Thanksgiving at School

There will be a time when the truth about "Pligrims" is learned but for now, just let it be fun for them. Yes you can get worked up over it, but why? Eventually they will learn the truth but now they are too young to comprehend all that. :)

In my daughter's kindergarten they made Native American outfits out of brown pillow cases. They decorated them with pen and they looked neat. Can't remember if they had headbands.

There is a long history of white children being encouraged to "play indian" while actual American Indian children were being forcibly taken from their parents in order to destroy their culture. While white kids got to dance around in feathered caps, American Indian children were being beaten for speaking their native tongue.

As a teacher in a school-age childcare several years ago, I noticed that a bunch of the kids had painted their faces, made headbands, and were performing an "indian dance" for their classmates. I gently explained to my students that it was not okay to "play indian". I explained that it was a game that had been used to hurt "real indians" for many, many years. I helped them find another way to create a costume and dance that was not going to hurt anyone's feelings.

An assistant teacher quietly approached me after I finished talking with the kids. He thanked me for intervening in a situation that he felt he could not address. The kids behavior had been personally hurtful to him, but he couldn't figure out how to address what was obviously an innocent childish mistake without coming off as hypersensitive. Until that conversation, I had no idea he identified as American Indian.

Most of the First Nations of the American Continent have a long history of cultural sharing and synthesis that pre-dates Columbus. I'm sure you could find someone who could visit your school and teach the kids some crafts, games, and activities related to the native nations in your area. But not for Thanksgiving.

For next year, I'd strongly encourage you to challenge this tradition of the Thanksgiving feast. The "Pilgrims and Indians on Thanksgiving" is a national creation myth and only very dimly related to history. The real story is pretty ugly, and includes themes of plagues, grave robbing, slavery, and mass starvation. Not exactly suitable fare for primary grades! Ditch the "Pilgrims and Indians" theme and change your Thanksgiving feast into a harvest celebration. There's no educational value to teaching them false history.

The pictographs are probably not from the Wamponoag nation. They sound about as appropriate (and relevant) as celebrating Christmas with a lesson in hieroglyphics.

What to do with your situation now? Yikes! Here are some ideas...

Do a quick study of harvest celebrations around the world. Learn about what a harvest celebration means: the work of the harvest is done, and now we have time to play and be thankful with our friends. Ask each child to come up with a costume that symbolizes harvest to them.

Talk about different ways to celebrate. Talk about how every family and every culture has special party clothes that are worn on special celebration. Wedding dresses would be one example. Graduation gowns. Quincinera dresses. Tuxedos for prom. Help the children create "celebration clothes" that reflect their personal heritage. This would require the participation of families, obviously.

Dress them up as cornucopias. Make vests out of paper bags. Glue pictures of food on them.

Do a study of seeds. Talk about how harvest time was also usually when seeds were harvested for the spring planting. Create costumes that are collages of seeds.

Make some headbands. Let each child list on their headbands something they are grateful for. Let them decorate with stickers and markers. Don't add feathers.

Good luck!!!!

And for your personal amusement, check out this clip from "Adaams Family Values." Best Thanksgiving play EVER!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EenhC7EViUA

ADDED: I wouldn't have kids dressing up as pilgrims either. There's no oppressive history of "playing pilgrim", but I see no point in having children dress up as a myth and calling it history. If you're doing a historical study of the significance of the Mayflower Compact, learning about the clothing worn by the Plymouth settlers is sensible. I somehow doubt that the other teacher is doing this in Kindergarten, as it's a fairly advanced subject. Unfortunately, J. can't nix the costumes that another teacher has already chosen to put on her class.

Isn't Thanksgiving about giving thanks? Weren't the pilgrims thankful for the Native Americans because they all worked together and survived? I think your being just a little over the top. You aren't upset about the attire of the pilgrims and pilgrims had many different clothing. I am part Native American, German, English, Irish, French, and Scottish. I have no problem with headbands and pictographs.

O-M-G.

Is there ANYTHING that is NOT offensive to someone out there? LOL

Seriously, what is the world coming to when kids cannot dress as Pilgrims and Indians at a school Thanksgiving Feast?

(I am not Native American.)

Well, I live in an area that is full of Native Americans indigenous to this part of California. Many people are more than happy to visit schools to teach them about weaving, beading, carving, etc. It's not stereotypical, it's culture. It's history.

In this case, we're talking about kindergarten. It's not a university course or debate on world religion. If somebody wanted to let kids dress up like turkeys, it might offend somebody who is vegetarian. Where does it end?

If anybody wants to get technical, what made being a Pilgrim so great? Two and a half months on a leaky ship in the middle of nowhere in the 1600's?
They all had shiny buckles on their hats and shoes and starched collars every day?

The "story" of the first Thanksgiving is just that. Why can't it be okay for kids to hear or participate in that "story" when it's not meant to be harmful in any way?

I think it's sad to overthink some of these things sometimes.
That's just my opinion.

Okay, so are pilgrim hats stereotypical... or is that what they actually wore during that time frame? What about Native American headbands, that is stereotypical to modern culture, but isn't it also ceremonial headdress and what they also wore during the time frame? Yes.

So, if you are looking at this from a historical and cultural perspective, then headbands are possibly appropriate to represent that period of time, though they were usually worn during war/hunting parties/ceremonies and not every day dress. If you are looking at this from a politically correct perspective of the representation of modern American Indians, then they are not appropriate because they perpetuate stereotypes that are hurtful to the Native American community.

