Basics

• Project TitleMemorial Day Celebration
• ThemeThe theme of this project is to provide our students with an awareness of the importance of veterans to our country. The United States, as a country, is indebted to those who have served in all of the branches of our armed services, to ensure that we can enjoy the freedoms set forth in our Constitution.
• Submitted ByJulie Guerin, Rusti Plants-Prouty, Amy Polito, Carol Willard, Susan Rowden, Linda Friedman
• OrganizationTantasqua Regional Junior High School
• Brief DescriptionThis project is an interdisciplinary effort that culminates with our Memorial Day Celebration. Prior to Memorial Day, students will be reading the novel SUNRISE OVER FALLUJAH by Walter Dean Myers, about the current situation in Iraq. Students will also be writing poetry in English and reading classes that will be included in a booklet published for the Memorial Day Celebration, PATRIOTIC PROSE & POETRY.
  In social studies classes, students will be interviewing veterans. These interviews will be written in prose in English classes and included in the booklet of student work. Additionally in social studies, they will be discussing current events as they apply to the current situation in Iraq.
  In art classes, students will be creating artistic renditions of famous battle scenes using silk flowers, based on models viewed at the Worcester Art Museum. They will also be creating placemats for the Memorial Day breakfast for veterans. These will include various student poems that will be laminated for use in future years.
  This entire project will culminate on the Friday before Memorial Day with our Memorial Day Celebration. This begins with a breakfast for veterans hosted by the eighth grade. An assembly follows, with speeches from local dignitaries, student presentations, and musical performances. All of the veterans leave with their own copy of PATRIOTIC PROSE & POETRY and a thank you note made in health class.
• Materials / ResourcesBooks - SUNRISE OVER FALLUJAH
  Publishing costs - PATRIOTIC PROSE & POETRY
  Placemat supplies and laminating paper
  Silk flowers
  Plaque to commemorate a former student who died in Iraq
  Favors for the Veterans
• Team membersJulie Guerin, Carol Willard, Susan Rowden, Rusti Plants-Prouty, Ellen Canavan, Amy Polito
• Pre-requisite knowledgeKnowledge about the rights and responsibilities of American citizens.
  Communication Skills - speaking, listening, and writing.
  Understaning the meaning of United States veterans.
• Technical support neededMicrosoft Word and Publisher

Key Questions

• Key QuestionsWhy are veterans important to this nation?
  What freedoms have our veterans ensured for us?
  What are the rights and duties of United States citizens?
  How does Art memorialize a veteran`s role in shaping our country?
• Connections: How or why was this topic identified? Why is it meaningful?This project developed as an addition to an existing endeavor at Tantasqua. We have always felt that veterans should be recognized for their contributions to our country. This project allows us to expand this into an interdisciplinary effort.
• Background Research: What resources were used to find background information for this project?Students will be interviewing veterans to learn more about their individual contributions to our country.
  The additional novel was selected to bring veteran appreciation and recognition up to the current crisis in Iraq.
  The art component was added to provide an additional dimension to this project.
• Outcomes: What was the outcome? How was it shared or applied in the community?The outcome was the implementation of an expanded Memorial Day Celebration on the Friday before Memorial Day. Local veterans and local dignitaries attended a breakfast, interacted with our students, and viewed what our students have created. After the breakfast there was a ceremony. The ceremony included speeches, students reading their writing, patriotic music and songs.

Units / Activities

• Poetry UnitStudents will read poetry and identify, analyze and apply knowledge of: poem structure elements, various kinds of poems, and themes in a poem and provide evidence to support their understanding.
  Students will identify and analyze how a poet appeals to the senses, creates imagery, suggests mood, and sets the tone.
  Students will become more familiar with word usage; synonyms, the degrees(s) of emotion contained in words and the manipulation of language to impact meaning. The third step would be to focus on the technical ingredients, adding alliteration, personification, color, imagery and similes, and rigidly try to adhere to consistency and a pattern of rhyme.
  Through the use of dramatic reading students build a greater understanding of poetry and the poetCopies of Poems, Pictures of war scenes, poetic terms for each poem presented, highlighter pen, & poetry journals.
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  View/Download File: Poetry Unit Plan

