Thanksgiving. Fourth Thursday in November

Transcription

1 Fourth Thursday in November Thanksgiving is America s first holiday, and it has been celebrated since The journey that the pilgrims took to reach the New World was fraught with difficulty. Then they had the challenge of settling in a strange land. Thanksgiving was a time they set aside to give thanks for their very survival and for the bounty of the new land. Of special significance is all of the assistance that Native Americans gave to the pilgrims. Native Americans had been living in North America for centuries, and they shared their knowledge and bounty with the new arrivals. Thanksgiving is a harvest festival in which family and friends come together to be grateful for all that they have. Summary of Activities Reading: Literature The Great Turkey Round-up fictional story with comprehension questions Reading: Informational Text How to Roast a Thanksgiving Turkey recipe with a steps-in-a-process sequencing activity Writing Dear Mr. President activity in which students assume the role of turkeys and write letters to the president asking for pardons Speaking & Listening Share Dear Mr. President Have students share their Dear Mr. President letters. Then have the class vote on which turkey should get the pardon. Vocabulary: brigade line, brine, food insecurity, pardon, Tofurkey Teacher Created Resources 103 #3179 Celebrating Holidays

2 The Great Turkey Round-up Directions: Read the story below and on page 105. Then answer the questions on page 105. Every Saturday, Linda went grocery shopping with her mother. It was one of the chores she did to earn an allowance. She also really liked doing it. While Linda s mother, Cynthia, retrieved the groceries from the shelves, Linda pushed the cart slowly down the aisles. One day in early November, as Linda and her mom were packing up the groceries at the checkout, the cashier handed Cynthia a receipt and said, Oh, it looks like you earned enough points to get a free frozen turkey for Thanksgiving the next time you re in. But Cynthia didn t need a free turkey. We re going to Grandma s, remember? she said to Linda. It s a shame. I m sure somebody could use it. Linda thought about that free turkey. She had been learning in school about something called food insecurity. That s when people don t have enough to eat. This gave her a very good idea. Linda thought, If my mom is being offered a free turkey that she doesn t need, other people are probably being offered the same. I have an idea, Linda said to her mother the next day. Maybe we can collect all of the free turkeys that people won t use and donate them to the Peach Street Food Bank. Good thinking! Cynthia said. Linda and her mom got organized. The first thing they did was talk to the manager of the grocery store. They told Mr. Washington their plan. He agreed to let them put posters up in the parking lot and around the store. He also told them that he would speak to all of the cashiers. We can have a little card made up that they give to shoppers. We can put your phone number and on it so they will know who to contact if they want to donate their turkey. At first, Linda and her mom didn t hear a peep. Then, around the second week in November, they started receiving lots of phone calls and s. By the end of that week, they had 30 frozen turkeys for the food bank. Every Saturday before Thanksgiving, people would bring their donated turkeys to Linda s house. They would stack them on the front porch. Fortunately, it was pretty chilly by November so the turkeys were in no danger of defrosting. Also, it takes days for a big frozen turkey to thaw. #3179 Celebrating Holidays 104 Teacher Created Resources

3 The Great Turkey Round-up (cont.) Directions: Read the story beginning on page 104. Then answer the questions. At the end of each Saturday, Ms. Sasha from the food bank would drive a big refrigerated truck to Linda s house. Several volunteers would form a brigade line from Linda s porch to the back of the truck. In no time at all, the turkeys would be ready to go. Linda loved to watch the gloved volunteers handing the turkeys from one person to the next, until they landed in the back of the truck. By the Saturday just before Thanksgiving, Linda and her mother had collected 200 turkeys for the Peach Street Food Bank, and every one of them was delivered to a family that couldn t afford to buy one for themselves. There was only one problem. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, neither Linda nor her mom wanted to have anything to do with turkey. So while the rest of their family ate the traditional dinner on Thanksgiving Day, Linda and her mom had a large pepperoni pizza. 1. Underline the sentence in the story that helps you understand the meaning of food insecurity. 2. In the space below, summarize the problem and the solution in the story. 3. The story describes how the volunteers loaded the turkeys onto the truck. Draw a picture of the brigade line here. Teacher Created Resources 105 #3179 Celebrating Holidays

