Resources for Teaching about 9/11

My daughter came home the other day talking about 9/11, which is something we’ve never really talked about at home, but is of course a big part of recent American history and something kids do need to learn about.

Whether you want to talk to your kids at home or in the classroom about the events of Sept. 11, 2001, there are a lot of great resources to help.

In my daughter’s classroom they were using a Scholastic reader, a Scholastic has a good collection of resources and lesson plans, including book lists, videos and first-person accounts, all organized by grade level.

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum also has 9/11 lesson plans arranged by grade level. The lessons for my daughter’s age (fourth grade) for instance include reading and discussing a book, talking about how kids grieve, important buildings, planning for emergencies, stories of heroes and different ways the event and people lost have been memorialized.

Add a craft by having kids make cards for first responders or make art responding to what they have learned.

It’s a heavy anniversary that holds so many important lessons for our kids. Do you talk about 9/11 with your kids? I’d love to hear what you’ve done in the past.

[Photo: National September 11 Memorial and Museum]

Looking for more Memorial day resources? Check these Memorial Day Books for Kids out.

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Celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]

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