Before leaving for the holiday break, elementary teachers throughout Schuylkill County made sure their students understood the meaning of Thanksgiving.
On Tuesday, the first-grade classrooms of Regina Freiler and Bev Dillow at Pottsville Area School District's John S. Clarke Elementary Center celebrated their own Thanksgiving with a play, song and dance, and a meal prepared by the teachers.
"Every year we do this together, to teach them about the very first Thanksgiving. We tell them that the Pilgrims and Native Americans came together because they were thankful for the harvest," Dillow said.
Dressed as Pilgrims or American Indians, the students sat across from each other as their desks circled the room. Each said what he or she was thankful for before digging into portions of turkey, corn bread, popcorn, pumpkin bread and cranberries
"Many of them participate in Thanksgiving at home but don't know why. We try to explain it to them," Dillow said.
Freiler said it was important for the students to learn about the holiday.
"It's the founding of our country," Freiler said. The students seemed to understand the concept of Thanksgiving.
"I'm thankful for my family," Faith Toothaker said.
Toothaker also said she learned about all the hardships the Pilgrims faced on the long journey to America.
"I am thankful for our veterans," Olivia Peleschak said.
Peleschak said she enjoys spending time with her family on Thanksgiving.
"I am thankful for my friends," Samarra Reedy said.
Reedy said her favorite part of her family's Thanksgiving meal is the corn.
Jessica Johnson said she was thankful for her imagination.
"I'm looking forward to spending time with my family," Johnson said.
At Blue Mountain Elementary East, the first-grade students in Jennifer Oswald's classroom wrote what they were thankful for on a paper turkey feather, which became part of a giant paper turkey on the wall.
Oswald said Thanksgiving was tied to a social studies lesson all month about the difference between wants and needs.
"We wanted to explain to them that there's a reason why we are off of school," Oswald said. "We did a lot of history and showed them what it was like to live on the Mayflower."
The giant turkey project was organized by Colleen Kiernan, a student teacher from Kutztown University.
"I just thought that it was a creative way for them to express themselves and see what others were thankful for. Not everyone is thankful for the same thing. They were excited to see the finished product," Kiernan said.
"It's such a major holiday and sometimes it gets overlooked and the meaning is lost."
While the students were thankful for many different things, each answer reflected what they had been learning in their social studies lesson. Some of the students, and what they were thankful for this year included: Brody Haskin, his family; Jillian Gipe, God; Delaney Courcelle, her cat; Abbey Caracappa, her mom; and Tyler Sifeller, his family.
Also at Blue Mountain East, students in the third-grade class of Emily Caracappa made miniature paper turkeys with one thing they were thankful for on each feather.
"I wanted them to think beyond the toys and video games and tell me what they were really thankful for," Caracappa said Monday. "I was really proud with what they said. I think now that they are a little older, they understand it is not just about eating but to be thankful."
Jonathon Rauch, a student teacher from Kutztown University, organized the project.
"There's so many things in life, it is easy to overlook the simple things," Rauch said. "I think they really enjoyed the project and it was really good for them to self-reflect. It was nice to see what they were all thankful for and see what their classmates were thankful for. Maybe it was something that they didn't even think about before."
Across the hall in Shannan Burcik's fourth-grade classroom, Norah Gohsler said she was thankful for all the food and spending time with her family on Thanksgiving. John Bachert also said he was thankful for his family and enjoys playing with his friends and family on the holiday.
Carter Gelches was thankful for many things, including his family, two dogs and imagination.
"I look forward to turkey and celebrating with my family," Gelches said. "But mostly turkey, it puts me to sleep every time."