How I Taught About September 11

This is always a tough day for teachers, and it's getting more strange as the gap between student awareness and our own grows. For a few years now, my students have been post 9/11 babies. They only know what they've heard (and some haven't heard anything). By 5th grade, I think it's important to talk about what happened, even if it's just a little bit, because this had such a HUGE impact on our history and lives today.

Normally (as in the previous eight years I've taught), I read The Man Who Walked Between the Towers to my students.

This is a great option for the faint of heart or younger classes because it's mostly about an exciting event that happened in the 1970s when the towers were being built. I've used it to discuss character traits because it's a biography of a French aerialist who actually tightrope walked between the towers. Very cute story, and it only hints at the towers being gone at the very beginning and end.

I love the story and still may use it. It also has jump-started many great conversations because students will naturally offer some information or questions about the towers. However, this year I decided to go super-serious and hit it hard with a lesson created by Erin (you can find it here - I'm Lovin' Lit). You know I love her stuff and have talked about her before.

Anyway, just a quick overview. Erin included a website to this amazing interactive timeline. Y'all, I had chills when I was checking it out this morning. I literally felt like I was back in high school reliving the day all over again. It has pictures, videos, audio clips, etc.

I printed out Erin's interactive activity for them to follow along, but we were so engrossed in discussion and moving along that we didn't end up filling any of it out. I told them they could take it home to discuss. Here were some interesting points for me:

We had an interesting discovery after the first plane hit the tower when I asked what the people were probably thinking. One boy said they would have thought someone took over the plane and ran it into the building. The other teachers and I had to explain that before September 11, the word "terrorist" wasn't even in our vocabulary. We weren't afraid of things like this and just thought it was an accident until the second plane crashed. It's amazing how perspectives have changed from generation to generation. Although we did agree that if this happened now, we would probably think differently.

The shoes were great for a quick inference practice. I showed each picture and had students discuss what they noticed and what they thought that person had been through. Then I shared what the sidebar said about each survivor.

As I was, they loved the story of Flight 93! It was neat to hear them realize these people were heroes without being told.

This video is what really got me. I was able to show it because the sound wasn't working on our Promethean board, but it does have some language. The yelling...it catches the terror people felt perfectly, but you WILL have chills.

The kids were so engrossed in this lesson that they didn't even realize it was time for recess. I had them completely captivated with many questions we didn't even get to address for an entire hour and 15 minutes. We didn't write anything. We didn't even have a "formal" lesson plan. But I think it was great for awareness, questioning, and discussion.

It was probably one of the hardest lessons I've ever taught, but I think I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Testing, testing...

I feel like I've been pretty MIA for the most part, but there hasn't been much to say. We're most of the way through testing, but there's one more week to go. Reading SOLs are over, and I'm nervous about the outcomes. They definitely increased the rigor this year! I'm just hoping our school did enough to not be under review. I hate to think of it that way, but I know our math dropped significantly last year after they increased the rigor, and it's just scary! I know most of my kiddos did their best, though, and that's all I can ask.

After this week's testing (math), I will start helping with final running records for the year. I love being able to see how far my kids have progressed! Of course, I've been doing them throughout the year for mine since they were already behind. But I haven't done many since March, so it will be nice to see where they end up.

Also, if you haven't already gone to TN and donated a minimum of $20 to help Moore, OK, I HIGHLY recommend it! I donated this morning, and there are over 500 products that came with the bundle! You have until May 28 to participate. And don't forget: 100% of the proceeds go toward helping Moore, OK. The products you are receiving have been donated by over 300 different sellers. It may take me all summer to go through the amazing items! Good thing I don't have to download and sort through every single one that way. My computer wouldn't have enough storage!

I'm Helping

Guys, I have been struggling with this whole Moore, Oklahoma story. I mean, anytime I hear about how a tornado (or any disaster) destroys an area, it touches me. But this one has gotten to me more than any other. When I heard about the school and those children, I just cried. And it didn't help that my little man is away from me at the beach all week. So I couldn't hold him tight like I wanted (and like I did after Sandy Hook).

I chose to donate a product along with MANY other sellers on TN. There's already almost $1500 worth of products that have been donated. If you donate, you will receive my Magic Tree House - Twister on Tuesday pack (along with a ton of other great stuff). I debated whether it would be appropriate to donate this, but I know that I would want to make my students more aware of tornadoes because you know that's what is on their minds right now. I hope you will donate!

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

Silence for Sandy Hook

I felt like it was appropriate to make another quick post. As most (if not all) of you know, there was a huge tragedy this morning in Newtown, CT in a school not very unlike mine. Almost 30 (I've seen different numbers) people, mostly students were killed at an elementary school. I cannot even begin to wrap my brain around it. I hear of things like this happening in high schools, colleges, and even middle schools. But what makes a person come into a kindergarten class and open fire?

We always think that everything is safe and fine in our "little kid" worlds, and I was among those who believed it. But today has shaken that belief to the core. Just yesterday I sat in a dark room with 3rd graders doing our annual intruder drill, not really concerned about it ever actually happening. But Sandy Hook was a quiet, small town school, too.

A large number of bloggers are coming together on Sunday, December 16 to post only this picture along with the title "Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary". Please join us to remember those sweet angel children and staff who died in this senseless act. And lets remember to cherish the time we have with each and every one of our students and coworkers. We really never do know when it will be our last time. I feel like that's something that keeps popping up in my world recently.

I love you all, even though I've never actually met any of you. I felt like that needed to be said. You really do mean so much to me in this strange little blogging world, and I consider you all my friends.