Decatur pre-kindergarten students enjoy Thanksgiving feast
DECATUR — This year’s Thanksgiving celebration marked the beginning of the 38-day holiday season which brings with it lots of good cheer, fellowship and a time of giving thanks. In the traditions of the first Thanksgiving at the Plymouth Plantation (Plymouth, Mass.) in 1621, the Decatur pre-kindergarten classes of Joyce Turnage and Rachel Duncan celebrated Thanksgiving with a feast of their own Nov. 21 at the Decatur Pre-K facility.
The students began working on decorating their classrooms Nov. 13, with the real work beginning Nov. 20 with the preparation of the meal by teachers, aides, parents and students. The feast consisted of a turkey casserole, homemade bread with homemade butter, sweet-potato pie and homemade dressing.
Duncan’s class was the first to feast, joined by parents, siblings and friends.
Turnage, dressed in the traditional pilgrim woman’s bodice, skirt, apron and lace collar, gathered her students together in the activity area of the classroom to help tell the story of the first Thanksgiving. As the story progressed, each student had a prop to hang up on a magnetic bulletin board. The props consisted of pilgrims, Native Americans, log homes, turkeys, cornucopias, sailing ships and other assorted items that appeared during the first feast.
After the presentation, the students, some dressed in pilgrim hats and others in Native American headgear, gathered around a long table adorned with cornucopias and other signs of the fall harvest to begin the feast.
The holidays always bring out the best in people. For the students of Decatur Pre-K school, the best was a chance to spend a little extra time with their family and friends, the chance to show what the true meaning of Thanksgiving is all about.