Thanksgiving Week Idea #2 - Multicultural Feast

Share Our Cultures - Share Our Favorite Foods!

Rather than try to compete with Thanksgiving, I like my class to share their very favorite family foods with the class.  After all, isn't that what the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians did in 1621?  This first Thanksgiving was a celebration of the Pilgrim's first successful harvest, after the Indians had shared their knowledge of local crops.  This first feast was truly a blending of the foods of two very different cultures.

Our annual feast is a wonderful display of the best in people.  There is always an overabundance of food, prepared with love by mothers, grandmothers, and even the students themselves!  Sharing these delicious foods is special enough, but we don't stop there.  Prior to the feast, students share a five slide Power Point slideshow that they have created to introduce the class to their offering.  The students learn how to insert pictures, WordArt, and text boxes to create their own computer presentation.  

Power Point Slideshow:

• Slide 1:  Picture of the food and name of the food
• Slide 2:  Picture name of the culture that this food originated from
• Slide 3:  Ingredients (This is important for students with food allergies or religious concerns)
• Slide 4:  Picture of this food set on a table with a caption that shows us whether it is a main dish, side dish, or dessert
• Slide 5:  Family story that relates to this food.  (This is the best part - these stories are heartwarming and funny)  

I tell the students about the special cranberry recipe that my family always makes for Thanksgiving.  It has to be made just right, with double the oatmeal topping! Yum! One year, Aunt Mary changed the recipe!  Gasp!  She left off the topping and added orange to the cranberries!  Horror of horrors!  No one has yet gotten over it, and that must have been about 12 years ago!  Every year someone says, "Remember the year that Aunt Mary changed the cranberry recipe?"  Aunt Mary has been gone for about 5 years now, but her legacy lives on! - Check back to this blog on Friday, and I will share my family's favorite cranberry recipe!  It is truly worth the trip back!  Yum, but don't leave off the topping!

Once I get the thinking going, the students have so much to say, but I make them save it for their presentations!

Our Annual Multicultural Feast Truly is a "Taste of Harmony!"

And it's Fun Too!