For many students, Memorial Day is about a fun three-day weekend and getting together with family. However, Memorial Day is more than that. It’s an extremely important day to honor and remember those who have paid the ultimate price by serving our country. These brave men and women deserve to be celebrated and remembered.
It may be close to the end of the school year, but we can still teach our students about this important day! We can engage them in lessons and activities that center around Memorial Day and the history behind it.
So how do you teach Memorial Day?
Even with young elementary students, there are still so many things you can do to celebrate Memorial Day. You can teach it in a way that is educational and engaging for little learners.
Here are some ideas to get you started!
- Check out this list of information on Memorial for some interesting and little-known facts about this holiday and why we celebrate it. It’s a lot to read for younger students, so you’ll want to break up the information in a way that is easy to understand for younger students.
- Take a virtual field trip. I love virtual field trips because they are such a great way to allow students to experience something new without leaving the safety of the classroom. The National Museum of The Marine Corps offers a fascinating virtual tour that you can watch from anywhere.
- Do some Memorial Day classroom activities. One of the best ways to get students interested in learning is to make it fun. Think of fun ways to incorporate it in your lessons. You could find some simple Memorial Day reading passages or add some Memorial Day themed word problems to your math centers. The possibilities are endless. By adding it to your reading, math, or science lessons, you can cover multiple topics/standards at once.
If you love the idea of doing Memorial Day activities but don’t have time to plan and prep, you’ll love these resources. I did all of the work for you!
For early elementary students, these Memorial Day read and follow directions activities are perfect.
Created with 1st and 2nd grade in mind, these no-prep activities make learning fun! Students simply read sentences and color a picture to follow the directions. They’ll practice reading sight words and other reading skills. Remember, you can use these resources in Google Classroom as well! This is for 1st and 2nd grades but I use it as a listening and following directions activity with my Kindergarten (and PreK) students!
These Memorial Day activities are perfect for 4th-5th grade students and are great for getting students engaged!
Students in 4th and 5th grades will enjoy the informative reading. This resource is also Easel compatible if you want to make it digital or you can take a look at the digital version that is created with Google Slides.
You will find worksheets that can be used for assessments, small groups, or centers. The components of this resource make it easy to differentiate your instruction. Many Common Core objectives are covered as well. Make sure to check it out!
Add some patriotic fun to your math lessons with these Memorial Day math worksheets for first grade.
Your 1st graders and 2nd graders will practice many important math skills! Place value, addition sums to 20 with fun color-by-code, dot-to-dot, brainteasers, and more. Use for Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, or any other patriotic holiday! OR…..you can use any time of the year when you are covering these skills.
For more patriotic activities for Memorial Day, check out these American Symbols Worksheets, this History of the Pledge resource, or any of the resources listed here in my shop!
What are your favorite ways to teach Memorial Day? Let me know in the comments!
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