Kindergartners learned about the true meaning of Thanksgiving, and also improved their literacy and math skills, during classroom activities at Northeast Elementary School.

As kindergartners sat around the table in Renee Chandler’s classroom on Nov. 27, they discussed what they are thankful for before enjoying apple and pumpkin pie. Ms. Chandler also used it as an opportunity to teach her students about etiquette, noting that they shouldn’t start eating until everyone had their slices of pie. 

Lisa Iannotta’s students gathered for a Thanksgiving feast with turkey and all of the trimmings, prepared by parents and staff. Before the meal, they disguised paper turkeys and wrote an accompanying story. 

Kindergartners in Maria Lievano’s bilingual class made handprint turkeys to accompany poems as a gift for their parents. In Spanish, the children wrote about their reasons for giving thanks this year. They also made a Thanksgiving-themed snack by using candy corn and candy eyes to make turkeys out of chocolate-frosted cookies.

Teacher Andrew Babington taught children about the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Native American tribe, and how they came together to celebrate a successful corn harvest. Children then enjoyed a snack of corn muffins and grape juice.

Turkey math in Nicole Faber’s room taught children all the different ways to make 10, while Dyan Aversa’s students honed their math skills by counting turkeys.