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Lesson Plan Image

Purple Heart Medal

Students will learn about the history of the Purple Heart medal and create a replica of it.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

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  • Gold-toned Paper
  • Heavy Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded to military members who were wounded or killed in combat. It is the nation's oldest military award. Have students research the medal that was instituted by then-General George Washington in 1782 and known as the Badge of Military Merit. How many people received the first medal? How has eligibility evolved over the years? Which U.S. president received a Purple Heart?

  • Step 2

    Have students look at images of a Purple Heart medal, then have them create a replica of one. They can make the silhouette of George Washington on a piece of gold-toned paper or create the paper with Crayola gold tempera. Next they will cut out the image and glue it on a heart-shaped cut-out from a piece of heavy paper that has the center colored with purple marker and the outer edge with gold.

  • Step 3

    Display the medals on a bulletin board. Have a discussion about how the brave military members work to protect and defend the country every day.

Standards

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: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions.

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.

MATH: Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning used.

MATH: Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.

SS: Give examples of the various institutions that make up economic systems such as families, workers, banks, labor unions, government agencies, small businesses, and large corporations.

SS: Demonstrate the role of money in everyday life.

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.

Adaptations

Who are the two animals who have been awarded a Purple Heart, and during what wars did they participate? Have students write a story from the point of view of either Sergeant Stubby, a mutt who received a Purple Heart during WWI, or Sergeant Reckless, a racehorse who received the medal during the Korean War. How did they feel while performing the feats that earned them their medal? What was life like for them after the war? How did they handle their celebrity status?

Ask students to learn about the origins of Veterans Day, originally known as Armistice Day. When is it observed? In what year did it begin? What did Armistice Day originally commemorate?