MARYSVILLE — We spent some time talking about Thanksgiving with kindergartners at Kellogg Marsh Elementary School in Marysville this week. Many of them didn’t know the history of the holiday, although a teacher said they had watched a movie about it.
The children talked about eating turkey and gizzards, and how cranberry sauce can taste like sloppy Joes. We also learned about a bull terrier named James Franco.
The students are in two different classes taught by Nicole Aune and Mindy Gray.
Caleb Winters, 6
What do you like most about Thanksgiving?
“The turkeys.”
Do you think turkeys can fly?
“Baby ones don’t.”
What do you think happened on the first Thanksgiving?
“The turkey got eaten.”
What else do you think they ate?
“Some cheese.”
How do you eat the turkey?
“There’s a lot of bones in turkey legs.”
Do you ever eat the turkey leg?
“I ate a duck leg before. Not a duck leg. I ate the gizzard. And the heart. It wasn’t red. I ate half and Dad ate half.”
Kindergartner Adalyn Otter, 5 , at Kellogg Marsh Elementary talks about Thanksgiving. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Adalyn Otter, 5
What do you like about Thanksgiving?
“That we get to spread lots and lots of thanks.”
What are you thankful for?
“Giving kindness out to people.”
How do you show your kindness?
“By being respectful.”
Do you do that all year or just around Thanksgiving time?
“Just around Thanksgiving time.”
Do you know the story yet about the first Thanksgiving?
“No.”
Who do you think was there?
“Winnie the Pooh.”
Anyone else?
“Tigger.”
What do you think they ate?
“The turkey.”
What do turkeys looks like?
“A big glob.”
Who cooks the turkey during your Thanksgiving?
“My mom and my dad. They put it in the oven. They put pepper, parmesan and spicy peppers.”
Who eats the most in your family?
“My dad.”
How much do you think he can eat?
“A bazillion.”
How long do you think you cook the turkey for?
“Thirty seconds.”
What are you most thankful for?
“Being kind, and being precious, and being delightful for Thanksgiving.”
Lucio Bernius, 5
What’s your favorite part about Thanksgiving?
“Eating turkey.”
What else do you like to eat on Thanksgiving?
“I kind of like carrots.”
Where do you think the turkey comes from?
“I don’t know. From the store.”
What kind of sound does the turkey make?
“Gobble, gobble, gobble.”
What sort of movements do they make?
“They just go all crazy.”
Where do they live before they get to the store?
“They live in a barn.”
Kindergartner Olivia Rafferty, 5, at Kellogg Marsh Elementary talks about Thanksgiving. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Olivia Rafferty, 5
What is your favorite part of Thanksgiving?
“That we get to have turkey and gravy.”
Where do you put the gravy?
“On the turkey.”
Have you ever seen a turkey fly?
“Just in books.”
What do they look like?
“Like turkeys. Fat.”
What color are their feathers?
“Red, orange, yellow, green, blue.”
What’s your least favorite thing to eat on Thanksgiving?
“Gravy.”
I thought you liked gravy?
“It’s sticky.”
What are you most thankful for?
“For my family and my food.”
Do you help cook the turkey?
“I help them put the stuffing in. I grab some yummy food that my mom and dad make and stuff it in the turkey.”
Taylor Avila, 5
What is your favorite part about Thanksgiving?
“Pumpkin pie.”
Anything else?
“Turkey.”
What does a turkey look like?
“A bird that can’t fly but with feathers.”
Where do you think they come from?
“Africa.”
Kindergartner Brayden Kier, 5, at Kellogg Marsh Elementary talks about Thanksgiving. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Brayden Kier, 5
What is your favorite part about Thanksgiving?
“Eating turkey.”
Why is that your favorite?
“Because you get to choose one.”
What sort of turkey do you like to choose?
“A fat turkey.”
Where do you think turkeys live before they go to the store?
“In a barn. The barn is like a street away from my house.”
How many turkeys were there?
“Like, nine.”
What do you not like to eat on Thanksgiving?
“Sandwiches. Turkey sandwiches. I only like the turkey.”
Why not sandwiches?
“Because my mom always puts mayo on it.”
How do you feel about cranberry sauce?
“I really do not like cranberry sauce.”
Why not?
