In conjunction with their Thanksgiving unit, Moriah kindergartenders learned the true meaning of the word “pilgrim.” Through much thought and discussion, they came up with their own definition of a pilgrim: a pilgrim is someone who leaves their home, wants to have a free life, goes to a new land, leaves everything behind and has to start their lives all over again and learn many new things.

After this discussion we realized that many of us have “pilgrims” in their families—modern day pilgrims! The class read a wonderful book titled, “Molly’s Pilgrim,” by Barbara Cohen, to help them understand the concept of a modern day pilgrim. The book describes a young girl and her family who leave Russia for America to find religious freedom.

Each child went home and discovered their family’s own modern day pilgrim stories. Many of the children brought in pictures of their pilgrims and the stories of how their family members came to America to find religious freedom. Just like the pilgrims in the Thanksgiving story and from “Molly’s Pilgrim,” it takes all kinds of pilgrims to make a Thanksgiving!