Libby first grade students perform play

Parents got t chance to see a special performance from their kids on Tuesday before taking them home for Thanksgiving Break.

The Libby Elementary School first graders held a Thanksgiving Play for their parents and teachers. The play was a production about one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations.

For the most part, the students all had an equal part in the play. They were divided into pilgrim men, pilgrim women, Native American men, Native American women and turkeys. As part of the program, the students wore handmade paper head decorations in the shapes of pilgrim hats, Native American headdresses and turkey feathers.

As each part of the play was called out, the children playing that part had a pose they were to assume and a line to call out.

First grade teachers Kyle Hannah, Julie Sagissor, Mary Gier, Kathy Foss and Lacie Farmer organized the play and led the students in their performances.

In addition to the play, the program included a few poems performed by the collective first grade class and jokes told by the presenters.

“What always comes at the end of Thanksgiving?” went one joke.

The answer?

“The letter G.”

The play started at 2 p.m. and lasted a little more than half an hour, with many of the children getting to meet with their parents afterward.

Among the parents who came to see their children perform was Jayson Bell, owner of the Kicking Horse Saloon & Eatery between Libby and Kalispell.

Bell came to see his son Gabriel perform in the play. 

“In the wake of the storm, my wife elected me to drive on in,” said Bell.

Gabriel played one of the pilgrim men.

Gabriel said he liked taking part in the play as a pilgrim, but said that he would have preferred to play a Native American, expressing more approval with the Native Americans’ head decorations.

Gabriel also said he liked how everyone in his class got to participate in the play. 

Jayson said the thing that he loved the most about the program was the family aspect.

“I liked the fact that, when I was coming into the parking lot there wasn’t just one or two people there,” said Jayson. “I don’t know that there was one child whose parents didn’t attend the whole thing. The camaraderie of the city and the people seems to be there.”