Nellie F. Bennett First Grade Thanksgiving Pow-Wow

On September 6, 1620, the Mayflower departed England and set sail for North America. After 65 perilous days at sea, the English colonists, or Pilgrims, landed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where they established the Plymouth Colony and the real challenges began. Their experiences in that first winter were the subject matter of Nellie F. Bennett Elementary School's Thanksgiving Pow-Wow performance and celebration.

Dressed in homemade American Indian smocks and "feather" headbands, the students in  Mrs. Kate Kesler's first grade class performed Thanksgiving-themed songs, skits and poems for an audience of parents and family at the event that has become an annual tradition at the school.

"The Thanksgiving holiday reminds us to give thanks for the special blessings in our lives," said Mrs. Kesler. "It also helps up recognize the importance of family, friendship, love and laughter."

Expounding on the theme of laughter, the performance kicked off with a joke about Pilgrims need for belts being satisfied by those on their traditional wide-buckled hats.

The students then launched into a skit inspired by the first Thanksgiving. Told in round-robin fashion, where each student recites one phrase, the skit detailed the history of Thanksgiving from the Pilgrims' voyage to North America to some of the challenges they faced, including sickness, cold weather, and unfamiliar wildlife.

On-stage props like a Dutch cargo fluyt modeled after the Mayflower and a wooden depiction of an American Indian assisting a Pilgrim with planting corn provided an authentic backdrop as the students relayed the series of events that ultimately led to the first Thanksgiving.

"The Pilgrims rejoiced at the first harvest and held a feast in celebration," said one student.

"The Indians joined the Pilgrims at a three-day celebration and feast as they enjoyed the bounty of their harvest," stated another.

The students then said that our annual Thanksgiving celebrations are in remembrance of that first great feast.

Students then recited a poem about gratitude and giving thanks and another about an apprehensive turkey named Gus before launching into a song about the importance of family before retiring to Mrs. Kesler's classroom where they worked on a "Tree of Thanks" craft with their family members while snacking on light refreshments.

"Every class at Nellie Bennett Elementary School celebrated Thanksgiving in some manner," said school Principal Jim Karaba. "Various crafts, feasts and performances occurred within the classrooms this week; however, we wanted to make sure we balanced the festivities with lessons about the true meaning of the holidays including family, togetherness and giving thanks."

Mr. Karaba said that in-class lessons and celebrations have been supplemented with support for local food and supply drives.

"In addition to the in-class events, the PTO and entire Nellie Bennett community came together to participate in two drives to benefit the community," said Mr. Karaba. "We recently completed the Foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties Holiday Hunger Challenge Food Drive with the PTO for which we collected hundreds of pounds of food for local families in need. Now that the food drive is complete, we have begun a pajama drive with Scholastic Books."

"The Point Pleasant Borough School District strives to promote balance between the celebratory nature of the holidays with the expression of gratitude and recognizing the needs of others," said Superintendent of Schools Vincent S. Smith. "This district-wide commitment to helping others has resulted in the collection of nearly 4,000 pounds for those in need in the Holiday Hunger Food Drive among other fund and supply drives. I would like to commend our students and their families as well as our staff for continuing to demonstrate an inspiring degree of civic responsibility and the true holiday spirit."