Thanksgiving or Thoughts on Gratitude

In today's pool session class 7a elaborated on ways of celebrating Thanksgiving in the course of a cross-curricular project involving English and Religion. Both Mr. Raffetseder and Ms Hametner taught the students cooperatively to present the celebrations from various perspectives – covering Erntedank in Austria, the Jewish festival of Sukkot (Laubhüttenfest) and the American way of celebrating Thanksgiving.

After comparing and contrasting the festivals, we proceeded to an in-depth discussion of gratitude and its significance especially in difficult times. Students had a look at quotes and proverbs first to evaluate various approaches to the concept. In the following, they had to make up their mind on things in life they are grateful for and write them on paper strips. These strips were then turned into pumpkins which will serve as decorations in the classroom. After all the hard work, we seized the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving ourselves by having a delicious English Breakfast/ Brunch for which each student brought along delicacies mostly gathered or made by themselves. What a great day to be thankful for!