September 12th

Yesterday, we celebrated the 12th anniversary of the attacks on September 11th. When teaching first grade, this is a very hard topic to discuss. These kids were not even born when that happened. As a school, we took a moment of silence at 8:47 am followed by a short prayer. The kids had no clue why we did it. I normally wait until the next day to bring up the topic. I have this book September 12th: We Knew Everything Would Be All Right. The book is written and illustrated by a first grade class in Missouri. I read the book today to the class and we talked about what happened. I try not to focus on the actual events of the day. It tends to scare so many of the kids. I try to focus on the next day. The book talks about how even though all of those bad things happened, everything still goes on. They still get up in the morning. They still go to school. Their teacher still reads to them. Their parents still tuck them in at night. We focused on the fact that time still moves on, even with all of the bad things that happened. The kids paid very close attention to the book and were very involved. It is hard to answer so many of the questions that come from a first grade mind about such a sad event. Overall, the kids did a great job handling the topic.