Would you like to plan a Thanksgiving feast for your students and their parents? Are you feeling like you can't because of your district's food policy? Well, you still can! A few years ago my district changed their policy on food at school. Now we are only allowed to have store bought food instead of food prepared in students' homes. Because of allergies and other safety reasons, many districts are adopting similar policies. It makes planning celebrations like Thanksgiving feasts more challenging, but they are still possible! With this new policy in effect, take a look at how we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving at school and make a fun candle centerpiece to take home in time for the holiday!

When planning our Thanksgiving feast, I let the students take responsibility for helping plan the event. It provides an perfect opportunity for them to learn about Thanksgiving in a purposeful way. This year in particular, my students had little to no background knowledge on Thanksgiving. I asked them what they have for Thanksgiving dinner and 21 confused faces looked back at me. After interviewing our parents and doing some research, we were able to come up with our menu that had all store bought items.

Our Menu

1. Prepackaged lunch meat turkey
2. Microwavable prepackaged mashed potatoes
3. Microwavable prepackaged sweet potatoes
4. Bread/ dinner rolls
5. Peas
6. Corn
7. Gravy from a jar
8. Canned cranberry sauce
9. Store bought apple pie
10. Store bought pumpkin pie
11. Butter (Made in class from shaking heavy cream in a container)

After making our menu, we decided how many students would bring in each item. Then students decided what they wanted to bring in for the feast. A notice was sent home to parents explaining our district policy about store bought food. We are very fortunate that every family was able and happy to bring in their food item. (We are a Title 1 school, meaning that we have a significant amount of lower income families.)

The most difficult part of using prepackaged food is having enough time to microwave them all up in time for the meal. Parent volunteers are always willing to help do this after watching our class Thanksgiving presentation.

Ideas for Thanksgiving Class Presentations

The ABC's of Thanksgiving

• The words can be memorized or simplified for students. My kindergartners were easily able to do these. With a partner they wrote the word on the front of construction paper like a sign, decorated it with markers, and glued the words on the back. We went down the line with students reading their 1-3 construction paper parts.
• Share student writing about what they are thankful for
• Sing Thanksgiving songs

Our Candle Centerpiece Craft Project This craft project is a must do! Every year that I have done this, the parents and students absolutely loved them. Materials A plastic container for each student (butter, cream cheese, and sour cream containers work great) If timing is tight you can use Solo cups as well.  Different fall colored beans such as pinto beans, small red beans, black beans and lima beans A big container to mix up the beans Elmer's glue Popsicle stick for each student to use to stir the mixture A candle for each student Procedure Mix up the beans in a large container. Have each child's name on their container. Pour some glue into the bottom of the container Add beans about half way. Add more glue. Stir making sure to coat all the beans with glue. I tell my students to make sure to touch the bottom with their popsicle stick. Once students have coated beans, add some more beans and glue to get about 2/3 the way full. Have parents volunteers help students coat all the beans with glue. This is the toughest part! Place the candle in the center and even out the beans around it. Add a little more glue around the top of the beans. Let it dry overnight. To take them out, squeeze around the outside to help it release from the container. Then use scissors to cut and peel the container off. Be sure to label the students' names on the bottom of the candles. I always get great feedback on this project. It's a lot of work for the students with all the stirring, but these projects help them begin to understand how hard life was for the Pilgrims and Native Americans and it helps them appreciate the meaning of this important Thanksgiving meal.As the holiday approaches, I want to share that I am very thankful for my readers and your wonderful contributors to my blog. Please post any Thanksgiving ideas here so that other teachers can enjoy them and use them in their classrooms! Thank you and have a wonderful holiday!