  View/Download File: /project22_2716/csl Lesson Plan Template.doc

  View/Download File: /project22_2716/CSL war poetry_797.doc

• Patriotic Prose & Poetry assignmentStudents will interview veterans and write phase biographies. They will write essays and poetry related to America`s freedoms and the veterans who have allowed us to maintain these freedoms. The will be developing skills required in the ELA frameworks.Samples of phase biographies, essay, and poetry.
• Novel - SUNRISE OVER FALLUJAHStudents will read the Walter Dean Myers novel and learn about the current crisis in Iraq.Discussion/study guide
• Interviews of veteransStudents, through social studies classes, will interview veterans. these interviews will be used to create phase biographies in English class. Some of these will be published in Patriotic Prose & Poetry.Suggested interview questions
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  View/Download File: /project22_2716/Memorial Day Celebration.doc

  View/Download File: /project22_2716/Memorial Day Celebration.doc

  View/Download File: /project22_2716/mock interview questions.doc

• Current events- Keeping up with current activities in Iraq and Afghan-istanIn social studies classes the students discuss current events. The students develop an understanding of political issues in the Middle East and the impact on global events. The Boston Globe Channel 1
• Art - Silk flower arrange-ments depicting battle scenesStudents will be viewing historical artwork related to veterans. Using silk flowers, students will be recreating these pieces of art for display during the Memorial Day breakfast and celebration.Resource - Worcester Art Museum Exhibit Placard-including Frameworks Photos of Floral Interpretations
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  Web Link: http://www.worcesterart.org/Events/Flora/Flora_08/flora_in_winter_2008.html

  View/Download File: /project22_2716/Art Exhibit Placard FLORAL INTERPRETATIONS OF HISTORIC ART.doc

  View/Download File: /project22_2716/FLORAL INTERPRETATIONS OF MEMORIAL.doc

• Art -Poetry placematsPoetry written in English and Reading classes will be transferred to place mats that will be used at the Memorial Day breakfast for veterans.Student work.
• HealthStudents will be creating favors, baking, and serving during the Memorial Day breakfast.
• Breakfast and CeremonyLocal veterans are invited to a breakfast and Memorial Day Ceremony.
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  View/Download File: /project22_2716/mdci.doc

  View/Download File: /project22_2716/Memorial Day Ceremony - Letter to parents.doc

Instructional Techniques

• Pre-writing Journal thoughts and ideas about poems Coaching as needed Poetry Writing Instruction as needed Interactive experience through exploration of poetry, preparation, brainstorming activities, repeated readings of chosen poems, note observations in poetry journals, underline/highlight significant areas of poems independently, showing important connections, contradictions, and colossal moments, constant vocab. and literary terms related to poetry review.
• Mock interviewsUsing interview questions about pre-school in the year 2000, students practiced their interview strategies with their classmates.
• Graphic organizersFrameworks for students to evaluate information gathered from the interviews determining facts, personal anecdotes, and assessing the impact of their experience with the military.
• VocabularyReview unfamiliar military vocabulary.Review of poetic elements and vocabulary
• Reading, writing , and evaluating strategies referred to in the ELA FrameworksExample: peer editing, sharing of student of work, oral retelling and readings of poems
• Reflective writingStudents will be sharing their thoughts on the importance of America`s veterans. Answering poetry related questions.
• Web SearchStudents may need to do additional research to provide background information.Online poetry finder and for relevant images to illustrate their poems.

Assessment Techniques

• Assess finished Memorial Day poems for required elements and Peer Evaluations.Analyze and interpret poetry through repeated oral and silent readings and whole class.
  Small group discussions in reference to poems being studied.
  Students will listen to and read a variety of Memorial Day/ war poems, discuss their differing elements and characteristics while recording them on a chart for the purpose of comparison.
  Students will read poems for increased fluency and improvement of presentation & oral language skills.
  Students will write Memorial Day poems, using the discussed and required poetic techniques, illustrate them, and present them orally to an audience.
  Using a poem as a model, find a new poem that preserves the rhythm and structure of the studied poem. I.E. Inspired by
• Reflections on Memorial DayThe students share their thoughts about the ceremony at the school. The students participate in a discussion about how their towns celebrated Memorial Day and share family activities from Memorial Day week-end. After the discussion the students write an essay on the true meaning of Memorial Day and compare the essay to their writing when we started the unit.
  Students will complete various journal entries.
• Study guide and test on novelStudents will complete the study guide and final test on the book Sunrise Over Fallujah.
• Esaays/PoemsStudents will complete the essay and/or poetry assignments. Some of their work will be published along with the veteran phase biographies in Patriotic Prose & Poetry.

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Tags = history | veterans | Subject = ELA, History, Arts, Service_Learning | Grade Level = MS | Time Period = | Program/Funding = |

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Direct website link to this project: http://ContextualLearningPortal.org/contextual.asp?projectnumber=22.2716