You might not know that September 11/Patriots Day is one of two official "days of service" in the United States. The other is on the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We talked about being of service to others and how that is tied to good citizenship and makes our community a better place for everyone. Then we focused on our community of Keppel and decided that our small act of service today would be to make a sweep of the second and third levels of the playground and pick up all discarded jackets and water bottles (we put them in the lost & found bins on the lunch patio - not a single one had a name on it, by the way), we returned balls to the ball racks, and we picked up some of the trash (we washed our hands with soap and water before snack recess).
I think we all felt good about doing something together for others. Though more than one student told me after lunch that there were lots of balls that weren't put away, jackets and water bottles left, all within a couple of hours of our clean-up.
The three books I've read are listed on this website. I also showed the movie in BrainPOP about 9/11 for elementary students. We did not take the quiz - that wasn't the point. But I have posted as an "assignment" in BrainPOP so it will be easy for you to access via Clever if you would like to watch again with your child or just by yourself. Not surprisingly, students had varying levels of knowledge about that day ranging from zero to quite a lot. I did not pick up on any misinformation - just sadness that it happened and wondering why someone would do something like that.
As I've mentioned before, I will be out of the classroom with many/all (I'm not sure which) 3rd grade teachers tomorrow for professional development by the district. I'll be back on Wednesday.