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This is the social studies teacher podcast a show for busy elementary teachers looking for fun and engaging ways to easily add social studies into their classroom schedule without feeling overwhelmed or pressed for time. I'm curious to know if you southern teach an educator and mom who is passionate about all things social studies, I love sharing ideas and strategies that are low prep and easy to implement. So let's dive in together.

Reflecting on the events of September 11 2001, is something that has and will always be important to me. That's why each year I make it a point to talk with my students about its importance and what it means to us today. In this episode, I'm going to share with you some reasons why I think it's important to talk about it and my own experience, teaching it to students. And I'm also going to share with you a few kid friendly Patriot Day activities.

While I you can usually hold my emotions together when discussing September 11. With my classes 2021 was especially emotional for me because it not only marked the 20th anniversary of 911. But I had this realization that I was a teacher discussing the event with my fifth grade students and sharing with them my experience of 911 as a fifth grade student in 2001. So it was like this whole full circle thing that I got, they were able to get a glimpse or perspective of what it was like from someone who had experienced the event as a fifth grader, just like them that was super powerful to be able to share with them. And each year with each teacher, as they go through each class will have a new perspective. Maybe their teacher was a college student, or maybe their teacher was in their first year of teaching. As they go through each grade. They will be collecting experiences from those alive to tell where they were and how they felt. The reason why I think this is so important is because our students today will never know what it's like to know exactly what they were doing and where they were. And I think I just think it's so important to share the true meaning of this day and honoring the fallen and honoring those heroes that helped others out.

I believe that teaching about 911 is so important. You know in upper elementary especially. That is a great time to start discussing that heroes come in all occupations in ages. and abilities. And it can range from that teacher who helped keep their classrooms calm to the firefighter who did everything they could to rescue as many people as possible from the World Trade Center. So that is why I believe, teaching about Patriot Day. And just what happened on September 11 2001 is so integral, it just it needs to be continued. So that's why it's just so important to me. I'm going to be sharing with you five different activities that you can share with your students about 911. Of course, with any resource, definitely make sure you preview each activity in advance to make sure it is appropriate for your students.

So the first one is a pretty easy one. BrainPOP I love their video, it's super straightforward. It's great video discussing the events of September 11, and why it occurred.

The second activity is a really cool story called boatlift, an untold tale of 911 resilience. This is a YouTube video that shares an example of heroism and how it comes in the most unexpected ways. There is a little bit of language. So definitely preview this one just in case to make sure it is appropriate for your classes. But this is a really cool perspective.

And the third activity I have for you is to read the book, 14 cows for America. This is a children's book that you can buy on Amazon or anywhere where books are sold, that shares the story of the Messiah, people of Kenya who gave an extraordinary gift to the grieving people of the United States.

CNN 10, every year, they put out a short 10 minute video, that is really great. And you can usually check back, you know, if you just type in CNN 10. And look for September 11. Around this time, you'll get some really great videos on that there was a particular episode in 2021, that featured students who were in the classroom with George W. Bush, when he was informed of the 911 attacks. So that one was I'm not sure I'm going to try to make sure I link all of these activities in the show notes in my blog post. So just make sure you take a look at that and see which one is available. I'll try to make sure to link the 2021 version, but there's usually one that they update every year.

And then the fifth activity I have is a resource I created called The Patriot Day WebQuest. So it kind of goes into more of the holiday in itself that evolved from September 11. This is a printable and digital WebQuest. That goes into Patriot Day in the also going into the events of September 11. You can always mix and match, you can do the BrainPOP video followed by the Patriot Day rep WebQuest. You could read the book and watch the videos. It's up to you.

But I really like these activities that are easy to implement in, you know, you're right at the beginning of the day, at the end of the day really only takes about 15 minutes at the most. I hope you're able to take some time this week to talk to your students about Patriot Day and 911 because it is so important to talk about with your students. And I think personally, they're probably interested in your perspective, even though they might have heard it over and over again, by parents or other teachers. It's always good to share your own perspective to those students so they can get an idea of why this is such an important event to talk about.

All right, well, that's the end of this episode. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. Thanks for listening to the social studies teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, hit that subscribe button and leave a review. I would love to hear your thoughts. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I can't wait for you to join me in the next episode for more teacher tips and strategies.