I love Veterans Day. It could be because I live a few miles from an Air Force Base, or because I just really respect the men and women who serve our country. Either way, Veterans Day provides a great opportunity to teach students about who Veterans are, what they have done, how to be respectful to them, and learn some of our nation’s history.

You might be asking, “Why should my students learn about Veterans Day?” There are a few reasons why I feel it’s important.

• With a few different patriotic holidays throughout the year, I want my students to start gaining an understanding of what each one represents, why it’s celebrated, and how they are different from one another.
• Since I live in a city with a prestigious Air Force Base, seeing service members in uniform throughout our community is part of our everyday lives. We also have students whose family members are serving or have served. Gaining a better understanding of their role, and the sacrifice of others before them, will help students learn more about the service members they see everyday.
• I believe it is important to instill a sense of pride and respect in my students for our Veterans. No matter the political leanings of my students’ families, pride in our service members is always a common ground.

In this post, you will find ideas on how to engage your students in the celebration of Veterans Day, while making it meaningful for them. And hopefully, students will learn a little more about the important jobs and responsibilities of our American soldiers.

1. Make a “My Veteran” photo display in the hallway!

Using a bulletin board or available wall space, invite students to bring a picture of a veteran in their family. To protect the pictures, insert them into a clear, plastic sleeve. Before asking students to bring the pictures, please remind them not to bring photos that are irreplaceable, in case something happens to the display (theft, water damage, rips, etc.).

2. Assign an “Oral History” report, and ask students to interview a Veteran!

This can be a great way for students to learn about the Veterans in their family and community! Students can be assigned to interview a Veteran, and ask a series of predetermined questions. For students who do not know a Veteran, an alternate assignment could be provided.

3. Write letters or make cards to send to your local VA hospital!

This is easy, fun, and gives students a chance to get creative! Contact your local VA hospital for an address to send the cards, then provide materials and let students get to work. To spark ideas, write a few possible messages on the board students could use on the inside of their cards, like:

• Thank you for serving our country
• Happy Veterans Day
• You are a real American hero

4. Adopt a soldier!

Do you know a soldier who has been deployed? Does a student in your class have a family member serving overseas? If so, consider adopting them! Your class could write him/her letters, send care packages, exchange video messages, and more. A photo and information sheet about your soldier can hang outside your classroom to help spread the word about this special project.

5. Share read-aloud books to enrich students’ knowledge of Veterans’ personal stories!

Sharing read-aloud books about Veterans day is paramount to increasing students’ understanding of the holiday and the personal stories of the Veterans we honor and celebrate. One of my favorite read-alouds is “The Wall” by Eve Bunting, but there are many books to choose from, in fact, many more are available now than when I first started looking for Veterans Day read-alouds. Here is a link to two great books:

* Please note that Thrive in Grade Five (Jenifer Bazzit) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. *

    6. Invite a Veteran to speak to your class!

To give students a first-hand account of a real Veteran’s experiences, it is great to have a Veteran speak to your class. It is important to be careful in selecting the Veteran, though. You’ll want to choose someone who can speak on your students’ level, and stay within the time frame you set. If you have a student whose parent is a Veteran, that would be ideal. Or, if a staff member at your school is a Veteran, he/she could share about that with your class.

While I’ve listed out some ideas, many more can be found on Pinterest or by doing a Google search. I hope, however, to have sparked an interest in diving deeper into Veterans Day activities.

An incredibly rewarding moment, which happens year after year, is when parents tell me that after learning about veterans and Veterans Day, their child begins to recognize service members in public, and become more aware of the American flag and patriotic symbols. It’s so special that I am a part of that!