The Norman Transcript

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November 25, 2009

Pumpkin Shell students prepare feast, give thanks

By Aaron Wright

Hannah Beasley is thankful for her dog. Zoe Walker is thankful for her brother, and Neeraja Sankrit is thankful for her entire family.

These children, among the students at the Pumpkin Shell School in Norman, have spent the last two weeks learning about the first Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving unit focused on the struggles the settlers faced in both their journey and in developing the land. Sherri Robinson, school owner, also emphasized to her students the aspects of their own lives for which they can be thankful.

"What we concentrate on more than anything is letting them know how fortunate they are," Robinson said.

The Thanksgiving teachings culminated Monday and Tuesday with Thanksgiving meals, which everyone helped prepare.

"We like for them to cook their own Thanksgiving feast," Robinson said. The 2- to 5-year-olds cut celery, helped bake gingerbread and buttered and seasoned chicken legs.

This meal and its preparation has been a tradition at the school for more than 20 years. It's a time all the students look forward to and remember for years after, Robinson said. The memories stick with the teachers as well.

Barbara Shaefer, who owned Pumpkin Shell until three years ago when she retired, reminisced about a time 10 years ago when the electricity shut off during meal preparations. Shaefer said it was one of those horrid days with freezing temperatures and harsh wind. She happened to have all dads there helping her that year. When the lights shut off, she said she looked at the group of dads and said, "You men are the ones who are supposed to know how to fix this."

One dad took the initiative and found a power source outside that was still live. He gathered all the extension cords in the school and linked them together to conduct the electricity back into the kitchen.

"We got everything working with that one extension cord," Shaefer said. "It's a wonder we didn't burn the place down."

The dad who rigged the cords, in fact, warned Shaefer that the school could be in danger of catching on fire. She said they would just have to take the risk; the dinner was that important.

Shaefer said that although Thanksgiving has been celebrated since she bought the school, there have been some changes in the celebration. Most of the changes stemmed from learning about how children handle the kitchen.

For instance, after enduring years of disheveled desserts and burned pies, Shaefer decided to make switch things up.

"We used to make pies ... we learned that it was smarter to make gingerbread," she said.

As the students learned about the shared life of the early pilgrims, they themselves had the opportunity to share food with others in the community.

As part of the unit, Robinson had the students make a list of all the food they would want in a Thanksgiving dinner. From that list, the students visited a store and purchased pumpkin pie, dressing, whipped cream, turkey, potatoes and other Thanksgiving staples.

The children then helped deliver these items to three families who needed help filling their table this holiday.

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