Jefferson Elementary School fifth-graders turned weeks of learning about Native American customs into a “potlatch” festival for Thanksgiving Tuesday. MCKINLEY Elementary School also celebrated Thanksgiving with a hearty feast and other activities, including a visit by Iolan Nancy McEndree, who portrayed Sacajawea, the Shoshone woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark along their famed expedition in across North America in the early 19th century.
The term, a Chinook word meaning “to give away” was part of a feast featuring an assortment of foods found naturally.
The fifth-graders dined on pheasant, dove, venison and trout — all hunted or caught by instructor Karen Price’s father — as well as black walnuts, pecans, gooseberries, blackberries, corn, hominy, cornbread and honey.
Their common thread?
“Everything you see before you is what Native Americans ate,” Price said.
In addition to the feast, the students erected a giant teepee in the middle of Price’s classroom.
The covering was made by “tanned” paper, which had been rubbed down with oil and allowed to harden, wrapped around strategically placed strips of wood supplied by New Klein Lumber.
Price said the students have been learning about Native American history and customs since late October in the run up to Tuesday’s potlatch party.
Students celebrate Thanksgiving
