How to Teach Veteran's Day in Kindergarten

Video Transcript

"When teaching children about Veterans Day, I would first begin by discussing what it means to have courage, or to be brave. Ask your students if they've ever had a time where they had to be brave. This could involve a time when they've gone to the doctor to have to receive a shot, or when they've had to do something that they didn't really care to do, but they were brave enough to complete the task. Provide examples of school members or community workers that are brave every day in their jobs. This can include firefighters and policemen. Next, discuss with the children what it means to be patriotic. Tell them that to be patriotic means to have a love for your country. Share with the children the American flag. Tell them that it stands for our country. You may choose to go more in depth and tell the children what the colors mean, and the stars, and the stripes. Take as much time as you would like to cover the flag. You'll then want to tell the children that many Americans are very brave, very courageous, and very patriotic and they serve in our military. Take the the time to explore the branches of military in depth. You may want to print off coloring pages for the students to use, or bring in uniforms, if possible, for each of the branches of military; anything that you can do to make the children understand what each branch of the military does. Next, discuss with the children that we have set aside a special day that we use to honor the men and women that are brave, courageous, and patriotic who fight in the branches of military. This day is called Veterans Day. You'll want to share with the children that we take this day to honor them because we admire and appreciate the hard work that they put into to making our country a free country. You can also discuss Veterans Day further by creating patriotic crafts. Another great way that you can celebrate and learn more about Veterans Day is to have your students create a thank you card for someone in the, in the military. This can either be for a specific person, or a general thank you card thanking them for all the hard work, courage, bravery, and patriotism that they show every day. This is a fantastic website that I use for kindergarten through fifth grade students to help them learn more about Veterans Day. Also, please remember that you can always invite friends or family members that are in the military to come into the classroom to share with the students why they enjoy being a member of the military, and what it means to them."