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

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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Have you read?

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