Veterans Day is November 11th. To create an observance that truly helps students understand the meaning and significance of Veterans Day, prepare your students by provoking their curiosity and helping them grow their knowledge about Veterans Day and veterans' issues. You can find quality instructional materials from INFOhio.
Educator Tools is a repository of instructional materials purchased, licensed, or developed by INFOhio to support Ohio's Learning Standards and high-quality instructional practices. Designed for educators, this tool has more than 10,000 instructional materials to support student learning and supplement curricula. Search using a keyword or by using the filters on the left.
Search using the keyword "veterans" to find a variety of materials to use with students in the classroom, including eBooks and videos. Use the Grade Level or the Item Type limiter on the left to narrow your results.
Be sure to explore the Deskercise series featuring Slim Goodbody. This series has a video for each day of the holiday week. Slim Goodbody leads primary students through exercises at their desk while they learn about Veterans Day as well as other events in US history. Click the green heart in the lower left corner of the resource tile to add it to a favorites list. Click the green button at the top of the screen next to the address bar to email the list or copy a URL for later.
Remember to email your favorites to yourself or your colleagues at the end of each session as favorites are stored for a single session only.
When sharing with students, use the LMS Direct link on the item's information page.
EBSCO's Explora interfaces are reliable sources of age-appropriate content. Find resources to share for students using Explora for Grades PreK-5, Explora for Grades 6-8, and Explora for Grades 9-12.
A keyword search for "veterans day" in Explora for Grades PreK-5 yields results including magazine and newspaper articles, eBooks, and reference sources. Apply additional limiters to narrow your results, or browse the list to find materials to share with students about this day.
One result is from a 2023 Scholastic News article. This popular classroom magazine can be viewed as HTML text or PDF, which is the same as the print version. Share the colorful article with students on a projector to help them learn about the ways veterans can be honored on their special day.
Explora for Grades 6-8 also includes Scholastic News. Consider using this infographic with questions (top portion of the article) with middle grade students. This activity provides facts and data about Veterans Day and directs students to analyze the graphic.
Older students will benefit from a resource with opposing viewpoints to learn about both sides of a topic. Points of View Reference Source has point and counterpoint articles for current topics.
Under Explore Topics, choose War and Peace. From there, students can explore a variety of related sub-topics that can affect veterans.
Clicking Draft vs. Volunteer Military Service provides students with an overview, point, and counterpoint articles.
Along with a point and counterpoint, topics include a Guide to Critical Analysis. This valuable tool for students supports them as they evaluate the topic and read with a critical eye to better prepare them for research or debate on the topic.
World Book encyclopedias provide a comprehensive overview of topics, including veterans. Be sure to check out World Book Kids (grades K-5) and World Book Student (grades 5-10, pictured below) to find a variety of results about veterans and their contribution to the United States.
For high school students, check out the Teaching With Documents feature from World Book Advanced. Click Research & Resources, and choose Educator Tools from the list. On the left, click Teaching with Documents. Each topic has primary source documents with activities and questions to use for critical thinking and analysis.
Under World War II, choose the first option to read letters from females who wanted to serve and were eventually granted permission to fly planes during war times. This document is a great way to talk more about women as veterans and the sacrifices they made for their country.
Finally, check out Open Space, a repository for quality web resources curated by INFOhio. A keyword search for "veterans" includes several results, including lesson plans and videos from providers such as PBS Learning Media and ReadWriteThink. Use the filters on the left to narrow your search by Education Level or Material Type.
Use this lesson plan from PBS NewsHour with middle and high school students to explore the challenges faced by many veterans.
If you need quality instructional materials for Veterans Day, INFOhio has what you are looking for! Need help? Contact us at support.infohio.org.
Emily Rozmus is a Senior Instructional Specialist at INFOhio. She has worked in education for more than 30 years, first as a secondary English teacher and district librarian before starting at INFOhio in 2013. Emily has developed district growth plans, integrated technology, created instruction for information literacy, fostered teacher development, and worked on teams to implement curriculum. At INFOhio, she focuses on training educators to use INFOhio resources to improve early learning. She also works to share research and best practices for helping students be better readers of INFOhio's digital text.
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