Our Class Feast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feast Day!!!!! What a fun thing to do with our four year old class families?  It was our preschool feast and we had a wonderful time.  We worked hard this whole month learning about the history of Thanksgiving and made all of these awesome art projects.  Then we made some traditional clothes to wear and prepared the food.  We are so thankful for this time together and for growing in God's love!  Happy Thanksgiving! Indeed it is good to give thanks to the Lord....Psalm 92:1

More Guest Readers

 Another visit from former students.  They stopped in today to share their reading skills with us.  I am so amazed by how much these boys and girls grow up when they leave our little classroom and am humbled when they come back by to say "Hi."  God is so good in all the ways that he helps us learn and grow and for giving me a sneak peek to see some of these little faces grow up.  Thank you friends for coming by today.

An American Indian

 

 

 

What an amazing day?  We met a real Indian Chief.  This is the Chief of the Beaver Creek Indian Tribe and he came to our preschool today to teach us about the lifestyle of local American Indians.  I know you weren't with us, but I can almost bet you know what everyone in our class said, "He is sooooo cool!"  He made all of his clothing from animal skins and made his walking stick with deer antlers.  His necklaces were made of alligator teeth and bear claws.   (The children were right, that is really cool!!!)    He also taught us about the different homes that American Indians would have lived in and that the tribes in our area would have lived in a dwelling called a "long house." 
This was because there were so many trees in this area and they could be used to make something more substantial than a teepee.  Although we were really interested in a bow and arrow and teepees, he taught us that the American Indians live just like we do today.

 He taught us about traditional foods that Amercian Indians would have eaten and about planting the "Three Sisters."  The "Three Sisters" are corn, beans and squash and these are planted together because they complement each other.  First the corn grows tall and provides something for the beans to climb as they vine up - and the squash grows around the bottom of the corn.  Pretty smart!!!!

 Below you will see a large rock in his hand.  This rock is believed to be almost 17,000 years old and was a shoe form for making moccasins.  He also had a tomahawk stone and axe stone from about the same time period.  (For our class, this just meant that those rocks are really, really old.)

 And I forgot to tell you - did you know that his belt if made from the skin of a canebreak rattle snake?  I am telling you - the children were totally amazed. 

Many thanks to this American Indian Chief that took time out of his schedule to come to our little preschool and share his heritage with us.  We all know that the story of the American Indians is not very happy and that the arrival of the Pilgrims really was not a good thing, but that part of the story is for later years in education.  We are so grateful that he is working hard to keep this part of our history alive. 

How Do You Cook A Turkey?

Recipes are passed down from generation to generation and this is a favorite of mine.  "How do you cook a turkey?"  As we approach the time for families to gather, the children shared their "secret" family recipes with me.  We made these crazy paper plate turkeys to hang with our responses.  Stop in to take a look.  "Gobble, gobble!"

History Comes To Life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We learn so much better through experience and we have been LOVING the "First Thanksgiving."  We got to make some really cool clothes and have pretty much decided that, although very different, we like living in the present.  The hats and collars are itchy, the head dress and wampum bag and vest are too hard to move around in - so we are really thankful that things have changed.  We also made a dream catcher and will report on Monday whether or not it works and we played in our the "teepee." Learning the history of Thanksgiving makes us really appreciate all that the Pilgrims and Native Americans did for us to be where we are today.  We are thankful & Happy Almost Thanksgiving!

Native Americans In Our Classroom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More fun from our classroom as we learn about the first Thanksgiving.  Today we chose our Native American names and they are awesome.  (Yes they were all inspired by nature.)  Stay tuned - there is more fun to come....

Our Class Quilt

This was the art project our class did for the letter Q....I know it is a few letters ago, but I had to share a photo of it.  It turned out so beautiful! It is all about being thankful and celebrating our Bible verse for the month, "it is good to give thanks to the Lord!!!" (Psalm 92)   And yes it really is!!!

The Mayflower

 

 

You know that you can't begin any discussion about Thanksgiving without talking about the Mayflower.  Here are our paintings of that famous ship that started it all.  I think the children did an an awesome job  with this art project and their thoughts about the Mayflower are just as good.  You would not be surprised to know that most of us admit that we would NOT be brave enough to make that long and difficult journey.  Stay tuned for more pictures of our class as we prepare for our Thanksgiving feast.

A Happy Day

 

 

 

 

Pictures from last week - just happy times on the playground.  (I have been a little slow in posting due to crazy practice schedules with my boys.)  It was just a good day and that is a great thing.  Happy days are the best days!