Carrollwood School Gives Kids Taste Of first Thanksgiving

Prekindergarten teacher Holly Ralph with Gracyn Custin, left, and Darby Stadick at Independent Day School's Thanksgiving luncheon. Ralph was teaching her students about Pilgrim life.

CARROLLWOOD - First they boarded the Mayflower. Then they had to learn to grow vegetables, thatch roofs, fish and weave.

Kindergartners and preschoolers at Independent Day School have spent the past two weeks immersed in Pilgrim life as teachers sought to put history in a context today's children could understand.

Today, they enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast of deli turkey rolled into tubes, mashed potatoes, vegetable soup and juice boxes. The 3-year-old prekindergarten class arrived dressed as American Indians. Kindergarten and 4-year-old prekindergarten classes took on the role of Pilgrims.

A tradition at the private school, the "Living Thanksgiving" starts in classrooms with discussions about who the Pilgrims were and why they came to the United States. Children wove placemats with construction paper strips and made hats and collars to wear as Pilgrims.

Teachers took them outside to sign a ship's log with a quill pen and climb on a wooden Mayflower that stays on campus year-round. They talked about the long journey to the New World and how crowded it must have been.

Teachers set up activities such as stuffing pillowcases with hay and pine needles and "washing" clothes in the river (kiddie pool). "Squanto" came to show the children how to plant seeds and fertilize the soil with fish.

"It's helping them live in it and really understand what it was like so many years ago," said prekindergarten teacher Lauren Bronson.

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503 or cpastor@tampatrib.com.

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