So I have been asked by Natalie's teacher if I (the great historian! ha!) will come give a mini presentation to the kids in her class on the meaning of Thanksgiving. Originally, I thought they just wanted some cupcakes that might look like Turkeys, spurred on by the Halloween ones I did in October, but oh no! They want the real deal. So I figured that since most Americans don't know or like me, remember much about the original Thanksgiving story, I thought I'd google it and see if I could find something kid-friendly. Much to my dismay, "quick-and-easy" Wikipedia did not come through and was somewhat weak in their explanation so I did another google search and this one was the first to pop up.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=14379
Pretty decent and a quick read as a reminder about where our ancestors came from - particular interesting to me now being on this side of the pond. So now having had the story refreshed in my mind, it will make it more interesting to share about how we (Now:Americans, Former: Brits less we forget) were looking for a "better way" and left their country of England. Tell me how to explain THAT to these British 2 and 3 year olds. Thank goodness I'm not having to do this for older kids!!!! You know how my heart is so fond of the British people. Really quite fond. If anyone out there can direct me to a more kid-friendly website that gives a beautiful description of this great holiday, please feel free to share. That's what blogs are for! In the mean time, I'm going to stick to a good standby and have them make Turkey Apples. You know the ones you make with toothpicks, marshmellows, raisins, gum drops and such. I think this will be the real hit. For me though, it's been a good afternoon of remembering what next week's holiday is really about. God bless, Cindy
Hi Cindy,
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting task you have ahead of you!
I know you are more than up to the challenge though:-)
I suggest sticking to the part of the story of how hard that first winter was for the pilgrims and how some Indians, especially Squanto, helped them survive, which led up to the first Thanksgiving.
The true story of Squanto is very interesting.
Here's the Thanksgiving story written quite nicely for children. You can leave out as much as you want about the mean King of England...LOL!! Looking forward to your next post and hearing about how it goes!
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/thanksgiving/short-stories/the-first-thanksgiving.html