EVERETT — Kindergarteners at Stevens Creek Elementary School may not be certain what happened at the first Thanksgiving, but they do know which foods they want, and don’t want, to see on their table this holiday.
Amid the paper forest taped to the hallway walls of the Lake Stevens school, one might spot a cartoon turkey. For Kelsi Fiske’s class, Thanksgiving came early as students got cozy around the fire — well, a video projection of a fire — after their class feast on Nov. 20.
Complete with turkey hats of their own creation, 10 kindergarteners sat down with The Daily Herald to talk about what the holiday means to them and how to cook a turkey.
What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
Halle, 5: “Eating Turkey.”
Mason, 5: “It means my family and my cousin.”
Rowen, 5: “It means about hanging about hanging out with your friends and cousins and family and eating lots of yummy stuff.”
Rogue, 5: “It means about loving stuff, like your mom and dad.”
Lucas, 5: “It means cooking turkey and means cooking more turkeys than ever.”
Stevens Creek kindergartener Hayden Landis, 5, left, points to his hat and Reyah Farb, 5, smiles when they are asked what a turkey looks like on Nov. 20, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?
Halle, 5 (in a scary voice): “Turkey!”
Mason, 5 (in a scary voice): “Turkey!”
Rowen, 5: “Turkey.”
Chase, 6: “Pumpkin pie.”
Emmy, 5: “The rolls.”
Addie, 5: “Pumpkin Pie.”
Hayden, 5: “Turkey.”
Reyah, 5: “It’s like fruit.”
Rogue, 5: “Turkey.”
Lucas, 5: “Turkey.”
Stevens Creek kindergarteners Rowen Holme, 5, left, and Chase McMail, 6, answer how much food they eat on Thanksgiving on Nov. 20, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
What is the grossest Thanksgiving food?
Mason, 5: “Probably like the broccoli soup. I just like broccoli.”
Rowen, 5: “Sparkling water … I tried it, and it made me throw up.”
Emmy, 5: “Turkey.”
Addie, 5: “Turkey.”
Reyah, 5: “I don’t usually like turkey or pumpkin pie.”
Hayden, 5: “Pumpkin pie.”
Rogue, 5: “Fish.”
Lucas, 5: “like, a pie with pumpkin pie … I don’t like, I like pumpkin pie.”
Stevens Creek kindergarteners Mason Freeman, 5, and Halle Reintegrado, 5, talk about what they think the grossest Thanksgiving foods are on Nov. 20, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
How much do you eat on Thanksgiving?
Mason, 5: “I eat like 10 and 10.”
Halle, 5: “Four and 10.”
Rowen, 5: “Like 500, I’m kidding … um, like, one. I eat a whole entire turkey, and I eat fried chicken, like, a whole, like, like a whole chunk of chicken. I just rub the skin off because I like the skin.”
Chase, 6: “Probably … I like fried chicken too.”
Emmy, 5: “A little bit of food.”
Reyah, 5: “So much.”
Hayden, 5: “Medium-sized.”
Rogue, 5: “Like 20 million.”
Lucas, 5: “I eat two foods.”
Do you help cook?
Mason, 5: “I know how to cook soup.”
Halle, 5: “I know how to cook turkey.”
Rowen, 5: “Yeah … turkey. I fried a turkey. My dad literally lets me put on oven mitts and put it in the oven.”
Chase, 6: “Yeah … probably when we make homemade pumpkin pie.”
Reyah, 5: “I don’t cook with my mom.”
Hayden, 5: “Mom never let me cook with her.”
Lucas, 5: “Yep, because I helped my sister.”
Stevens Creek kindergarteners Emmy Taylor, 5, left, and Addie Swanson, 5, right, talk about the first Thanksgiving on Nov. 20, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
How do you cook a turkey?
Mason, 5: “So, first you need to catch a turkey, and then you need to get it with a knife, but then you like scale it’s like feathers off, then I peel off the skin, and then put it in the oven and cook it, and then just wait a little while, then put some seasoning on it and you’re done.”
Rowen, 5: “Put it in a pan. I’m just kidding, you put it in an oven. One time, one time I actually grabbed a beetle bare hand.”
Reyah, 5: “We put stuff in it after.”
What are you thankful for?
Halle, 5: “My momma!”
Mason, 5: “I’m thankful for my dad, my family and the Army.”
Rowen, 5: “The army.”
Emmy, 5: “My family.”
Chase, 6: “My pets.
Addie, 5: “My family.”
Reyah, 5: “My mom and dad.”
Hayden, 5: “My whole family.”
How are you celebrating Thanksgiving?
Halle, 5: “I’m gonna go to my papa’s house!”
Mason, 5: “I’m gonna live at my cousin’s house. I’m gonna have a sleepover!”
Chase, 6: “Probably with my dad, because he stays up and he goes to work and stays up until midnight.”
Do you know the story of the first Thanksgiving?
Mason, 5: “So it was a long time ago, and like, actually, they didn’t really have, like, turkey in the backs … they also had soup. They had soup.”
Halle, 5: “And they spilled it on their shirt.”
Mason, 5: “No, they eated it.”
Halle, 5: “And then it spilled and burnt on their shirt, and they went ‘Ow!’”
Mason, 5: “And then they went to sleep.”
Rowen, 5 (while pretending to eat a turkey): “Probably just eating turkeys like this.”
Chase, 6: “Everybody just came to eat, and then everybody just laughed.”
Have you ever seen a turkey? What do they look like?
Mason, 5: “It was like, brown that had feathers. It was kind of like a peacock.”
Rowen, 5: “Yeah, we’re wearing turkey hats.”
Emmy, 5: “It kinda looks like a chicken because chickens are like brown.”
Reyah, 5: “It’s got beautiful feathers.”
What would a turkey say if it could speak?
Mason, 5: “It’d be like, ‘Gobble gobble gobble oh no don’t eat me!’ Then just run away.”
Halle, 5: “I live in a house. I want to ride on the back of a big chicken!”
Rowen, 5: “Gobble gobble gobble!”
Chase, 6: “Gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble.”
Reyah, 5: “Hey, look at my beautiful feathers.”
Jenna Millikan: 425-339-3035; jenna.millikan@heraldnet.com. X: @JennaMillikan
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