Remembrance Day Writing

Remembrance Day is always something that I like to talk about in my classroom. This year it seemed even more important due to the tragic events that have happened in the past few weeks in Canada. To help my students learn about the importance of Remembrance Day we began by reading "A Poppy is to Remember" by Heather Patterson. 

After reading, we discussed why we are lucky to live in a country like Canada. Answers such as freedom, safety, and peace were given. To help build connections, I then read the book "What Peace Feels Like" aloud to my class. This book asks children from all over the world questions about peace and includes their answers on each page. After reading, I have my students write their own version of "What Peace Feels Like".

This year, I have been trying to create Universally Designed activities and allow students choice when representing their learning, where possible, so for this writing activity students had three modes of representation to choose from. They could choose to write on their Chromebook using Google Slides, use an iPad and the app Book Creator to create an eBook, or use paper and pencil to make a book.

Check out some "What Peace Feels Like" examples from my class...
Grab the Google Slides template here and the paper template here.

I just love reading what the students think about peace and how they begin to use descriptive words to enhance their writing. Right now, for me, peace feels like report cards being done and a whole week off from school!