KIDS LOVE THANKSGIVING

Paper hats and decorative place settings, cornucopias and turkey drawings. These are only a few of the things children bring home from school in the days preceding Thanksgiving.

All area schools are commemorating Thanksgiving with art projects, special curriculums, plays, meals or a combination of all. Whether they're dressing up like Pilgrims and Indians or telling what they're thankful for, almost all children seem to love Thanksgiving.

Teachers said the holiday is one of the most teachable because of its patriotic and historical lessons. There are religious and moral tones that public schools would shy away from, they said, but in comparison to holidays like Easter and Christmas, Thanksgiving is by far the holiday everybody can enjoy learning more about regardless of the school setting.

Some schools choose to teach benevolence during the holiday by giving to needy families. For example, the student council at St. Vincent de Paul Grade School sponsored a canned food drive that will benefit their church's food pantry. Some of the food will also be used during Vincent's Vittles, a monthly supper held by and for the church congregation.

Other schools celebrate the holiday by learning more about the first Thanksgiving feast. Classes at St. Vincent's, along with Franklin, Jefferson and Washington elementary schools, are using a national holiday curriculum provided by the Heavenly Ham franchise to learn about the holiday from a historical perspective.

The schools will receive holiday dinner gift baskets for participating, which they can donate to a needy family or charitable organization.

Students and teachers at Gordonville Attendance Center incorporate Thanksgiving themes into all of their subjects in the weeks preceding the holiday. Teachers help students learn to identify adjectives and nouns by having them list things they're thankful for. Music period becomes an opportunity to learn and write Thanksgiving songs and chants.

The celebration is completed when the entire school population -- including teachers, administrators, custodians and cooks -- come together for an old-fashioned Thanksgiving meal. Everyone is dressed as either a Pilgrim or an Indian, and the grades are intermingled so everyone gets to share a meal with someone they don't usually eat with.

Regardless of how they celebrate the holiday, students and teachers seem to enjoy being together during Thanksgiving. Besides the novelty of the songs, projects and lessons that are learned, everyone can also benefit from the more subtle moral lessons of benevolence and gratitude that are sustained during this holiday.

I AM THANKFUL FOR

These are just a few of the things

Everyday

Everywhere

Every month

Praise and shout

This is what it's all about!

I am thankful for ...

loving mothers

caring fathers

warm clothes

good food

comfortable houses

sweet teachers

nice families

wonderful animals

marvelous relatives

helpful parents

perfect books

faithful friends

awesome school

healing nurse

kind secretary

lean custodian

good cook

assisting aide

caring counselor

talented teachers

supportive administrators

plentiful air

peaceful community

all blessings