1.tells the story of the first Thanksgiving as you remember it being taught to you.

There was a group of people in England called the puritans, the king didn’t like the way they practiced religion. So people started talking about going across the ocean to the Americas where the land hadn’t been settled. One group went to Roanok virginia but they were never heard from again. Still the situation was bad enough that people took the mayflower crossed the ocean to what they hoped would be a better life. The trip was longer than any of them had expected and when they arrived it didn’t get any better. They had to build where they would sleep, grow what they would eat and it was very different from the way they had imagined it. For a long time they barely fed all the villagers and their first winter killed more people than they could afford. A native american tribe in the area saw these struggles and after a while they began helping the settlers. The Native Americans were very generous and thanks to them they soon started doing better. The pilgrims were thankful and after the harvest made a feast inviting the Indians to eat with them as thanks.

2. shares any activities you recall being asked to complete (e.g., crafts, shared meals) in your elementary school classroom.

I don’t remember much but i vaguely recall cutting out brown circles (in second grade?) that we glued to paper plates and then finger painted feather onto. We also assembled paper pilgrims that they gave us to take home. I think in third or fourth grade we did small essays on what we were grateful for . And in the cafeteria on the day before thanksgiving break started there would be turkey , mashed potatoes, a roll and jam.

Growing up in the United States, I never truly knew what or why Thanksgiving occurred. I just knew that I ate a lot of food and most of my family would come and get together. When it came to school, I always remember we would make crafts to give to our loved ones. We used to color pages that had turkeys on them or we would trace our hands, cut it out, and then decorate it like a turkey. While doing this, I still was not aware f what Thanksgiving was. I believe it was around fourth or fifth grade when we started reading and learning about the meaning behind Thanksgiving itself. It was a very long time ago so I am not positive the information or stories I am about to give are completely accurate but that is not what it graded for this assignment so it is okay. I believe we talked about how the Native Americans and the Americans helped each other out and then they all sat down and feasted together. This explained why we all made and ate so much food. I remember our teacher made a box and told every student to write down what we were thankful for then we would put the paper inside the box. After everyone was done, he would pull out and read each paper infront of the class and we would raise our hand if were were also thankful for the same thing. This taught me a little more about Thanksgiving because it explained why my family always got together, to show we were thankful for each other. Being so young I felt like I did not care enough about the full picture of Thanksgiving so I knew to be thankful and to spend quality time with my family on this holiday.