Native American Day

It has been tradition in second grade to study the Pilgrims and their story from England to Holland to America, culminating in a special "Pilgrim Day" celebration on the half-day of school before Thanksgiving break. This year we have decided to break from that tradition and focus instead on Native Americans. We will be studying 4 different geographical groupings of Native Americans. The groups to be studied include: Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, and Northwest/Inuit. We will of course still touch upon the Pilgrim colony of Plymouth and the historical connection between Thanksgiving today and the first Thanksgiving in 1620. But, as with the half-day of school, our "Pilgrim Day" celebration is gone. In its place will be a Native American day wherein the second graders will be playing Native American games, doing crafts, exploring clothing and costumes, hearing stories, etc. We are also planning a Native American feast for lunch that day, and for that we are calling upon help from the second grade parents.
Our request is that each class' families prepare and bring in foods that are representative of the different Native American groups diets. During the next few weeks we will explore staples of each group's diet and some of the dishes they may have eaten. Of course there will be dishes and staples that are not commonly found; like venison, bison, wild berries, etc. However, we can make some substitutions while maintaining the overall integrity of the idea. Some foods and dishes to consider are:

• corn (cornbread, corn stew, roast corn, tortillas, etc)
• beans
  
• squash (summer and hard-shelled, mixed into stews with beans and/or rice)
• chiles
• wild rice
• salmon
• beef jerky (substituted for bison or venison jerky)
• breads (fry bread, mixed grains)
• berries with honey or maple syrup for dessert
  

We are asking that each class prepare a variety of foods to feed 17. The foods will then be arranged in the hallway and each student can pick items from their own class or sample items from other classes. This would take the place of lunch the day before Thanksgiving break, November 25.