Students Celebrate Holiday With A Creative Twist

By Larissa Lytwyn

A cornucopia of cupcakes, popcorn, and fresh fruit were enjoyed in many Newtown elementary school classrooms this year in honor of the recent Thanksgiving holiday.

But at Sandy Hook School, edible teepees painted with Lakota symbols, cornbread, mixed nuts, and cranberry juice added a particularly creative verve to the feasting.

“We’ve been holding Thanksgiving parties with the edible teepees and everything for about four years now,” said first grade teacher Kristen Delgado. “It’s a great way of getting creative with the students, as well as having them learn more about the [Thanksgiving] holiday.”

Ms Delgado’s students made their teepees, made of flour tortillas wrapped into a cone shape and held together with peanut butter, with the aid of third grade peers in Courtney Martin’s class.

“It’s wonderful to have the students helping each other,” said Ms Martin. “The third graders really like helping the younger students.”

After students secured their tortilla teepee with a generous dab of peanut butter, they topped them with a piece of pretzel and painted Lakota symbols on them using food coloring.

A circle with two sharp lines symbolizing horns represented a bull; other symbols included representations of rivers, mountains, rain, snow, sun, clouds, trails, fish, pony tracks, and deer hoof prints.

“I can decide whether I want to take my teepee home or eat it now!” laughed third grader Shaina Evanko after she finished making her teepee.

“I’m going to take mine home,” her first grade partner, Lauren Beier, said decisively.

Both girls said they loved the experience of making their teepees.

“It was nice to work together,” said Shaina. “I never knew you could make teepees like this before!”

In the weeks prior to Thanksgiving, both Ms Delgado and Ms Martin said they’d given their students introductory lessons to the holiday’s fabled history involving the pilgrims and the Native Americans.

“This [feast] is a great way to bring it all together,” said Ms Martin.

Parent volunteers provided the cutlery and food for the event, which Ms Delgado and Ms Martin both described as a totally “enjoyable” success.