November 2023

I’m stuffed When a person says, “I’m stuffed” it means they are full and don’t want to eat anymore. Examples: After eating a big Thanksgiving dinner, everyone is stuffed. So, we wait for 1-2 hours to have dessert. After eating Thanksgiving dinner, everyone is stuffed. So, we go window shopping to walk around and feel less stuffed.   Extra info.: A teddy bear is a stuffed animal. She is stuffing everything into her suitcase.   Eat like a bird When a person eats like a bird, they eat very little. Examples: Mike is a big guy, but he eats like a bird. Often, elderly people eat like a bird.   To go cold turkey When a person goes cold turkey, that means they quit a bad habit and suffer from the beginning. This is often used to talk about people who stop smoking cigarettes or using drugs. Examples: He tried to quit smoking cold turkey, but he couldn’t do it. She successfully quit smoking by going cold turkey but it was very tough. Some people try to stop vaping by going cold turkey.   Count your blessings To count your blessings means to be grateful for the good things in your life. Examples: This Thanksgiving we should count our blessings. Count your blessings because there are many people that don’t have what we have.  

Before we talk about Thanksgiving, let’s look at the history of the first people in the U.S. and this will lead to understanding Thanksgiving. The First People in the U.S. The first people to inhabit (live in) the land that is now the United States of America were American Indians/Native Americans/First Peoples. The Native American Indians first came to the land of the U.S. thousands of years ago. In 1492, Christopher Columbus accidentally sailed to the Americas. Columbus was an Italian explorer. He was trying to find the western route or direction from Spain to India. Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached the Americas. In 1560, a Spanish colony (group of people who lived in a new place) was founded (established) in Florida; people from Spain settled (lived) in Florida. In 1607, an English colony was founded in Jamestown, Virginia. In 1620, a group of about 100 people from England, landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The group of people was called the Pilgrims, and their boat was called the Mayflower. They were planning to go to Virginia but landed in Massachusetts. The Pilgrims were fleeing (escaping) religious persecution. Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a U.S. holiday that celebrates and remembers the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. The Pilgrims were a group of about 100 people that left England because of religious persecution. The Pilgrims sailed to the New World (United States of America) in their boat called the Mayflower. They planned to go to Virginia, but they went off course and landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. The Pilgrims were starving and did not know how to grow food in the new land. A group of Native American Indians called the Wampanoag Indians taught the Pilgrims how to grow food. In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims held (had) a three-day feast…