September 11, 2001

As we approach the 10th anniversary of that awful day, our school is busy planning a prayer service.  Part of the prayer service includes making and distributing cards to the local police and fire department.

To prepare my students for the service I talked with them today and asked what happened on that day.  It's crazy to think that these students sitting before me were not even alive then.

I got many different responses from there was a fire, to the answer I was searching for: the Twin Towers in New York City were hit by a plane.  Even though I prepared myself for this lesson, I could not help but get the shivers at that answer.  An airplane.  The Twin Towers.  It was like it just happened yesterday.  So sad and so tragic.

Many teachers search for things to do with their classes on that day.  This year it's on a Sunday, so I don't feel the need to do too much, and often this topic scares the children.  So we talked for a few minutes about what happened, why it happened, and why we are so blessed to have many brave men and women who are willing to risk THEIR lives to save ours. 

The one thing we are doing is filling in stars with why they are proud to be an American.  These stars will be hung on our hallway bulletin board.

Some books to help you explain it on their level:

America Under Attack

The Little Chapel that Stood

September 11

Social Science and the Young Learner

Illinois Standards include the following:

Know the reason for rules-what are the rules in your house?  What are the rules in your community?  Why do we have these rules?  Make up a list of school rules.


Participate in voting-vote for what movie you will watch on Fun Friday, vote for your favorite color (or flavor ice cream, or subject, etc)  You can then turn this into a bar graph and get your math in.


Develop an awareness of leaders in your community- what makes someone a good leader?  how do community leaders obtain their jobs?  what types of things do leaders do?  Have pictures of the president, mayor, and governor.


Identify community workers and the services they provide-police officers, firefighters, garbage men/women, etc.  Print pictures off the internet for the students to identify.


Begin to understand the use of trade to obtain goods and services-read a book about Native Americans and their use of trade.  Ask your students what they would trade with you so they could have something of yours.  Let the students bring in objects from home to trade with others (make sure they get their item back at the end of the day).


Recall information about the immediate past-what day was yesterday?  what did we talk about in math yesterday?  what did we eat for lunch yesterday?  what book did we read this morning?  Start asking these questions to get them thinking about the past.


Locate, describe and explain places, regions and features on the Earth-have pictures of different landforms for students to identify.  Explain what they are made up of.



Recognize similarities and differences in people-have pictures of people in families-do they look the same?  what about them is different?  Compare two pictures of two different families-what do these people have in common?  What is different?  Why don't we all look alike?


Understand that each of us belongs to a family and recognize that families vary-sit with each student and ask "Who is in your family?  Can you draw a picture of your family?"  Hang these pictures in your classroom.

Reading a flow chart

In third grade we practice reading different types of diagrams and charts.  One fun project we do is to make a flow chart.  Here is how I did it:

1.  Write up directions for different things (making mac and cheese, making a pb&j sandwich, make cookies, etc).

2.  Mix up the order of the steps you need to take

3.  Group your students into groups of twos or threes-make sure there is a set of different directions for each group)

4.  The students are to cut their directions apart and put the strips in order.  Check to see the order is correct before they can move on.

5.  Glue the steps down in order across a piece of looooong paper.  Number the steps and draw arrows from one step to the other.

6.  Draw a picture for each direction strip

Westward movement

A big part of 3rd grade is learning about the movement westward and how it expanded the amount of land we owned.

We discuss all the reasons why people were moving (to explore, to have more land, to find gold, etc).  Then we map out the different trails explorers took.

To do this I blow up a map of the United States.  I give each student a clump of clay.  The clay is used to make mountains.  They do this part first.  Then they use their books and their markers to draw out the paths taken.  Have them use a different color for each trail and add it to their legend.  Most of the time you will hear complaints about it being hard to draw the trail because the mountain is in the way. 

This is when I tell them how hard it must have been to get around the mountains on their wagons. 

This project is a lot of fun because it teaches states, direction, landforms, and helps them understand how hard the trip must have been.