Kindergarten students at Warwood Middle School learned about pilgrims, American Indians and counting their blessings during the annual Thanksgiving feast at the school Friday.

Teacher Eleanor White said it was an educational experience for the young students throughout the week as they prepared for the feast.

About 50 students in the three kindergarten classes at the school learned about the first Thanksgiving and how the pilgrims and Native Americans came to sit down for a feast.

The students got to pick whether they would like to be a pilgrim or American Indian and designed a head dress or bonnet to wear for their feast.

White and fellow teachers Chris Doty and Melissa O'Connell also prepared the dishes for the feast while the children watched - and they stressed the importance of knowing how to read in order to read directions and follow recipes.

The children even helped prepare the meal, using plastic knives on Thursday to cut up the celery and bread to be used for the stuffing they would eat on Friday.

White, who lives near the school, prepared the turkey at her home, and the kindergarten sat down in costume to eat their feast that also included corn bread, cranberry salad and pumpkin pie.

"I wish I could take credit for starting this, but this is a tradition at Warwood that started before I came," White said. "I've been here 18 years, and we've always done it.

"Older children come up to me and ask, 'Are you doing the Thanksgiving feast this year?' They always remember."

Assistant Principal Marilu Hutchins told the students she was "a kindergartner, too," since it is also her first year at the school.

She said she was thankful to see the children's smiling faces each morning, and she asked each student in the room for what they were most thankful.

Most said their family, "Daddy" or their brothers, and some were thankful for their best friend who sat next to them.

One students said he was thankful "for Jesus" and another "God."