Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

A Culturally Responsive Approach to Discussing Thanksgiving in the Classroom

In this ongoing series, we explore what culturally responsive teaching looks like at different grade levels and offer concrete examples and resources. Last week we explored going beyond “The Single Story”Today, educator Lindsay Barrett offers a culturally responsive approach to discussing Thanksgiving in the Classroom. 

Culturally Responsive Teaching Thanksgiving

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Plan Your Month Roundup: November Books

Can you believe it’s almost November? The autumn season is officially underway which means the holidays are right around the corner! Plan out your month with these book recommendations and resources to get you ready for the holiday season!
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“The People Shall Continue” by Simon J. Ortiz Returns to Print

Lee & Low Books is thrilled to share that we will be bringing back to print The People Shall Continue, Simon J. Ortiz’s beloved children’s book tracing the history of Native and Indigenous people in North America. The book will be released in paperback in October 2017 in a new 40th Anniversary Special Edition, with updated illustrations and a new afterword by the author. It will also be available in a Spanish translation, simultaneously published.

Purchase a copy here.

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Plan Your Month Roundup: November Books

Can you believe it’s almost November? The autumn season is officially underway which means the holidays are right around the corner! Plan out your month with these book recommendations and resources to get you ready for the holiday season!
Continue reading

Giving Thanks: Thanksgivukkah and Native American Heritage Month

If you haven’t heard already, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah overlap this year, creating a hybrid holiday known across the internet as Thanksgivukkah. This overlap won’t happen for another 70,000 plus years, meaning people have been coming up with some very creative ways to celebrate (turkey menorahs aka menurkies, anyone?).

While it’s fun to enjoy the novelty of this rare holiday, November is also Native American Heritage Month, which means we’re thinking about the complicated history of Thanksgiving, but also giving thanks for recent steps that have been taken towards Native American equality. November 29 is Native American Heritage Day, and we can’t think of a better way to honor the day with a some great books about American Indians, including Killer of Enemies and Under the Mesquite.

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Our favorite Thanksgiving food traditions

Thanksgiving is the best holiday, ’cause it’s all about food. I mean, it’s also about being thankful, and about our country’s complicated history, but: turkey! stuffing! PUMPKIN PIE!

Seaside Dream

Here are some favorite food-related traditions and recipes from the Lee & Low staff:

Keilin, Marketing/Publicity Intern:

One food-related Thanksgiving tradition that my family does is something AFTER the actual meal. My family takes all the turkey meat to save for sandwiches, but we also save the turkey bones! We use them to make a Chinese rice porridge called “jook.” Usually, jook is made with chicken and pork bones, but for the next week or so, my family gets to enjoy turkey jook! It has a different (albeit subtle) taste, and it’s something I look forward to every year!Seaside Dream

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Thanksgiving

This week is Thanksgiving! There’s lots to love about this holiday, and some of it doesn’t even have to do with food (although…pies! stuffing! MORE PIES!).

Thanksgiving is also a great opportunity for teaching and discussion. I know sometimes people have an adverse reaction to that–something like “Stop trying to make my holiday traditions politically correct!”–but so much of the Thanksgiving story is still relevant today. I like thinking about Thanksgiving as a celebration of a history that is still being written, a history that we can take an active part in.

On that note, Fourth World Journal points to a new teaching resource for Thanksgiving developed by a teacher and historian whose ancestors happen to be Quebeque French, Metis, Ojibwa, and Iroquois. He suggests that it’s time to move past some of the myths surrounding Thanksgiving towards historical accuracy, and insists that this will make the holiday more, not less, meaningful. I especially like some of the discussion questions, like this one:

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