And by the way, my Native American friends would protest the entire Thanksgiving feast in the first place, not just the headdress issue. Most of my Native American friends, pretty much HATE anything having to do with Thanksgiving and Christopher Columbus, they look at it as a day of mourning. Most Thanksgiving Day things being taught in school, and what MOST moms here on mamapedia know are largely myth and misinformation anyways, which is why Native Americans are so pissed off.

If you look here, a suggested appropriate Indian costume could be a simple blanket draped over one shoulder.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr040.shtml

There are several good suggestions here as well:
http://racerelations.about.com/od/historyofracerelations/...

Not offensive in my book. Schools have been doing it for years and years.
We have become to PC of a society. Takes the fun out of everything. Kids
love doing it!

I think this is a great question. You are not being hypersensitive. Genocide on two continents of millions of people is a historical fact that deserves more respect than teaching our children goofy caricatures. If we were dressing our children like Jews before the holocaust people would be outraged. People just don't know the actual history. Good for you for not wanting to pass on our ignorant myths. I'm sure most people would say it is cute. It has become a tradition that certainly is not done with bad intentions. You're in a tough spot - I wish I had better advice! Pass on the dress up. Maybe focus on what Thansgiving means to them or how their family celebrates. Good Luck being the "party pooper"!

This is why our school has a Harvest Celebration. The kids make placemats with pictures of what they are thankful for, they get laminated, used at the feast, and sent home. We have many of the ones our own kids made, and we even pull them out for meals sometimes :) I see no reason to teach a child inaccurate history, even if it is "cute" or "traditional".

Recently, my younger two had to research a native tribe or person. They learned a great deal about the interactions between the Europeans and the natives. Why make up a fake story when there are so many wonderful true ones out there?

I always wonder about things like this.

History is history. If you are studying the facts then nothing should be worried about. The Pilgrims came looking for a new land so they could have religious freedom. They took over a land occupied by natives and destroyed those cultures in the long run.

That is what THANKSGIVING DAY is about. It is not about what we are thankful for when it comes to learning about a historical event.

You can have all the other celebrations and call it what you want, the facts are the facts. History dictates what happened. So, if you are truly teaching the kids about the first Thanksgiving and the historical aspect of it you have no choice except to teach the truth.

We are all dismayed about certain parts of our nations history.

Who wants to admit their family had slaves, had them horse whipped and dragged behind wagons, or branded, children made into sex slaves, families torn apart...but any person who teaches about the civil war has to teach the students the facts. Then there were the Indian wars with Custer and all that went on during those horrible years.

Who is proud their ancestors bombed Hawaii or Japan, who is happy their family committed genocide during WWII.

There are always going to be people who don't like the facts. We are supposed to take these moments and dwell on them and decide how we want to make sure they don't happen again. It is our job to teach about what really happened to make sure these moments are part of a grandchild or great grandchild's lifetime.

But the first Thanksgiving was all about pilgrims AND indians. How in the WORLD can that be offensive? Sure, maybe the costumes seem sterotypical but in reality, if you go to Plymouth, MA where the rock is and go to the museums around there, all the depictions of the Indians some of them had headdressess.

Don't leave out the Indians in the Thanksgiving story. The Indians are an integral part to our country's history and founding. Those tired pilgrims absolutely didn't survive on their own, you know.

It sounds to me like the other teacher is really trying to look at the reality of our native Americans rather than the stereotypical wild 'red man' that we often see. I would go with her idea, and maybe you can go online and find out more about what the indians the pilgrims dealt with were really like and use it as a good history lesson for your class. You might want to do as someone else suggested and go beyond just the headband and make other items of clothing, or other props, such as the weapons the indians might have used, or their cooking utensils or other items that would have been common to their lives. Another good thing to study is what did the indians and pilgrims really eat and how did they really celebrate. Our day of Thanksgiving doesn't look a lot like what they did, so it might be nice for the children to get a better understanding of what really started this tradition in our country. I find when preparing to teach children about such things, I personally end up being the one who learns the most... and that isn't a bad thing at all!

When my girls were in Kindergarten, to celebrate Thanksgiving, the youngest ones class had a "handfull" feast where each child brought a handfull of something to share. They loved it because they learned that just a little of something alone wasn't enough for everyone to have some, but when they all worked together and contributed, there was more than enough for everyone to share. The oldest ones class had a "friendship" (veggie) soup party. Much like the handfull feast, they each brought an ingredient for the soup. Everything was brough the day before, and several of us mom's divided the ingredients and made crockpots of soup. Not enough on it's own, but when everyone contributed it was plenty. Even the picky kids loved the soup because they had contributed an ingredient in the soup.

One of our favorite stories of Thanksgiving is "Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving". It is a Christian book based on what facts they know about Squanto. It talks about slavery, the diseases that wiped out the Putuxet village, and how Squanto came to know the English language and help the Pilgrams. A very moving story that always gives me chills. To this day, my girls (9th and 12th Grades) still love this book, and read it every Thanksgiving.

Lighten up. It's cute.

I'm with you. Don't have any great suggestions though. How about your administation, what would their stance be?

honestly, i think if it were me, I might do it this year or just put names and stickers on a headband, but work on making more of the teachers in your school aware that it is not such a great way to celebrate.

Harvest celebrations are much more appropriate in my mind, Gather, share food, be thankful but don't make it about inaccurate history.