4 How to Roast a Thanksgiving Turkey Directions: Read the passage and recipe. Then complete the activity on page 107. What would Thanksgiving be without a roasted turkey? Of course, times have changed since 1621, when the pilgrims sat down to their very first Thanksgiving in Plymouth. Nowadays, you can roast a turkey, fry a turkey, wrap a turkey in bacon, and even cook a vegetarian turkey called a Tofurkey. That s a turkey made out of tofu! Cooking a turkey takes some skill and a lot of time. If a turkey is overcooked, it can be as dry as sawdust. If a turkey is undercooked, it can make you sick. Below is a good recipe for a traditional roasted Thanksgiving turkey. It is a three-step process beginning with the big thaw. Turkey Ingredients 15-pound turkey fresh herbs: basil, rosemary, thyme 2 large carrots 2 large celery stalks 1 onion non-stick vegetable spray 1 pound maple bacon salt and pepper Brine Ingredients 1 gallon vegetable broth 1 cup kosher salt 1 gallon ice water 10 cloves 4 tablespoons mixed dried herbs Directions 1 Put the wrapped frozen turkey into a big cooler with a spout. 2 Cover the turkey with cold water. 3 Drain the water every 3 hours and replace with fresh water. The turkey should be thawed in about 10 hours. 4 Fill a large plastic container with the brining ingredients listed above. 5 Unwrap the thawed turkey. 6 Remove the innards (giblets and neck) from the turkey cavity. 7 Submerge the turkey in the brine, breast side up, and cover with a lid. 8 Store the turkey in a cool place for at least 14 hours. 9 Remove the turkey from the brine and pat dry. 10 Stuff the turkey cavity with fresh herbs, carrots, celery, and onion. 11 Place the turkey, breast side up, in a roasting pan. 12 Cover the turkey with strips of maple bacon. 13 Cook the turkey in a 350-degree oven. 14 Check the turkey by inserting a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. When the thermometer is 160 degrees, it is done (about 3 hours). 15 Remove the turkey from the oven, cover it with foil, and let it rest for 30 minutes before carving. #3179 Celebrating Holidays 106 Teacher Created Resources

5 How to Roast a Thanksgiving Turkey (cont.) Directions: Read the passage and recipe on page 106. Below, you will find the scrambled directions for how to roast the turkey. Place a numeral on the lines to show the correct order in which to prepare the bird. Store the turkey in a cool place for at least 14 hours. Submerge the turkey in the brine, breast side up, and cover with a lid. Check the turkey by inserting a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. When the thermometer is 160 degrees, it is done (about 3 hours). Remove the turkey from the oven, cover it with foil, and let it rest for 30 minutes before carving. Remove the turkey from the brine and pat dry. Cook the turkey in a 350-degree oven. Cover the turkey with strips of maple bacon. Drain the water every 3 hours and replace with fresh water. The turkey should be thawed in about 10 hours. Stuff the turkey cavity with fresh herbs, carrots, celery, and onion. Put the wrapped frozen turkey into a big cooler with a spout. Fill a large plastic container with the brining ingredients. Unwrap the thawed turkey. Cover the turkey with cold water. Remove the innards (giblets and neck) from the turkey cavity. Place the turkey, breast side up, in a roasting pan. Teacher Created Resources 107 #3179 Celebrating Holidays

6 Dear Mr. President Since 1947, every year just before Thanksgiving, the president of the United States is presented with a very large live turkey. This is the luckiest turkey in the country in the month of November. That s because the president gives this turkey a presidential pardon. This means that this particular turkey will not wind up on somebody s dinner table. Pretend that you are one of the millions of turkeys that are trying to get a presidential pardon. Write a letter to the president of the United States stating your case. Why should he or she pardon you, as opposed to some other turkey? #3179 Celebrating Holidays 108 Teacher Created Resources