Thanksgiving Lesson

The past two years, the two days before Thanksgiving break have been two of my favorite days to be a teacher. We would do rotations and in each group, we would have an activity to learn more about the lives of the Pilgrims and our Thanksgiving traditions/symbols. The kids LOVE it and we just have a great time. Since I am not in the classroom anymore, it was quite different today. I bounced around from grade to grade helping in their own celebrations. In addition to that, I spent part of the morning (yesterday and today) with one of my pull out kiddos. He is Jehovah's Witness and cannot participate in any holiday activities. Yesterday we "ran errands" around the school and played word games. It was really fun to be with this little guy. He talks a lot so I have to really be on him to be quiet in class. However, the past two days, he has been able to talk his heart out! Such a sweet boy!

*Sidenote: When I asked him to describe a clown yesterday, he responded with, "Cheeky!"

Today my team had a pot luck lunch. I was making fruit salsa with cinnamon sugar tortilla chips. Since it was fruit and I wanted it to be fresh, I decided that my time with the student today would be making the salsa. I bought a cheap chopper and let him go to town. All of that six year old boy energy chopped fruit faster than I have ever seen! While we chopped and mixed, we talked. About half way through, I asked him if he ever helps his mom in the kitchen. He told me that they just moved to a new hotel room and this one doesn't have a kitchen. As a matter of fact, he has never really been in a kitchen before.

This was a huge ah-ha moment for me. Instead of feeling sorry for him because he couldn't make a turkey, my heart broke for him. Here he was, a first grader, and his first experience making any kind of food was in a portable classroom with his reading intervention teacher. He loved every moment of it and was beyond enthusiastic! However, he has never licked a beater after his mom makes a cake. He has never helped ice cookies or helped stir the macaroni and cheese. He has never helped make a salad.

Instead of crying (like I wanted to), I told him what a good job he was doing. I said that he should be a chef. We talked about what a chef is and what kind of food he would make. I tasted the simple salsa and ooo-ed and awwwww-ed at what a fantastic job he did. He smiled this big crooked smile and asked if he could help me cook again sometime. I told him that in about three weeks I would need some more help (Christmas/winter parties). He just said, "aw-wight!" So in three weeks we will cook again and we will talk about being a chef. He will be the most amazing cook in the first grade and I'll do whatever I can in those few hours to plant seeds that can break the cycle his family is in.

Who knows - maybe the very next Emeril is sitting in my room instead of celebrating a holiday.