Last month Doncaster Stories celebrated Thanksgiving with four local primary schools - Balby Central, Crookesbroom Academy, New Pastures and St Peter’s Catholic primary school.
Children enjoyed virtual workshops led by our very own Phil Sheppard all about the Mayflower and its links to Doncaster. The village of Scrooby, about nine miles north of Doncaster, is the birthplace of one of the leading Mayflower pilgrims, William Brewster, and many of the children have been using our Love Reading resources to learn about the Mayflower in recent weeks.
During the event, Phil used his book Discover Mayflower as a way to explore the history of Thanksgiving and imperialism in a child-friendly way. We also led a draw-along for children to create their very own Mayflower drawings and we explored using poetry as a way to give thanks.
Children wrote rhyming couplets to acknowledge everyone from school caretakers, to family members, to NHS staff and we compiled them all into one big poem. The poem has inspired 12 days of Doncaster Christmas on social media which features illustrated versions of the children’s poetry to help spread some festive cheer at the end of a tumultuous year.
“Our Love Reading events are always a brilliant way to showcase children’s creativity and this time around it was extra special because it was all about being thankful to anyone and everyone who has helped us through the year. I’ve really enjoyed creating the accompanying illustrations and I hope everyone else likes them too!”
Phil Sheppard