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Jumping out of an airplane that has been hit by enemy fire, being captured by the Germans, marching three months during the winter...... these are the thoughts that come to my mind when I think of Veteran's Day.  These are the thoughts of my grandfather, Howard W. Miller, a WWII Veteran.  My grandfather passed away on October 28, 2006.  I worked with him for several years organizing his military records, interviewing him, and writing his story.  In fact, I created a Shutterfly book in his honor.  This book tells of his service to our country from 1943-1945. In the book are official documents; letters and postcards to and from home, newspaper clippings of when he was captured, maps, cigarette wrappers that he drew on as a prisoner of war, Red Cross correspondence and so much more.  I really created this book for our family so his story could be told to future generations.  However, I love to use it in my classroom, too.  It is a wonderful tool to teach children about primary and secondary resources.  We discuss interviewing and how to put information in chronlogical order.  But, more importantly, it gets my kids excited to write. It gets my kids excited to learn about their family history.  It gets my kids excited to pay more attention to Veteran's Day and think of its true meaning. 


"Dear Folks, Love Howard"
A book created in honor of my grandfather
and his service to our country

A few years ago, my second grade team created a Veteran's Wall at our school.  We provided students with red, white, and blue die-cut stars asking their family to write the names (branch and/or War served) of Veterans on the stars and return them to school where they hung them on the Veteran's Wall.  It was amazing how many stars we had for only one grade level.  The kids took such pride in this wall! So here's a freebie to create your own Veteran's Wall at your school.  Thank you to all of our Veterans for their service to our country.

Veteran's Day Stars Freebie