Open Door Christian Schools

Kindergarteners learn true meaning of Thanksgiving holiday

Reprinted courtesy of The Morning Journal, Lorain, Ohio

ELYRIA -- Thanksgiving is a time for families to gather, share food, try to steer clear of old grievances and show gratitude for the blessings in their lives.

For two kindergarten classes at the Open Door Christian Schools, the holiday was an opportunity to learn about the early days of a young country, when American Indians helped European settlers survive in the New World, and boys and girls gave thanks for far less than we have today in our dizzying era of plenty.

Last week, kindergarten teachers Linda Young and Nancy Meier supervised busy rooms of students hard at work with crayons, pencils, paper and glue, perched on Lilliputian blue plastic chairs that come up to an adult's knee. Golden late-autumn sunlight streamed in through the windows, and colorful Pilgrim and American Indian decorations smiled down from the walls. A rocking chair with a pillow waited quietly for storytime in the corner of Meier's classroom.

Young said the students had been reading and looking at Web sites about the friendship between the American Indians and the Pilgrims, who were seeking religious freedom. Her lesson plan stressed the settlers' faith, which helped to sustain them that first harsh winter far from the homes they left behind.

The tiny scholars at Open Door Christian Schools used crafts projects to bring their learning to life. Activities included making paper costumes representing Pilgrims or American Indians, pressing their hands dripping with wet paint onto fabric for turkey pillows, making conical tepees from brown construction paper and playing a game that was played by American Indian children in colonial times. On Nov. 19 the kindergarten students were joined by their parents for a Thanksgiving feast at the school.

Historians tell us the first winter in Plymouth Colony was a bitter hardship to the 102 European settlers who arrived in 1620 on the Mayflower, wiping out about half their numbers in just a few months. But the following spring, Native Americans showed the settlers how to fish and plant, and the harvest that autumn was cause for celebration with newfound friends.

In Young's classroom last week, Dominic Detillio, 5, of Avon, was hard at work on a necklace of dyed pasta tubes, macaroni wheels and feathers, strung on a strand of blue yarn. Like all the students, he had the option of being an Indian or Pilgrim at the holiday feast.

''I'm going to be an Indian, because they have bows and arrows,'' Detillio said, intent on his task. His pal Malik Mitchell, 6, was working nearby pasting paper feathers onto a paper Indian headdress.

''I'm going to be an Indian too, because I like Indians,'' Mitchell said.

Michael Bova, 5 and a half, of North Ridgeville, displayed logic only a kid understands when he said he wanted to be a Pilgrim like Malik. Then he changed his mind.

''I want to be half Indian and half Pilgrim,'' Bova said. He went over to another table where Carol Csuti, a kindergarten aide, painted the palm of his hand with washable brown tempera paint. Csuti painted the thumb and fingers with red, green, yellow and purple paints and pressed his hand onto a small envelope of white fabric.

When Michael lifts his hand, he's puzzled.

''It doesn't look like a turkey,'' he said. But when it dried, Csuti used markers to add legs, eyes, wings, a beak and a wattle. Then she stuffed the pillow and sewed it up, and Michael gave it to his parents.

Alissa Faber, 6, of Grafton, was still weighing her options last week on the Indian-Pilgrim costume question.

''I think I'll be a Pilgrim but I'm not sure yet,'' she said. ''I liked making the necklace. There were some really cool feathers and I put four on my necklace.''

Faber was still working on her understanding of the early history of her country.

''We're learning how the Pilgrims sailed on the Mayflower to Ohio because the king was not letting them pray the way they wanted to,'' Faber said. ''When they got to the new land they met the Indians, who taught them how to plant punkins, corn and beans. They became friends.''

Across the hall, Meier's class was gluing down long paper feathers to form the tail of a turkey on big sheets of white paper. Meier asked each of her young charges what they were thankful for, and then wrote the answer on each feather with a black magic marker.

The big blue eyes of Rachel Carr, 5, of Amherst, seemed to smile as she reflected on the many gifts of her young life.

''I'm thankful for my Mom and Dad, for the feast next Monday, and for Mrs. Meier,'' she said. When this activity was done, Meier moves to an easel in the center of the floor, where stories and poems are written in tall block letters on large sheets of paper. She turns to a holiday-themed variation on the tune of ''I'm a Little Teapot:''

''I'm a little Indian on the go,

Here is my arrow, here is my bow.

When I go hunting hear me shout,

Bears and buffaloes better watch out!''

Meier asked ''All eyes on me, please,'' as she explained how life was lived four centuries ago.

''The Indians couldn't go to the grocery store for food,'' she said. ''They had to hunt for bears, buffaloes and turkeys if they wanted to eat. When the Pilgrims were struggling, what did the Indians show them how to plant?

''CORN!'' responded the students in unison.

Meier turned to another lesson on the easel, a rebus with illustrations standing in for nouns like tepees, trees or canoes. As she read the story aloud, about an American Indian boy named Kiwa who encounters turtles, a fox and fish on his journey, she pointed to the illustrations and the students said the word for her.

Monday's Thanksgiving Feast included turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, corn, applesauce and rolls, with cookies for dessert. The food, set out buffet style, was prepared by the parents, and the event was attended by ODCS President Walter Sheffield, who gave the opening prayer.

Sheffield said he was proud of the kindergarten students.

''We set the kids on what we believe is the right track,'' he said. ''Someday they'll be out there running businesses, and we want them to have the right values.''

On Monday those values included a healthy enthusiasm for a tasty lunch. Marshall Whitehead, 5, was wearing his paper Indian headdress and sitting next to his mother, Mayumi Whitehead. The Whiteheads also have a daughter in third grade at the school.

''I'm an Indian cuz I like bows and arrows,'' Marshall said. ''Today I'm thankful for the food. The turkey's my favorite part.''

Mayumi Whitehead said she was pleased with the Thanksgiving lesson plan devised by Young and Meier.

''It's good for the children to learn about the different parts of their own country's culture,'' she said. She was especially gratified by the turkey pillow Marshall brought home with his tiny handprint.

''It's so cute,'' she said. ''It's too special to use, so I'm going to hang it on the wall.''

Phil Bova, Michael's father, brought in pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies his wife made for the luncheon. He said his family was thankful this year for his father-in-law's recovery from cancer.

''Kids need to know family is the important thing,'' he said.

Malik Mitchell is wearing the black paper hat and white paper collar of a Pilgrim at the luncheon.

''I picked that because the Pilgrim kids always did what their Mom and Dad said,'' Malik said. ''Plus I got to wear a hat.''

©The Morning Journal 2007