September 11 is a time of reflection. To begin this topic we viewed a free poster as shown below. You can instantly download it from the talented and kind Becca from: https://www.fiddlestickseducation.com/journal-pages.html
We thought about how the twin towers once were and yet still remain in our memories. There is an excellent resource on how to talk to youths about terrorism, which basically says to pay attention to their feelings, admit we do not have all the answers, etc: https://www.911memorial.org/learn/youth-and-families/talking-children-about-terrorism should you need it.
There is an excellent lesson plan for Grades 3-5 which we used to explore this day. The webpage asks the "Essential Question: What is a hero and how can people show gratitude to those who act heroically in their own communities? Vocabulary: First responder: This is a term used for firefighters, police officers, paramedics, and other rescue workers who help people in an emergency. The New Yorker magazine: This weekly publication provides reporting and commentary on politics, foreign affairs, business, technology, popular culture, and the arts, along with humor, fiction, poetry, and cartoons.
Activity
1.Display or distribute copies of The New Yorker cover titled “Local Heroes.” Click on the image to use the pinch-and-zoom feature for closer viewing. Do not share the title with students.
2. Ask students to look at the cover closely and share what they notice. This can be done as a whole class or in small groups. *We noticed children trick or treating.
3. Lead a guided inquiry by asking the following questions, recording their observations on a smartboard or chart paper by category:
What people do you see on the cover? Who else do you see? *children were noted.
What time of year does this place? What makes you say that? *fall because of the leaves, no snow.
What are the kids doing? What makes you say that? *Collecting candy treats.
Where does this take place? What makes you say that? *In a city
Recap the recorded responses from students. Tell students this cover is connected to 9/11—shorthand for the date September 11, 2001—and that you are going to work together to discover how, based on their observations.
5. Ask: Who can tell me what happened on 9/11? *Barron told us that some planes crashed into a building and killed people and caused damaged.
6. Incorporate the following background information about 9/11 based on the 9/11 Fact Sheet for Early Childhood Students with students as they share their responses. Use the guide Talking to Children about Terrorism for additional information and strategies.
On September 11, 2001, four airplanes were hijacked, or taken over, by 19 terrorists and flown into important buildings. Two planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. As people rushed out of the towers, many rushed in to help, including firefighters and police officers, who saved thousands of lives. Almost 3,000 people were killed, including 441 first responders in total.
Ask: What is a first responder? *barron understands this new word as firefighters, police officers, ambulance drivers.
7. Direct students to look at the cover again. Ask: Who are the children dressed up as for Halloween? Why do you they decided to dress up as first responders for Halloween in October 2001? Tell students that dressing up as first responders for Halloween was one way children showed gratitude, sympathy, and support to first responders in New York City after 9/11. *Policd officers and firefighters
8. Tell students that soon after 9/11, children from around the world began sending letters and drawings to first responders in New York City. Display or distribute copies of letters and drawings from the “Dear Hero” collection at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. Ask: Why do you think children from around the world sent these letters and drawings to New York City after 9/11? *To cheer them, encourage them, renew them, and to let them know thry are believed in and thanked.
9. Return to The New Yorker cover and write the title, “Local Heroes,” on a large sheet of paper or smartboard. Ask the students to define the word “local” and then “hero,” recording their responses below each word. Follow up by asking them to brainstorm a list of “local heroes” in their community and ask the students to share what about the person makes them a hero. This can include first responders as well as other members of the community. *The firefighter sho saved him as a 21day old baby and perhaps the local police officer who stopped Uncle Timmy atttacking Daddy with a knife.
10. After completing the list as a class, tell students they will be creating their own “Dear Hero” letters or artwork for a hero in their community the same way children did for first responders after 9/11. Distribute scrap paper and ask students to brainstorm and sketch ideas. Use one side to brainstorm a picture and the opposite side to write a letter. The class can select one group of people to write letters to (i.e. local firehouse) or each student can pick a person. *Barron drew a picture of the day when he was saved by the anonymous hero firefighter and tweeted a thank you to Toronto, Mississauga, and New York Firefighters.
11. Distribute a half sheet of white construction paper. Provide art supplies including paint, colored pencils, crayons, or markers for students to color their sketches, along with rulers to assist them in creating lines on which to write their letters. When completed, letters can be mailed, dropped off at a specific location, or displayed in the school as a class project. *Barron virtually wrote a thanks and on his paper.
