.
In more recent times, one tradition has proven
to be most beneficial to the turkey! It’s the Official Presidential Pardoning
of the Turkey. Reagan treats his gift of a turkey to a long and happy life on a
farm. The first President Bush continued the legacy, and so on. But the eating
(or not eating!) of the turkey isn’t the only activity on the actual holiday of
Thanksgiving. Many people will donate their time to soup kitchens or other
non-profits in order to give back and give thanks. Some run in road races,
having raised funds for others. While still others work the holiday, in order
to let coworkers spend time with their family. One set of coworkers have been
working the holiday for almost 100 years. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade is
hosted by Macy’s employees who march through the streets of NYC in order to
bring floats and fun down to Macy’s landmark store at Herald Square. Decade
after decade, colorful balloons have flown past the skyscrapers as the people
line the streets for a glimpse of the parade. Floats and Broadway show numbers
traipse down the avenues until they meet Macy’s Herald Square to applause and
cheers. Many watch from home on television. The spectacle is grand and fun as
Santa Claus makes his way down the parade route at the very end.
Thanksgiving traditions give us the perfect
opportunity to share our pleasures and our gratitude with family and friends.
We gather, we feast, we play, and we applaud the beginning of winter and all
its glorious festivities are announced. But let us not forget the preamble, the
day of giving thanks for all we have and all we can share.
In the classroom, we teach young students to
sing songs about turkeys and pilgrims. Turkeys are
very popular in classrooms in November, and students love playing learning
games that include turkeys and pilgrims. Here are two
products one for kindergarten students and one for first and second graders to help
celebrate learning during the Thanksgiving season.
Such fun Thanksgiving traditions you mentioned; makes me look forward to this holiday even more!
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