Elementary Matters is an educational blog focused on Elementary grades 1-3. These posts will make an elementary teacher's life easier by sharing information about how the brain learns best. It includes time savers, suggestions for classroom management, hints on effective teaching of reading, writing, and math, and several ideas for squeezing Science and Social Studies into daily instruction. These posts include links to several videos, articles, resources, and plenty of free materials.
Showing posts with label patriotic music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patriotic music. Show all posts
I'm tired of watching the attack ads all over the TV, my phone ringing constantly, getting flyer after flyer in the mail, and the signs all over town. Luckily, this campaign season is almost over, thank goodness!
I also think it's important to teach the importance of the election to the little ones. But in a gentler, kinder fashion.
We vote for our favorite indoor recess game! See the above image or see HERE for this freebie for Election Day. It includes ballots, graphs, and suggestions for the day.
We've been working on common and proper nouns, so I've cooked up this matching game with an election theme. I find ANY special day makes learning more fun, doesn't it? This set has several options, including a board game. You can learn more about this set HERE, or by see the image.
There's a smaller, freebie version of this activity, which can be found here: Election Freebie
Kids always need brain breaks, and squeezing in a little patriotism doesn't hurt! See the image or see HERE to download this freebie!
Here are a few books I've found with an election theme.
Don't forget the Patriotic Music!
How do you honor election day with your little ones?
I'm sitting here watching the annual 4th of July Boston Pops Concert and swelling with pride for my country.
It seems these concerts just keep getting better and better! Back in the old days, we used to drive down to Boston, spend all day saving our spots on the Esplanade, then watch the concert live. The traffic and crowds never bothered us, it was always worth it!
Nowadays I sit in my living room and watch it on TV. It's not quite as exciting as watching it live, but it sure is more convenient!
In honor of the holiday, I've created some brain breaks with a patriotic theme.
Research tells us that moving aides learning by bringing oxygen to the brain! I do love to include anything
the kids are learning as brain breaks. I usually manage to include seasonal or
holiday brain breaks when I can. These Patriotic
Brain Breaks can be used for any Patriotic holiday: Constitution Day,Veterans
Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, or Independence
Day!
We spent a lot of time the last couple of days talking about what a veteran is, and why it's important to honor them.
(I always like my kids to know WHY we get a day off!) True, they're due for a break (as well as the teachers! We survived a marathon day of teaching and parent teacher conferences this week, we deserve a day off to recover!)
1. First of all, there are books! I absolutely love to introduce concepts to the children through quality literature! I admit. The Wall gets me choked up every time I read it. As I read it yesterday, the children were totally silent. (My group is NEVER totally silent!) It affected them deeply.
2. Next, I like to show some videos. I try to time it so we watch a video on Thursday during snack time, since Thursday is popcorn day in our school. It just seems appropriate! Here is a patriotic video that is great, and the kids really take to it!
3. I play music frequently through the school day. I make sure I have music playing in the morning as the children arrive, but I also make sure they hear music at different times of the day. Sometimes it's soft background music, and sometimes it's lively, fun music. Both kinds of music have their place. Here are a couple that I love!
4. I did this Veterans True or False activity with my students on Thursday, and it was awesome! Interestingly, our assistant principal came in while we were playing the game, and told the students he was a veteran. My students broke out into applause! (I was so proud!) Of course, most of my little boys went nuts when they found out he drove a tank! Click the image or click HERE for the link!
5. Here's a freebie that I did with my students on Friday. They wrote thank you letters to Veterans! Their notes were heartwarming and proud to me they really understood how lucky we are to be Americans, and have these wonderful people risking their lives for our freedom!
We have three patriotic holidays coming up! Yep, that's 3!
We have Memorial Day at the end of May.
We have Flag Day on June 14th. We have Independence Day on July 4th.
I know there are some teachers out there who will be out of school by Memorial Day. My district gets out just a short week before Independence Day.
But it's a great opportunity to teach our kids something about our country!
I find literature, the arts, and music are a great way for children to learn any subject, especially social studies! Here are some of the books I use. (Click any image for an affiliate link to Amazon!)
Coming to America by Betsy Maestro is a great book to show how most Americans came from other countries. (I often read this one around St. Patrick's Day, as this holiday celebrates Irish-Americans, and gets conversations started about our ancestry.)
How Many Days to America by Eve Bunting tells the story of people escaping a harsh life and coming to America for freedom. It's done with Eve Bunting's child-friendly language, but also touches their hearts, as many of Eve Bunting's stories do. Although it's subtitled "A Thanksgiving Story," it's very appropriate for any day you want to show the children the risks people take to live in America. It's a great conversation starter to remind children (and ourselves) of the freedoms we have in our country, that people don't have in others.
Speaking of Eve Bunting, The Wall is one of my very favorite books for children. Although I do have trouble getting through this story without tears, it's a nice book to read around Memorial Day or Veterans Day, when we are thinking about those who fight for our freedom, and those that don't come home. (I think this one really gets to me because of the time period... I was "coming of age" during the Vietnam War. Yes, I went to demonstrations and everything, I'm THAT old!)
Here are some informational books that are helpful:
I always want to remind my students about how beautiful our country is. Picture books are great to help with that concept! Here are a couple to help:
Here are a couple more books that have loads of fun activities to share and celebrate our country!
No USA celebration is complete without patriotic music!
This CD has a huge collection of historical USA songs and patriotic songs. Plus, it has the split track for opportunities for the kids to sing with accompaniment!
Here's another collection of classic patriotic songs! This is nice to have if you want to play a patriotic song in the morning to follow the Pledge of Allegiance.
Here's a nice You tube video to America the Beautiful.
Of course, after all that learning about America, the children will need to do some writing. Check out this dollar deal! Click the image or click here: USA-Themed Writing Paper.
