We Will Never Forget...

This weekend we will remember a very imporatant day in our country's history. The 10 year anniversary of September 11th is this Sunday. Since there will be countless news reports and TV specials covering the subject matter I thought it was important to discuss the event with our students. Since none of the students were even alive in 2001, and being they are 6 and 7, it was important to handle the matter in "child-like" terms and language.

I shared a very special book with the class titled September 12th: We Knew Everything Would be Alright written by the first grade students at H. Byron Masterson Elementary School in Kennett, Missouri. This book was written, illustrated, and told through the eyes of a first grader. It is an excellent, light hearted book for dealing with very heavy material.

We also discussed the meaning and colors of the flag, the symbol of freedom for our contry.  We remembered the people who fought for our freedom on that day in September by wearing a yellow string tied around our finger today.

I shared another story, not about the events of September 11th, but about the great Twin Towers that no longer stand tall. The story was called The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein. It was a true story about a street performer names Philippe Petit who walked across the twin towers on a very thin cable in 1974. It was an intriguing story that kept the children on the edge of their seats and gave them a little insight about the towers that once were.