September 11, 2001: An infamous day in world history. A day that anyone old enough will never forget. It is crazy to me to think that most of this class was not even a year old when the attack occurred. Next year I will be teaching kids who weren't yet born, but in my mind, I can remember it like it was yesterday. It was the first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor.
Each year, I do a Heroes VS Celebrities unit using 9/11 as the theme. We talk about the difference between the two, and leave them realizing that someone like Michael Jordan may be able to play some good ball, but he doesn't do a whole lot that's heroic. For four years in a row now, I have culminated the unit by having a few of Syracuse's finest come in and talk about what 9/11 means to the firefighting community.
I had a very humbling experience this year that I was able to share with the students to enrich the lesson. I had an Australian friend of mine make a post on Facebook about 9/11. At first I was baffled. This was definitely an American event, why was she posting about it? So I messaged her. She replied, almost offended. I knew the U.N. was on our side when we went to war in Afghanistan, but I did not realize how wide spread the support was. Australian soldiers packed up on September 12, 2001, and shipped into Afghanistan to fight side by side with us. Like I said, I knew it was an international war, but this really helped to personalize that for me. Much love and respect to all of the heroes that surfaced because of 9/11. It's a shame it took such a tragedy to bring them to the light, but I for one am glad that they were willing step forward when we needed them most.
As for the rest of the week, we've pretty much hit our stride. Math has continued forward in the unit. We finally finished the story we started last week from our reading book and took our first story quiz on Friday. In science, we finished up with the Scientific Method and began learning about microorganisms, which will continue for the remainder of the first term.
Please remember to keep an eye on the online gradebook. As we continue in the year, this should updated no less than once a week. I try to update it more frequently to help keep you as informed as possible.
Aside from that, we'll keep moving forward with our school year, enjoying as many of the moments as possible.
"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough." ~ Rabindranath Tagore
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