ANDREA RUNNELS
Quick History of Veterans’ Day
Before I share some really easy ideas for Veterans Day’, let me give you a quick origin of the holiday as a recap. In my opinion every day should be Veterans’ Day, but the official holiday is always technically November 11th. That is because the holiday originated as Armistice Day. The armistice, or end to fighting, for World War I was at 11:00 a.m. on November 11th, 1918. A year later a ceremony was held to commemorate the anniversary of the armistice. As time went on, it was necessary to celebrate veterans of other wars so the name of the day was officially changed along with it becoming a national holiday. My description is definitely making a long story short and not intended just to hit main ideas.
Easy Ideas to Honor Veterans Year-Round
- One of my go-to easy Veterans Day activities is to integrate literacy by using reading passages from sites like ReadWorks or Eyewitness to History. Lots of times I would have kids go back and glue the passages in their Interactive Notebooks after I graded the questions. If you would like to know more about how I used “INB’s” in my classroom check out this post: Interactive Notebooks in Social Studies If you haven’t checked out ReadWorks.org, sign up immediately after reading this! It is free and a gold mine for Social Studies and Science content at a wide range of lexile levels. Here is a link to a jackpot of passages: Read Works Veterans Day Passages. Eyewitness to History gives first-hand accounts of historical events. Here is an article specifically about the end of WWI. Armistice Day
- This is a very powerful Veterans’ Day Tribute video that I used frequently in the classroom. You could have students respond by writing as they watch or using Windows Notes, which is another bonus included with the Picture Dictionary you will read about below. Here are tons of tributes on YouTube and I have several others here: Veterans’ Day Pinterest Board
- I have a collection of over 23 Social Studies Vocabulary Picture Dictionaries, which serve as unique study guides and also help modify content for English Language Learners, in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. My Veterans’ Day Picture Dictionary comes with a picture bank, vocabulary puzzle, and several bonuses. Included with the Picture Dictionary is a list of songs about life as a soldier. Make sure you listen to each song completely to make sure the lyrics are appropriate. You can easily find all of these on iTunes or probably for free on YouTube. I often used songs as lesson hooks. I would have kids listen to a whole song or just parts of a song and do a quick write or add to the Windows Notes I included. You could also have kids use lyrics as a close reading passage. If you need lyrics check out sites like lyrics.com.
- If all else fails, you can’t go wrong by writing a letter to a soldier or to veterans on Veterans’ Day. All this activity involves is a piece of paper. Your local VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) chapter http://www.vfw.org/ or American Legion is a great resource. I didn’t even include ideas for Buddy Poppies and Flanders Field. The VFW often has volunteers pass out poppies on Veterans’ Day. There are certain procedures for mailing letters to deployed soldiers so make sure you research that before having kids write letters. If you need guidance this 9/11 site is great!! https://911day.org/volunteer A local radio station in Atlanta also has a huge letter collection drive. You can learn more about that here: http://thebertshow.com/bigthankyou/
- Another go-to assignment that is no prep and easy for any patriotic holiday is having kids write about why they are glad to live in America (including the freedoms we have thanks to our Armed Forces) and draw a picture. It makes a great hallway display and a SS and Writing grade if needed;)!! Work smarter not harder and get that literacy and SS done at the same time! I would venture to guess that no matter what age students you teach that reviewing proper letter format would be something your kiddos would benefit from.
I hope this list of easy ideas for Veterans Day’ sparks some ideas for you! I would love to hear more about how you honor Veterans’ Day in your classroom! And if you haven’t joined my Facebook group Social Studies Salute, please do! It’s a place collaboration and community for anyone who teachers Social Studies!
