It’s hard to believe that November has arrived, but we know it is here because of falling leaves, cooler days, hunting season, and football games. Soon Thanksgiving Day will be here as well. This special day started in 1863 when a woman named Sarah Hale asked President Abraham Lincoln to make Thanksgiving an official holiday in the United States. She also asked for a turkey to be used for the Thanksgiving meal by all Americans. In 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt designated the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. Americans mostly believe that their Thanksgiving is modeled after the 1621 harvest feast shared by the Pilgrims of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the Wampanoag Indians who were already living there. Traditional foods include turkey, filling (stuffing), gravy, sweet potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin or apple pie. But historians believe that turkey was not eaten at that first Thanksgiving in 1621. Instead, they ate venison (deer meat), duck, geese, and fish and lobsters from the Atlantic Ocean. Many people travel great distances to be with their families on Thanksgiving Day. This day is set aside to give thanks for all the blessings we have in life, especially friends and family. Many families enjoy watching football games that day, and children have fun watching the famous Macy’s parade on TV with floats of favorite cartoons and Disney characters.
Thanksgiving is the perfect time to teach gratitude. As a parent, you could ask your child to write an I AM GRATEFUL poem telling a person, place, food, and thing he/she is grateful for. For example:
I am grateful for my Mom and Dad.
I am grateful for my bedroom.
I am grateful for chocolate chip cookies.
I am grateful for my Teddy Bear.
You could also have your child draw a big turkey and make six feathers on colored construction paper. Cut out and paste each feather onto the turkey. Then write something that he/she is thankful for on each feather.
This would be the perfect time to read “Poor Tom Turkey” in my BUTTERFLIES, BEARS and OTHER POEMS for CHILDREN book. You could also read the book TURKEY TROUBLE, by Wendi Silvano. It is a funny story about a farm turkey who thinks he will be eaten as the meal on Thanksgiving Day, so he looks for ways to disguise himself.
It has a silly ending.
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