Remembering 9/11

I am linking up with Erica from Erica Bohrer's First Grade to show you an easy peasy 9/11 activity I did with my little ones.

We started off by watching this clip from brainpop.com. My little ones had tons of questions, so I did the best I could to answer them. A very difficult lesson indeed.

I became a bit choked up as I started to answer their innocent questions (every year, never fails). As they saw my eyes water they became increasingly quiet. Something inside them told them this was serious. And very real.

I didn't want to scare them or get too deep into the topic so I quickly jumped to how cool soldiers are for protecting us from something terrible like this ever happening again. 

And sure enough each one of them started raising their hands saying "My daddy is a solider", "My mommy is a soldier", or "My uncle is in the Army", and "My grandpa was in the war too".

After getting them back on track we practiced singing "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood for our Patriot Day Assembly. We also reviewed some flag facts using this resource. We've been working on shapes & colors so this activity tied in perfectly with our shapes unit. I gave them a rectangle pattern and had them trace and cut it onto gray paper to make the World Trade Center.

The one on the right went a little overboard there :)

We also made these simple flags. The boys used a star while the girls used a heart. I pre- cut the pieces for them and the heart & star came from this unit.

God Bless America. Land of the Free. Home of the Brave.

Remembering the Fallen...

 

I come from a long line of military service, so this special day always touches my heart. My father was in the US Army, my father-in-law was in the US Navy, my brother-in-law also in the US Army, another brother-in-law in the US Air Force, my brother is a former US Marine and the list goes on and on. It breaks my heart that we often take for granted the very things which most deserve our gratitude. My parents' town has lost 9 soldiers so far, a small number in comparison to some I'm sure, but the loss is still a great one. A sweet girl I grew up with lost her husband a week after their first son was born. He never had a chance to meet his baby boy. Ironically, he was set to come home for the delivery but decided to let two other soldiers go home before him. Today her little boy is a bouncy 5 year-old, and the splitting image of his father. 

I've had many students who have had to deal with the deployment of one of their parent's and for those of you who know what I'm talking about, it's not easy. Three years ago, one of my students lost his father in Afghanistan. After that my little boy refused to come to school because his father would walk him to our front door each morning. My heart aches for the precious angels our soldiers leave behind.  

On this day and everyday, I will always be proud to be an American, and I will always remember the huge sacrifices that our brave men and women take each day to protect the very thing we take for granted. 

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave! 

Happy Memorial Day!