Harvest Festival

So, right after our Awbury field trip, we got back to school just in time for Harvest Festival. I had heard a lot about Harvest Festival - it is an M School tradition - but I really had no idea what all it entailed. Wow. There were huge tables set up along each hallway with more food than you can imagine - turkey, mashed potatoes, salads, mac and cheese, lasagna, the list goes on and on. Tons of food, mostly homemade by parents and teachers at our school (several teachers spent all evening on Tuesday roasting turkeys!) and it was all really wonderful. The kids got big platefuls and went from room to room hanging out with friends, seeing old teachers and just generally socializing. Everyone was so well behaved and there were so many parents who came for the feast.

As part of Harvest Festival, Mrs. C had the class turn in their Native American journals - WOW - they were incredibly beautiful and I was so impressed! They obviously spent a really long time working on them. THey all wrote 10 or more entries from the perspective of a Native American child around the time of the first Thanksgiving - they've been working on these at home for weeks. They apparnetly did a lot of research into games and foods and activities common for Native Americans and incorporated so much historical information into their journals. Most of them tried to use natural materials - some dipped paper in tea or coffee or put it in the oven to make it look old, some wrapped their journal in leather or bound it with twigs and glued leaves all over the cover. Here are all the journals lined up on our back table. I was completely blown away by the extent of their efforts.



When the big feast was winding down, they all took turns wearing the headdress that Mrs. C created and sitting in the big chair in the front of the room to read a journal entry from their work.



Their hard work was really apparent - however, some were a little more accurate than others. Here's an excerpt:

"I am a Native American girl, and I am 9 years old. My name is Flying Bird and my brother's name is Jumping Deer. I live in the woods with my family. My father does a lot of hunting and my mother makes blankets and baskets. Today I was walking through the woods and I found a beautiful tree with colorful leaves. I love it here, but I am also sad because it is hard being in a new place - we arrived on the Mayflower three weeks ago."

Hmmmm... we may have to revisit our lesson on the Mayflower. (I have to keep reminding myself that just because we taught it doesn't mean they learned it!)