Weird Thanksgiving Facts

For our second round of the Week in Rap Shout-Out Contest, we asked you to send us an interesting, true fact about Thanksgiving, and to include your source. Your responses were entertaining, surprising, and even made us a little hungry for more Thanksgiving leftovers. We received some really great submissions from schools across the country, but only one could win the shout-out. Watch the video here.

And the winner is…

Highland Creek Elementary School, North Carolina:

Turkeys change color did you know,
So does the octopus really (whoa!).
Red, white, pink, blue, or gray,
According to emotions (hey!).

It wasn’t a requirement to make your Thanksgiving fact rhyme, but we appreciated the extra effort. The winning entry also supplied a credible source (The Huffington Post) that had an expert author listed. These are important factors when determining whether a website is a legitimate source.

We were surprised by a few other facts, and they are our runners up this week.

Mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies, popcorn, milk, corn on the cob, and cranberries were not foods present on the first Thanksgiving’s feast table.
– Bannockburn School, IL
Source: Plimoth Plantation

Turkeys can run at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour and fly as fast as 55 miles per hour.
– Isaac Fox Elementary, IL
Source: Smithsonian Magazine

Thanks to all our participants! Stay tuned to our contest page for the next Week in Rap Shout-Out challenge! We can’t wait to see your work.