September 11th

There is a book entitled "September 12th: We Knew Everything Would Be All Right" by Masterson Elementary Students. It was made by a group of students. It is short and tells how they may have been scared, but knew that things would be better. It can be very scary for them, these kids were only 1-2 years old. I feel that we have to address it in some way, I live in NJ and it is really close to home. But maybe making flags and decorating the hallways, singing God Bless America, and reading a short story.

God Bless America, our troops and all the families that lost a loved one from the terrible terrorists that attacked our country.

There's a really wonderfully written book about the twin towers titled "The Man Who Walked Between The Towers" by Mordicai Gerstein that does an amazing job with perspective. It's based on a true story about a man who actually strung up a wire and walked between the towers. It touches on the towers no longer being there but doesn't dwell on it and I think it's an amazingly written and illustrated book. I also don't think it's too baby-ish for fourth grade.

Last year I taught my kids the words to God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood. Then we looked for magazine pictures to match the words of the song, which we then made into a booklet. After this, they drew their own pictures to go along with the words, making their own individual booklets.

I chose pictures from each student and cut and pasted a class book that included something from everyone. I made transparencies of this booklet and the magazine book and used it as a "slide" show for the parents and grandparents at a Veterans' Day/Thanksgiving program that I do in November. The kids sing the song while their pictures are shown on the screen. Needless to say, the families are very touched, hearing their sweet voices singing that beautiful song and seeing their precious drawings on the screen. (Even some of the dads were in tears.) It's quite an involved project, but I feel very well worth it.

Before we get too caught up in units or activities to commemorate Sept. 11, I think we as educators need to really ask ourselves why we would be doing the activities we might do in our classroom. It is important for adults and for those children directly impacted by 911 to commemorate the day. Many children watched way too much of this on TV last year and were traumatized by it then. Spending too much time on it now may just bring up a lot of this anxiety and fear--and for what reason? We need to make sure that we are not doing these types of activities more for ourselves than for the benefit of the kids. In fact, isn't that what Bin Laden would want is to traumatize a new generation of children?????? Just some thoughts.

Our school is keeping it very low key. We plan to all wear red, white, and blue and take an extra long moment of silence, maybe some patriotic songs, etc. I have a second grader of my own, and he has very little awareness of what really happened on Sept. 11 ! I am focusing on honoring the heroes- the firefighters, military, etc. and honoring the victims on my own. I just feel that they are too young to grasp the whole thing! Heck-I feel like I haven't fully grasped it yet either!

I use Fireboat every year for the week of September 11. (Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey by Maira Kalman). It is the true story of an old fireboat that had been retired and left to ruin in New York when a group of private investors set out to restore it. On September 11, the investors offered their help and were told it wasn't needed at first. After the water lines were unable to be used near the twin towers, the John J. Harvey was called in to pump water for the firefighters. It also has great illustrations.

Another one I use is New York's Bravest by Mary Pope Osborne. It is a tall tale about a legendary New York Fire Fighter. I usually have a local firefighter come in to read it.

Scholastic has a classroom book contest and one of the winners in 2002 was a book called "September 12th: We Knew We Would Be All Right" by First Grade Students of H. Byron Masterson Elementary, and is well worth the trouble of finding.

I also have had younger students and I use the books -- Even Firefighters Hug Their Moms -- which mentions many of the everyday heroes in our lives and is appropriate for the primary grades. Police, EMT's, Firefighters, and several more are mentioned in the book. It's great if you can have a firefighter or other hero mentioned in the book come read it to the class.

Another one for young students is Firefighter Frank which is appropriate for first graders and younger. It details the day in the life of a firefighter in bright colorful illustrations.

I was at school today and talking with some other teachers about this. Our principal was talking about getting some local police and fire fighters to come in and eat lunch with the kids on the Sept. 11--kind of like a "thank you" for what they do. I was thinking of having my fifth graders write letters to the police or fire fighters, too, in addition to doing some activities on tolerance and patriotism.

I teach 3rd grade. I am planning on kicking off an America Unit on September 11th. I am going to mainly focus on famous landmarks. We are going to learn about the history behind famous things and places such as: Liberty Bell, Mount Rushmore, Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge, St. Louis Arch, etc... We are going to learn what makes these things symbols of America and why terrorists might pick these places to attack.

Last year, our school had a red, white, and blue day on (or as near possible) the 11th of each month. The kids (and staff) were asked to wear red, white and blue clothing (sometimes blue jeans, but not always). It was a great hit with near 100% participation the year through. I don't know if we will be doing it again this year, but my daughter (age 9) has been asking!

I saw this idea in the Copycat magazine. Use 9-11 to teach the importance of 911 on the telephone. Teach your students when they should use these numbers to signal for help. Demonstrate how to dial 911 on play telephones and practice. This could be helpful in an emergency situation and something young children should be aware of. I hope this helps.

Our school has a policy of not teaching about 9/11 but if children bring it up we may speak to them privately. I ran in the Tunnel to Towers run last year and will do so again this year. It is the hope of the fire fighters that eventually this day will be set aside for hero day. A day to honor ALL men and women who put their lives on the line each day. I hope that September 11th will not become one of those days we have poems for, or writing frames. I teach second grade and the children might not even remember the day. We send home a letter just reminding parents of the event and explaining our position. I have personal reasons for my position, but I am glad that my school has decided to handle it the way they have. Just my two cents.