Annual Harvest Fest held at St. Andrew School
First grade students at St. Andrew Catholic School enjoyed a hands-on experience Monday of making crafts that related to what they learned in the classroom regarding the first Thanksgiving.
Angela Sarnac, St. Andrew Catholic School first grade teacher, said her students learned about what it was like to come to this country for the first time. She said they read books about the Mayflower and how many items the Pilgrims could take with them on the trip.
The students, Sarnac said, have an understanding about how the Pilgrims started from scratch and how helpful the Indians were. She said the number of items the Pilgrims could bring with them sparked an interest in the students of what few items they would bring.
First grade student Abby Holleran, 6, said she learned about how the Pilgrims sailed from England to America in class.
“They only could bring a little case that they could put their stuff in,” she said.
The annual Harvest Feast has been held for the past seven years for the 1st grade students at St. Andrew Catholic School. The morning of activities began with six different stations of crafts for the students and ended with a Thanksgiving feast.
Sarnac said the feast included turkey and all of the fixings, kids-style, along with a desert.
The craft stations included the students making an Indian necklace; a turkey decorated with beans and corn; a Thanksgiving memory basket that included foods that the Pilgrims were thankful for; a Thanksgiving Pilgrim, Indian or Mayflower hat; tepees decorated with Indian symbols; and turkeys made out of cookies.
Abby said she enjoyed creating the necklaces the most during the Harvest Feast Monday morning.
Seventh grade student Julia Canzano helped Abby create her necklace Monday morning through the school’s buddy program. She said the necklace used Thanksgiving beads, which featured a different colored beads that represented how the Pilgrims came to America.
Canzano said she enjoys being with the little kids and helping them make their necklaces.
Volunteer Amanda Trottier thought that the activities went great Monday morning. She helped the students make either a Pilgrim, Indian or Mayflower hat during the Harvest Feast.
“It’s amazing,” she said about the crafts that the teachers come up with for their students. “The teachers are fantastic.”
Trottier said every year the teachers come up with bigger and better activities for the students.
“They come home with cute stuff that you can put on your Thanksgiving table,” she said about the Harvest Feast. “It’s a good start to the week for them.”