Get Ready for Veteran's Day

Veteran’s Day is a great time of year to take moments to teach about the importance of our Veteran. These proud men and women put their lives on the line to protect our country and our freedoms.

Integrating Veterans into other subject areas is an ideal way to dig into learning and make this topic more than just one lesson, but an ongoing way to discuss Veterans.

Reading About Veterans Day

Start this unit by discussing what Veterans are and how their job is to keep America safe and defend our freedom. If you are looking for books to help teach this topics, I have suggested listed below. Check your school library or your public library for these titles:

Veterans: Heroes in Our Community

Hero Dad

Hero Mom

Veteran’s Day

Veteran’s Day Rookie Reader

America’s White Table

What is Veteran’s Day?

Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops

Charting About Veteran’s Day

We use these books to help get our minds thinking. Then we can chart Veterans with a are/have/serve chart. My students enjoy writing their ideas with me. I use the back chart for some students and the front chart with those who are ready to complete sentences.

Here is a student example from one student. This student wrote “Veterans can fight for us. Veteran’s have clothes, hats, and shoes. Veterans serve us!”

Integrating Number Writing

Now that my students have an idea what Veterans are, we integrate this theme into math skills. Many of these activities can be complete in centers or small groups. Here is a number chart to 50 in 4 difference levels of number writing.

Veteran Number Matching

Check out this number matching activity from numbers 0-23. Mix and match the numbers your students need to work with to match the number to the dog tag ten frames.

One great classroom management plan I love to implement utilizing color copy paper or card stock. I took this activity and made 4 colorful sets. Now 4 students can work on the same activity at their own rate and pieces do not get lost. You can make leveled activities as well, for example one set can have numbers 0-10, while another can have numbers 10-20, and so on.

Fill the Ten Frame with Veterans

One game that my students never get tired of is the game Fill the Ten Frame. You roll a die like this pocket chart die or you can use the paper version provided. Next, the student graphs the picture that ends up on top. The game ends when one of the images has their ten frame filled.

You can see this Fill the Ten Frame game in action.

More so, you can see these students playing the game in small groups independently.

Marching in a Line with Veterans

Since the topic is Veterans… I knew the idea of teaching ordinal numbers would be a perfect topic since soldier march in line.

Here is a great pocket chart activity for your soldiers to play with. Start by laying down the ordinal numbers. Then give verbal directions to place the Veterans in order. (I raised the ordinal numbers just so you could see them.) I suggest starting with ordinal numbers 1-5, then grow to 1-10.

You can also check out this printable. I make this into a listening and following direction activity.

ABC Ordering

The skill of ABC ordering take practice. There are cards to use whole group or small group, as well as a printable version.

Since it takes practice to make progress with ABC ordering, there are two versions you can use. One focuses on the branches of Veterans. The other focuses on their vehicles. You can teach one and practice with them, then use the second version to see how your students do on their own.

Scan & Learn FUN

One reader my students always love is this Veteran’s Day QR Scan & Learn. This activity is meant to be independent and engaging for your students.

Students take a smart device with a camera option and any FREE QR Code reader. Students then scan the code and listen to the recording to guide their learning. On one side they listen, on the second side the complete the activity… all with instructional guidance included.