Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Understanding September 11th

In a few short days, Americans across the United States and individuals all over the world will be remembering September 11th and the horrific events that occurred on that tragic day. I was in 6th grade during 1st period when my teacher got a call to turn on the TV. It took me a while to understand what was going on. I knew that it was bad, but I specifically remember not knowing and comprehending anything about terrorism, terrorists, or tragedy on such a large scale. 

Even now, I find myself thinking about to how I felt on that day. It is hard for us to relay what deep emotions are found within us when we reflect on 9/11. It is even more difficult for us to share and teach those feelings to young children who should not be exposed to such raw tragedy. Eventually the events of this world will catch up with our youth, but for now they are very much naive and unable to make connections to such a heavy day. 

However, I feel that it is still important for us to share certain aspects of 9/11 with our youth. They need to begin to build a foundation of understanding, and it is quite possible that some know a little bit about the day of remembrance. 

In order to help my students, I wrote a short passage about September 11th. I tried to keep it simple yet truthful. Our Wonders Reading skill this week is 2.RI.1(Asking and Answering Questions) so I wanted to connect that with the Reading passage as well. Giving students the opportunity to create their own questions can also provide the teacher with a direction in which to take the conversation.


Please feel free to download from my TPT store or click on the picture above to use in your own classroom. Let me know if you have feedback or suggestions. 

Do you discuss September 11th with your students? If so, how?

*Never Forget*

2 comments:

  1. I love this. I'm off to download. Thank you.
    You also won my Halloween Wreath. Please email me your mailing address. :)
    Congrats missnelsonattpt@yahoo.com

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  2. This is a lovely post. I think we do need to keep talking about it, but we can't expose our kids to too much. I shared some live footage with my juniors this week. I was surprised at how hard it was for me to watch those images even after all this time.

    On a side note...I have been following your Go Noodle journey these last few months, and I was thrilled to find out my 2nd grader is in a GoNoodle classroom!

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