Investigate the roles brave men and women have played in your nation's history as you learn about patriotic holidays.

• 1.

  Find out about the roles of veterans in your country's history. Why are their contributions significant to your country today? When are their historic roles celebrated? How?

• 2.

  Cover your work area with recycled newspaper. Paint heavy white paper with Crayola® Washable Watercolors and Watercolor Brushes in your country's colors or flag design. Dry.

• 3.

  With Crayola Fine Tip Markers, write a remembrance slogan such as "Remember Our Veterans" across the paper. Add patriotic symbols such as your flag, national emblems, statues, stars, an eagle, statues, stars, or military images.

• 4.

  Identify veterans to whom you can give your poster, or display it in a public area such as community center or library for a patriotic holiday.

Standards

• LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.
• LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
• SS: Give examples and describe the importance of cultural unity and diversity within and across groups.
• SS: Identify and use various sources for reconstructing the past, such as documents, letters, diaries, maps, textbooks, photos, and others.
• SS: Identify examples of institutions and describe the interactions of people with institutions.
• SS: Identify and describe factors that contribute to cooperation and cause disputes within and among groups and nations.
• VA: Select media, techniques, an processes; analyze what makes them effective or not effective in communicating ideas; and reflect upon the effectiveness of choices.
• VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.
• VA: Use subjects, themes, and symbols that demonstrate knowledge of contexts, values, and aesthetics that communicate intended meaning in artworks.
• VA: Describe and place a variety of art objects in historical and cultural contexts.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: Pepper's Purple Heart: A Veterans Day Story by Heather French Henry; H Is for Honor: A Military Family Alphabet by Devin Scillian; Veterans Day by Rebecca Rissman; Veterans: Heroes in Our Neighborhood by Valerie Pfundstein; The Wall by Eve Bunting
• Invite local veterans to speak with students about their experiences in the military. Prior to the visit, students compose questions for the veterans. After the meeting, students post learning to a class blog.
• Students use Crayola Colored Pencils to create greeting cards and letters to military that are serving overseas.
• Students research symbols of past wars, such as Uncle Sam, Rosie the Riveter, etc. Students create a bulletin board which displays these symbols, as well as explaining the meaning of the symbols.