Ancestor's Feast + Thanksgiving

Amelia and her fourth grade classmates enjoyed a special day on the last day of school before Thanksgiving Break. As a capstone celebration to a week-long project celebrating the students' heritage, each child was responsible for researching the ancestry of their families and making a presentation about that country to their classmates. All of the kids had to select one country for their presentation and then on Tuesday they each brought in a culinary dish from that country for the "ancestor's feast".

I volunteered as a helper in Amelia's classroom for the Ancestor's Feast. I really enjoyed this role as I got to see how Amelia and her classmates interpreted this assignment and also I got to witness their explanations of why they each chose the dish they had brought to share. 

Amelia (on the left below) is explaining why she brought shortbread cookies to represent her country, Scotland. She actually made the shortbread herself the night before and it was tasty!

The spread of food below. Items on the table included Spanish tortilla (Spain), mashed potatoes (Ireland), German chocolate cake (Germany), gouda cheese and crackers (Netherlands), English sausages (England), and French bread.

Each child also made a placemat to use for the feast. Amelia's turkey states that she is thankful for lots of things including family, a good education, friends, the earth, food, clean water, people who do things for our community, books (Harry Potter and Warriors), knowledge, and for being a hufflepuff.

After the feast I walked over to John's classroom to spy on what the first graders were doing. I found this hanging on John's locker. John is thankful for video games, family, friends, God, and cake.

Happy Thanksgiving!