Ava's Pilgrim Doll

For the month of November, in addition to talking about the pilgrims, the 2nd graders work on their personal ancestry. The classes read the book "Molly's Pilgrim" and they are given a paper doll to characterize a person from a country where their ancestors originated. We are blessed because we have volumes of books with geneology charts, family histories, and personal stories. Ava decided to focus her project on Matilda Pederson Sorenson, her great-great-great-great Grandmother on the Roylance side who was from Denmark. It was fun for Ava to read the family history and call her great-Grandma Roylance to get a personal account. Ava and I had fun looking up pictures of traditional Danish dress and learning about the culture and food.

Then on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, all the kids present their dolls to the class, tell about their family history, and share a food item from that country. It is a real Thanksgiving feast with foods from all over the world - China, India, Japan, Canada, and a variety of European,South American, and African countries. Ava did a great job presenting her doll and telling a few stories about Matilda. The one that particularly amused and disgusted me was about them eating rabbits. Great-Grandma Roylance told Ava that they would cut off the rabbit heads but that the eyes would be open and that the head would bounce around on the ground for a few minutes. Then they would skin and fry the rabbits. I thought Ava would be surprised, if not totally turned-off. But she said, "Well Grandma, maybe you could show me how to cook rabbits sometime because we have lots of them in our backyard." I don't think I would mind a few less rabbits destroying our grass and flowers!

Brian was able to be there for Ava's presentation. It is so great that he works so close to home so that he can step out and be in the classrooms. He also takes an hour every Thursday to volunteer in Ava's class. He is a fabulous dad!

And the three of us - me with my big belly! Jumps-a-lot (Greta's name for the baby) is growing and is healthy!