Ms. Rachna Fraccaro’s second grade class sits on a blue alphabet mat in their classroom at Jamestown Elementary November 16 waiting to share their thoughts about Thanksgiving. The walls are lined with reminders about mindset stances such as Resilience and Empathy. 

The students discuss what they like best about Thanksgiving, what they do, where they go and their favorite food. Too many hands shoot in the air from students who want to participate. What to do? So since each child has a number assigned to them, Fraccaro decides on drawing five slips of paper from a bowl.

Henry Golding says he plans to jump in the big leaf pile his father is building up. “My brother and sister and me and my mom and dad and Labradoodle Willow will all jump in the pile.” He says his favorite Thanksgiving food is cranberries. “I don’t like turkey.”

Henry says they will drive to his dad’s best friend’s house in D.C. His uncle Bret will be there and will bring his yummy mac and cheese. And Henry is grateful for his mom.

Charlotte McDonald will have probably three friends over for an overnight ,“and we will play with our doggie. I have no idea what kind of dog Felix is. I think he is a mix of a lot of things.”

Charlotte says she eats cranberries and a lot of things. “Yeah we have turkey and, oh yeah, my grandmother makes a really good pie—strawberry rhubarb I think.”

Charlotte says she goes to her grandma’s house which is close by and “me and my friends travel to a farmhouse for a vacation. There aren’t animals there anymore but there is a barn.” Charlotte says she is grateful for her family and her friends.

Winnie Boyle says she will probably have friends over “and this is the first year for the dog. We’ll send the dog down to greet the people and Sadie will be like ‘pet me right now.’”

Winnie first mentions they have cranberries, too, and turkey and she likes the pie and ice cream. “We have a bunch of friends over. We call it Friendsgiving. They usually bring the pies. Winnie is grateful for everything — “well, everything good in my life.”

Juliette Dixon says she will spend time with her family. “We go to the beach house and my uncle from Maryland and grandparents from Maryland are there. We don’t have a dog.”

Juliette’s favorite thing is pumpkin pie. “Me, my grandpa, mom, brother and uncle all make it.” But you guessed it, they have cranberries, turkey, and a lot of things.

Andrea Tila looks forward to spending time with her family. “Basically while the food is getting ready, I’m playing with my sister. She is 9 1/2. We’ll probably play board games. 

“Then we’ll sit down at the dining room table. We have two tables; one is a kid’s table where me and my sister sit. It is a circle with four seats, and I sit near the cabinet.

“We have turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, apples and that’s it. My favorite Thanksgiving food is apple cider. “ Andrea says she is grateful for her cat Kitty. “She is nice and sweet.”