12. Conclude by asking: Why is it important to show gratitude and support to those who help others? " *Appreciation for helping to get through a difficult time, to renew their hope and spirit, and to repair the damage. Source: https://www.911memorial.org/learn/students-and-teachers/lesson-plans/lesson-plans/local-heroes
During our talk on 911 we discussed these groups and definitions: "al-Qaeda: This international Islamist extremist terrorist network is responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Al-Qaeda is responsible for multiple terrorist attacks since its founding in the 1980s by Osama bin Laden and others who were involved in the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Their aim has been to overthrow governments in the Middle East, and elsewhere in the Muslim world, which do not strictly enforce a narrow, fundamentalist version of Islam.
CIA: This is an abbreviation for the Central Intelligence Agency.
NATO: This is an abbreviation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Taliban: This Islamist fundamentalist group ran Afghanistan and allowed al-Qaeda to operate in return for money and troops." Source: https://www.911memorial.org/learn/students-and-teachers/lesson-plans/international-fight-against-terrorism
We purchased an important product from BusyBeeinGradeThree: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/September-11-Patriot-Day-Reading-Passage-1393445 From this resource we learnt several facts:
- A Survivors Tree Seedling Program was developed so that, "each year, the 9/11 Memorial gives seedlings from the Survivor Treeare given to three communities that have endured tragedy in recent years. The Survivor Tree seedling program was launched on September 11, 2013 to serve as landmarks symbolizing resiliency and hope." Source: https://www.911memorial.org/visit/memorial/survivor-tree/survivor-tree-seedling-program
- The naming of 9/11 to Patriot's Day occurred because, "President Bush declared September 11 as Patriot Day to show respect and honor for those innocent Americans who lost their lives during the attacks and to remember the heroes who fought to protect and rebuild the United States." Source: Sept 11 Patriots Day Reading Passage created by BusyBeeinGradeThree at: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Busybeeingradethree
- Valuable webpages to explore: https://pentagonmemorial.org/, https://www.nps.gov/flni/index.htm, and https://www.911memorial.org/ On this page https://www.911memorial.org/remember-sky you can share instructions on how to share a picture of your sky on September 11 and a Virtual Tribute Wall message can be written on: https://neverforget.org/remember These are our screenshots:
We also watched a Youtube video called One Day in America National Geographic from The TeleGraph: https://youtu.be/JSiTyeJP9I8?si=79_cq3zhGK26ZX03 and found some images from that day:
We discovered these nice stickers from our local Michael's Craft Store:
We could not let this day pass without sharing this interesting book from our favourite Streetsville library entitled, "Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story" by Nora Raleigh Baskin.
- " It was clear that the world was about to blow apart, if it hadn't already, and suddenly nothing else mattered but getting home. It was a primitive instinct, a drive, a need to find family no matter how far. " Pg. 149.
- "There was too much noise. Too much panic and fear, spilling into the streets and rising up into the sky. Sergio ran and he prayed. " Pg. 150.
- "Get home and hope home was still there." Pg. 151.
- "Heading toward the bridge, heading directky ibto tgr cgaos, the fkames abd sirens and smoke. Gideon was heading right into it. Sergio was running the other way." Pg. 151 .
- "Walking across the brudge into Brooklyn. white with the ashes of a thousand dead covering their faces, their bodies. covering the earth." Pg. 151.
- "It sent a plume of dark smoke up into the sky, charcoal black into the robin's-egg blue of the once most perfect day." Pg. 157.
- "So many people," she kept saying."So many people. " She had the look on her face, of pain that was not her own but was for the whole world, that look that most grown-ups seemed to express in those following days." Pg. 179.
- "There were people who just felt they had to come, to see the site of such a tragedy and pay some kind of respect to those who had died. There were tge others: the cobspiracy theorists, the morbidly curious, the wannabes, and the just plain crazy. And then there were the families and friends of the victims of 9/11 and Flight 93, who came almost immediately after the crash, whose swollen eyes were ringed with black circles, whose hearts were cracked open and torn apart. They had come looking for an answer or a story or a piece of something, anything, to take away with them. But there was nothing. No answers. No closure. Nothing to take away. So instead they left something. They left stuffed animals, notes, ribbons, pieces of clothing, books, flowers, Bibles, flattened pennies, poems, photographs, jewelry, tiny trinkets. They tied their objects, their hearts, their sorrow, to the forty-foot-long chain-like fence that had been installed at the crash site; they wrote things on the tall white boards that had been put up for that purpose." Pg. 171-172.
To those who lost, gave, tried- you are missed and never forgotten.
