9/11 Tribute

I was just incredibly humbled by the day we had on  Thursday. My students were able to experience 9/11 through first hand accounts of that day from real life victims/survivors/people with the help of many friends and family. It was an amazing experience to say the least. We asked each person we interviewed these questions:
1) Where were you when the world stopped turning?
2) How did you hear of the tragic event?
3) What was September 12th, 2001 like for you in NYC?
4) How has your life changed since the tragedy?
5) Is there anything else you would like to leave us with as living history of the national tragedy?

My kids were engaged and enthralled with all of the diverse experiences of the event. If I could sum up this day in one word it would be "eye-opening."


Check out this video on YouTube: Interviewing 9/11 Living History

Check out this video on YouTube: Interview 1
Check out this video on YouTube: Interview 2
Check out this video on YouTube: Interview 3

 A singer songwriter singing a song about "Never Forgetting." Amazing.

 Mrs. Sasser talking to us about her first year as a teacher, and how she handled the situation with her students.

And on September 12th, they were able to connect with one more elementary school thanks to the Mrs. Berbert! It was amazing to hear of the teacher who was married to a firefighter at the time of the attack. The authenticity of this Skype session was unforgettable. Loved this day, and loved this experience! Again- we are truly appreciative of all of these people taking time for us, and making this event more "real."

9/11 Day in the life of a 2nd grader

Hello! Well yesterday (9/11) was a somber day, but it is always enlightening to teach such sweet innocent students about the events, because somehow they can still see the good in a bad situation. We focused on hope, courage, and heroes. We made a chart on heroes, after doing multiple read alouds about 9/11, for students. Some of the answers of who their heroes were, were beyond precious..."My papa is my hero because he protects me from snakes!" Love their little minds! After that, my brother came to volunteer his time with us, and we donated all but five minutes of our recess time to do a good act in honor of 9/11...and we picked up trash all around the school. I even had some students that didn't want to play for the last five minutes of recess, instead they continued to pick up trash. WOW.  (Don't worry, we washed our hands thoroughly after!) Then, we came back inside and we decided that we were going to build the towers back up with hope, and ideas of how we can be an everyday hero. It turned out beautiful. Thank you for all you do, and thank you for sending your sweet child into school ready to learn. each and everyday.

A sweet student of mine from last year, who brought me in a beautiful rose!

In Honor of 9-11

Well, to tell a bunch of students, who were not even born yet, all about 9-11, was quite challenging. They were sad, yet very curious.Their innocence about the topic was almost refreshing. I sensitively read different picture books about the day, and then we talked about feelings, and how it might have been very scary for 1^st graders in NYC. We also talked about how fortunate we are to live in America, where we are free. It was a very intriguing day for the students, learning about that day, and why we call it Patriot Day.

I had one student tell me with such pride, “my Mommy and Daddy, they were both Marines and they fought for our country!” That made me so happy to see her so proud of her parents, and their very brave and courageous dedication to our Armed Forces.

My Favorite Book about 9-11 that 1st grade students wrote about the day after 9-11:

We also made a chart displaying our feelings about 9/11 to hang in the hallway:

 

Grand Ole Flag

We made flags, with a poem, which we will send home after they are displayed in the hall for a little while!

Hallway of Heroes

We also talked about HEROES in our community, and how HEROES played a big part on that horrible day. I asked the students to think about HEROES in their life, and then we will illustrate/write about our personal HEROES and display them in the hallway.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!