“Because it really tastes gross. It tastes like sloppy Joes. I really do not like sloppy Joes because it’s really disgusting.”
What’s so gross about it?
“My mom always, always puts mayo all over my food. I really do not like mayo.”
Kindergartner Eckston Butcher, 5, at Kellogg Marsh Elementary talks about Thanksgiving. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Eckston Butcher, 5
What is your favorite part about Thanksgiving?
“I like to eat turkey and have fun with my friends and do fun stuff with everyone.”
What is your favorite thing to eat on Thanksgiving?
“Turkey and vegetables and fruit.”
What part of the turkey is your favorite?
“The legs.”
Who cooks the turkey?
“My mom and dad.”
Do you ever help?
“I helped on the other Thanksgiving and I might help on this Thanksgiving. I help with cooking the turkey and frying up the vegetables and putting the fruit up and setting the table.”
How does the turkey get cooked?
“We put it in our oven, and then we put it on for 10 minutes, and then we take it out when it beeps, and then we can eat it.”
Who first celebrated Thanksgiving?
“The people in Mexico.”
Why do you think we eat turkey on Thanksgiving?
“Because we celebrate. Because we thank God for what we are thankful for.”
What are you thankful for?
“My cats and my family and my toys.”
What are your cats’ names?
“Odie and Rupert. And I have one dog and his name is James Franco. And he’s a bull terrier and he looks like the dog from Target.”
What does he eat on Thanksgiving?
“Some of our family gives him a little bit of turkey and bacon, and then he eats his normal food.”
How many people come to your house for Thanksgiving?
“Like, 10. Actually, eight. I mean, 20.”
Charlie Walsh, 5
What is your favorite part of Thanksgiving?
“Eating turkey.”
Which part of the turkey do you eat?
“Not the head or the legs.”
How do you eat the turkey?
“I kind of stab it and then eat it.”
What else do you eat on Thanksgiving?
“Corn and maybe mashed potatoes and gravy.”
After turkey what is your favorite thing to eat?
“The corn. I usually eat it with a spoon. I scoop it up.”
What is your least favorite thing to eat on Thanksgiving?
“Let’s see. Maybe the gravy?”
Why gravy?
“Because mashed potatoes and the gravy that’s together, it tastes, like, kind of weird.”
Like what?
“I have no idea.”
What part of the turkey do you like to eat?
“Usually the body.”
Do you ever eat the turkey leg?
“No, or the head. Blech.”
How do you think turkeys play with their friends?
“I think they peck at each other.”
Who cooks the turkey on Thanksgiving?
“My mom.”
Do you help with the cooking?
“No. But I do help, not with the turkey, but I do help make the corn.”
Do you like to eat all that food on Thanksgiving?
“I like to eat so much, but it kind of gives me a tummy ache.”
What are you most thankful for?
“God.”
Do you know the story of the first Thanksgiving?
“I did watch a video about it, but it was kind of hard to remember because I can’t really remember stuff. It was a cool one.”
Kindergartner Caleb Winters, 6, at Kellogg Marsh Elementary talks about Thanksgiving. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Niko Snyder, 5
What do you like about Thanksgiving?
“The turkey.”
Do you help to cook the turkey?
“Sometimes. Like, I help stuff the stuff, like put the food in it.”
What do you put in it?
“Sometimes apples and lettuce.”
Do you think turkeys fly?
“They don’t fly.”
How do you know that?
“They have really small wings and with big wings they could fly so more air could catch.”
What do you think turkeys do when they play with each other?
“They peck on you, I think.”
Do you think they can run fast?
“Mhm, so nobody can catch them.”
How do you think people catch them to bring to the store?
“Maybe they use a trap. Like a net.”
What is your favorite thing to eat on Thanksgiving?
“The apples.”
What is your least favorite thing to eat on Thanksgiving?
“The lettuce. My mom eats the lettuce sometimes because she likes lettuce.”
Why do you think we have to give thanks?
“Because on Thanksgiving you got to show that you love everybody.”
Where do you think the turkeys come from?
“A turkey barn.”
Where is it?
“I think really far away because I haven’t been to one.”
Do you eat turkey any other time during the year?
“Um, I’ll have to ask my mom that because we only do that on Thanksgiving.”
Stephanie Davey: 425-339-3192; sdavey@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @stephrdavey.
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