When St. Nicholas Comes

TEACHER: Today is the fifth of December and tomorrow, all over our country, children will be celebrating St. Nicholas Day. We are lucky to have a real American boy with us, who has crossed the ocean to Holland from America!

CHILDREN (whispering and craning their necks): A boy from America!

TEACHER: Who can show me America on the map?

TEACHER: Nans!

AMERICAN BOY: Ho! Ho! That's not where I live. I live in the United States—here! (He points to the town where your school is.)

NANS: Oh-h! But you're called Americans.

AMERICAN BOY: Well, you live in Holland and you're called Dutch!

NANS: We-e-ll! But didn't you have a civil war between North America and South America?

AMERICAN BOY: Ho! Ho! That's funny! Our civil war was between the North of the United States and the South of the United States.

NANS: Oh-h your American history is so mixed up.

TEACHER: Would any children like to ask our visitor about his country? (Many children wave their hands.)

TEACHER: Hans!

HANS: Well, I want to know if there are cowboys in your town, and if they shoot people and chase each other through the water like the American movies?

AMERICAN BOY: No! Of course not!

HILDA: Please tell me, do your black people talk a different language from you, and do all the women wear red bandanna handkerchiefs?

AMERICAN BOY: No! They dress and talk like everybody else.

JAN: Is it true you have houses twenty stories high, that scrape the clouds?

AMERICAN BOY: Twenty! Why, some sky-scrapers have sixty-four stories.

HANS: Oo-h! And do you have to carry your wood and water and coal all the way to the top? (Everybody laughs and HANS hides his SUSAN: Is your father a millionaire?

AMERICAN BOY: No, indeed!

SUSAN: Why, I thought all Americans were millionaires. Well, can your mother cook?

AMERICAN BOY: Sure she can! Um-m, you ought to taste her lemon pie and—

SUSAN: Why, I thought all American ladies were rich and lazy!

TEACHER: Suppose we let our visitor tell us what he thought Holland was like, before he came here and learned our language and our ways.

AMERICAN BOY: We-ell, I thought—I thought you were all fat and had yellow hair.

CHILDREN: Fat! Yellow hair!

AMERICAN BOY: And that you always wore big bloomers or full skirts and wooden shoes, even indoors and to church.And I didn't know that you had regular cities like Amsterdam, with department stores and hotels and ladies dressed up and business offices and newspapers. I thought you were all poor and lived on dikes, and ate only black bread and cheese.

CHILDREN: Only black bread and cheese!

AMERICAN BOY: And I didn't know the girls jumped rope or the boys played marbles and catchers like us. And I never even heard of St. Nicholas Day!

CHILDREN: Never even heard of St. Nicholas Day!

TEACHER: Hilda, suppose you tell our American friend about St. Nicholas.

HILDA: St. Nicholas was a good saint, and once he saved two boys whose uncle had pickled them in a tub. And he knows everything children do, and every sixth of December, his day, he comes and leaves toys and sweets for good children, and switches for bad children.

TEACHER: I think perhaps St. Nicholas is coming here today, Jan and Hans, spread the cloth.

CHILDREN: St. Nicholas is coming! St. Nicholas!

AMERICAN BOY: Aw! I wouldn't believe such baby stuff. I bet he can't tell anything about me. I bet—

CHILDREN: Come, St. Nicholas! Come!

ST. NICHOLAS: What about that slice of lemon pie you stole from your mother's pantry?

(The AMERICAN BOY opens his mouth in fright and sits on the floor behind the teacher's desk, with only his feet sticking out.)

ST. NICHOLAS: And you promised a letter a week to your grandmother. How often did you write?

(The AMERICAN BOY wiggles a foot): Only once!

ST. NICHOLAS:(throwing him the bundle of switches):Here!
But you have done a few good deeds as well.You spent your allowance for a toy windmill to send to your best friend in America. You have run errands cheerfully for your mother. Here! ST. NICHOLAS : Hans! You have not studied your geography lesson. But you take good care of your little sister and wash dishes and make beds. Here, Hans 

(he gives him some switches and a package, and then he tells all the children their faults, giving each switches and a package.)

The class then sings another song, and ST. NICHOLAS suddenly throws a shower of nuts, candies and fruits on the sheet, and slips out as the children are scrambling. gives him some switches and a package, and then he tells all the children their faults, giving each switches and a package.)

Thanksgiving Day Play
Characters:
Pilgrim Boy 1: ___________________
Pilgrim Girl 1: ___________________
Pilgrim Boy 2: ___________________
Pilgrim Girl 2: ___________________
Wampanoag Girl: ___________________
Wampanoag Boy: ___________________
The Mayflower: ___________________
Samoset: ___________________
Forest of Trees: ___________________
Squanto: ___________________
Chief Massasoit: ___________________
Narrator One: ___________________
Narrator Two: ___________________
Wild Turkey: ___________________

Play Script
Mayflower: Stand away and wave back and forth.
Wampanoag Boy: (standing behind the forest trees) Look! Over there! A boat is coming to Massachusetts!
(points to Mayflower)
Wampanoag Girl: (standing behind the forest trees) I wonder who those people are.
Wampanoag Boy: Let's tell Chief Massasoit.
Pilgrim Girl 2: (standing behind the Mayflower) Is the boat ever going to land?
Pilgrim Boy 2: (standing behind the Mayflower) Soon! We can see land! Look, it looks like trees and
people are there, too!
The Mayflower: After rocking and rolling on the sea, I'm thankful we are finally here.
Narrator 1: The Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts where the Wampanoag people were living.
The Wampanoag people were kind and helpful to them.

Narrator 2: Squanto and the Wampanoag people had grown corn they could share with the Pilgrims. They knew how to find wild turkeys, and other food too.
Samoset: I am thankful for wild turkeys that live in Massachusetts.
Wild Turkey: Gobble, gobble.
Squanto: I am thankful for the corn that grew tall and green.
Wampanoag Boy 1: Me too, and I am thankful I could help hunt.
Wampanoag Girl 1: I am thankful I can help cook the food.
Narrator 1: The Pilgrims were thankful they stayed safe on their trip from England.
Narrator 2: They were thankful the Wampanoag people helped them learn to find food in a new land.
Pilgrim Girl 1: I am thankful for the cranberries in the new land.

Pilgrim Boy 1: I am thankful for the forests full of trees.
Pilgrim Girl 2: I am thankful we can make houses with the trees here.
Pilgrim Boy 2: I am thankful I can help make houses to live in.
Forest of Trees: I am thankful I can provide wood for homes to keep people warm.
Narrator 1: In the fall, the food was done growing and it was harvest time.
Narrator 2: The Pilgrims from England and the Wampanoag from Massachusetts shared a meal they called Thanksgiving.
Squanto: Pilgrims, you will find out corn is good to eat.
Samoset: You will also find out Turkeys are good to eat.
Turkey: Gobble? Gobble? Gulp!

Chief Massasoit: I am thankful we can share this harvest.
Narrator 1: That was the first Thanksgiving. It is a story we will never forget.
Narrator 2: Thanksgiving is something we celebrate each year.
Narrator 2: On Thanksgiving, we don't go to school or work.
Narrator 2: We celebrate and are thankful. Many people still eat turkey, corn bread, and cranberries.
All: We are thankful for family, friends and neighbors to share our feast.