9/11 Remembered

On this day fifteen years ago, the face of America was changed forever with the attacks on America. This last Friday I did my 9/11 presentation for my sixth graders, most who were born around 2006. Only a few of them had any information about that day. I had two students whose parents lived in some part of New York at the time and had shared info with them. I had one student who lost an uncle in one of the towers.

I had three administrators and a few of he teachers come in throughout the day to sit through my presentation. We started off talking about what freedom is and isn't. Then we talked about positive and negative characteristics in people such as tolerance - intolerance, love - hatred. I had a list of them and asked students what was significant about them. They realized they were opposites and the list on the left was positive and what we wanted to see in people and the list on the right was negative and what we saw in the terrorists that day.

I was careful with the pictures I showed them. I showed them what the Towers, Pentagon, and flight 93 looked like before they were hit and then afterwards. My husband, daughter and I were in New York City ten months after 9/11. One of the first things we did was visit the Intrepid Museum. They had set up a makeshift memorial inside. I showed a timeline to the students of that event from pictures I had taken at that memorial.  I showed them pictures of Ground Zero I had taken. We talked about the memorials that people created.  Finally I told them of the personal connections I had to that day. I first learned about the events from one of my students who came running into the school pounding on my hall doors screaming my name. She was in a panic. Since my daughter danced with her I assumed something terrible had happened to her parents. I let her in and she shot past me running to my room to turn on the TV. She and her family had been in NY with our principal and his family just a few months before and had been at the top of the Towers.  We ran up the hallway and told another teacher to turn on his TV and then ran and told the principal. Our principal made us leave the TVs on all day long. We had block scheduling, so that meant I had sixth graders first thing for ninety minutes. We sat and talked and about what we were seeing. I tried to reassure them that everything was okay when I didn't know if it was. They started talking about what they would do if they were in the Towers.  That made me wonder what would happen if three teens found themselves in the Twin Towers on 9/11. That was what sparked the idea for my book Steps to Courage.

 I cried as I wrote that book because it was hard. It brought back all the memories and all of the feelings I had that day. To this day I can't read my book without crying. I did a lot of research. I worked with a lady at school who had lived in New Jersey and was able to help me with a lot of the information I needed about subways. We talked for hours about what it was like for her on that day.  There were several personal connections that day.  My husbands sister lived in Washington, D.C.   She said the explosion at the Pentagon was so strong it threw her dishes out of her cabinets. His cousin's daughter had gone across the street from the Pentagon to pick up printing for a meeting. She stepped out in time to see the plane hit.  We didn't hear from her for three days so we didn't know if she was alive or not.  My sister lost a former roommate in one of the towers. She'd left behind a husband and a one year old. They never found her body. I remember her aunt coming to tell us about a memorial service for her and how they'd finally had her declared legally dead so they could move on.

I want my students to understand that fear, hatred and bigotry are just a few of the things that prompted these attacks.  I also wanted them to see that we as Americans join together to show compassion during a time of adversity. Those of us who lived through that day will always remember. May we all remember those who lost their lives on that day.

I have included the powerpoint I showed to my students.

Two Beautiful Nonfiction Books

How They Became Famous Dancers – Anne Dunkin

Genre: Middle Grade, Young Adult, Nonfiction

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review the opinions expressed here are my own.

This is a wonderful book. My daughter loved dance and at one time was enrolled in eight different dance classes. She could tell me about many of the people who shaped dance in recent years. This book takes us way back to Louis the XIV. This book is the story of twelve dancers who cover the year from the early 1600s to the year 2000. I had not heard of many of these dancers. Their passion for dance was so strong they let nothing stand in their way. In addition to the biographies, at the end of each chapter was a section called “Create a Dance”. This section allows you the reader to create a dance in the style of the dance you had just studied. This is a book I will put on my shelves once I have shared it with my daughter.

Galloping to Freedom: Saving the Adobe Town Appaloosas – Carol J. Walker

Genre: Nonfiction

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

After reading this book I’ll never look at or think about wild horses in the same way. This is the story of a rescue of Americas wild horses as captured through beautiful photographs of the photographer. The photographer was able to take pictures of these horses in the wild, when they were captured and when they were resettled onto safe sanctuaries. Thanks to her photographs many horse families were kept together. Unfortunately when she checked in on some of the horses she learned that some of the mare had given birth in such crowed corrals that the foals did not survive. This is a story of sadness and hope. The sadness as we see progress taking away the lands of those who had the right to live there, the wild horses. It is also a story of hope as we see several people who cared enough to set aside areas that would be safe sanctuaries. I think one of the saddest things was that they sterilized all of the males. This means in some cases the end of the line of those fine stallions. Sometimes I read books like this and wonder why God put humans over animals if we were going to treat them the way we do.

Just a Drop of Water by Kerry O'Malley Cerra

Genre: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction
Source: I purchased a copy

I have read three stories in the last few days about 9/11 for middle grade students. This story is by far my favorite. Jake and Sam  have been best friends for years. They run cross country together.  They have become friends with the new kid Kirk.  His father works in Washington. When 9/11 happens their friendship will be tested. Shortly after this terrible event, Jake's mother begins to flip out. When Jake and Sam's friend Bobby turns against Sam, Jake takes revenge.The reason is simple, Sam is a Muslim American.  He has never practiced his religion so he knows nothing about it. When his father is questioned and then taken away by the FBI, people begin to think the worst.

This story shows two things. It shows how so many people came together, and it also shows how some people let fear affect them. When prejudice rears its ugly head what lessons will each of the characters learn?

This is a book I will be reading with my students starting next week.  I am so pleased to have had several sites recommend this as a must read book for middle grade classrooms.