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Brief Description
Students create a timeline of U.S. conflict and a Shoebox
Memorial Day Parade to commemorate soldiers who fought for freedom.
Objectives
Students will
- work in small groups or independently.
- create a timeline of U.S. war and conflict.
- make "shoebox floats" to represent and commemorate soldiers throughout history.
Keywords
War, soldiers, servicemen, service women, Memorial Day, Veterans
Day, parade, float, shoebox, timeline, conflict, Revolutionary
War, American Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican-American War,
Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II,
Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Iraq, Desert Storm,
diorama
Materials Needed
- shoebox (one for each student or small group of students)
- library and/or Internet resource materials
- a timeline (teacher or student created)
- art supplies for creating posters
Lesson Plan
Throughout history, the United States has found itself involved
in wars on our own soil and around the globe. In total, the
United States has taken part in more than 50 wars, conflicts,
or incidents that have involved the sacrifice of American
servicemen and women. Memorial Day is all about commemorating
the lives of service personnel who gave up their lives in
the name of freedom. In this lesson, students memorialize
those lives by creating a timeline of the history of U.S.
conflict. A culminating project challenges students to create
a shoebox float to commemorate one conflict and the Americans
who served in it.
Lesson Resources:
* History
of Sacrifice at at http://remember.gov/history/statistics.cfm
* Alternative resource: Americans
Killed in Action at http://members.aol.com/usregistry/allwars.htm
You might approach this lesson in a variety of ways. Following
are a couple of possible scenarios for the lesson:
- Arrange students into pairs or groups of three or four;
give each group a time period or a war/conflict to
research.
- Another alternative would be to assign each student a
war to research. If you teach older students, researching
some of the smaller conflicts will be an excellent and challenging
lesson; if you teach elementary or middle level students,
you might limit research to the 24 conflicts (including
Operation Iraqui Freedom) in which more than 100 lives were
sacrificed.
Lesson Notes
Following are some general notes about the timeline lesson:
* Older students can create the timeline themselves; if
you teach elementary-level students, you might want to
create the timeline -- with dates already marked. You
might even mark the names of the wars/conflicts students
will research.
* Since the listing of U.S. conflicts contains more than
50 incidents, you might assign each older student one
or two to research. If you teach younger students, you
might limit the lesson/research to those conflicts in
which significant numbers of lives were lost (for example,
100 or more service members sacrificed).
* Post the timeline at eye level; if that is not possible
-- if the timeline must be posted at above-the-bulletin-board
level -- students should write larger, so the timeline
can be easily read. |
Students use library and/or Internet resources to complete their
research assignments. [See additional lesson notes in the sidebar.]
Poster Activities
- Students might create posters to accompany the war(s)
they research. The posters can appear above or below the
timeline. Use strands of thick yarn to connect each poster
to the spot on the timeline that indicates when the war
began. The posters might show the name of the war, its dates,
the causes of the war, and the number of casualties.
- Students' posters might include artwork they create or
illustrations printed from the Internet.
- The timeline might also illustrate the evolution of the
U.S. flag. Students might add a flag to their poster to
show how the flag looked during the conflict. (Resource:
The
Flags of the United States of America)
- The posters might include names and/or images of some
of the key players in the wars.
Culminating Project: The Shoebox Parade
After students have completed their research about the war/conflict
they were assigned, each student or team of students will
be responsible for creating a shoebox float to commemorate
that war for a classroom Memorial Day Shoebox Parade. They
will use a shoebox, turned upside down, as their float surface.
They will decorate with soldiers (perhaps made out of paper
with cardboard "stands" to support them) dressed appropriately
for battle. The floats might also include other items that
are indicative of the war -- for example, transportation the
soldiers might have used, tools of war, posters, indicators
of the place where the war took place or the time period in
which it happened, and so on. The floats are limited only
by students' imaginations.
Assessment
Students present their posters and shoebox floats to their
classmates; they explain how their posters and floats reflect
the battle and the time period. If students work in pairs,
one member of each pair can present the poster and its information
and the other can present the float and their rationale for
it. Students might grade each of their group members on effort;
or students' classmates might grade their presentations.
Lesson Plan Source
Education World
Submitted By
Gary Hopkins
National Standards
FINE ARTS: Visual Arts
GRADES 5 - 8
NA-VA.5-8.1
Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
NA-VA.5-8.2
Using Knowledge of Structures and Functions
NA-VA.5-8.3
Choosing and Evaluating A Range of Subject Matter, Symbols,
and Ideas
NA-VA.5-8.6
Making Connections Between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines
GRADES 9 - 12
NA-VA.9-12.1
Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
NA-VA.9-12.2
Using Knowledge of Structures and Functions
NA-VA.9-12.3
Choosing and Evaluating A Range of Subject Matter, Symbols,
and Ideas
NA-VA.9-12.6
Making Connections Between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines
LANGUAGE ARTS: English
GRADES K - 12
NL-ENG.K-12.1
Reading for Perspective
NL-ENG.K-12.2
Reading for Understanding
NL-ENG.K-12.4
Communication Skills
NL-ENG.K-12.6
Applying Knowledge
NL-ENG.K-12.8
Developing Research Skills
NL-ENG.K-12.12
Applying Language Skills
MATHEMATICS: Measurement
GRADES 3 - 5
NM-MEA.3-5.1
Understand Measurable Attributes of Objects and the Units,
Systems, and Processes of Measurement
GRADES 6 - 8
NM-MEA.6-8.1
Understand Measurable Attributes of Objects and the Units,
Systems, and Processes of Measurement
GRADES 9 - 12
NM-MEA.9-12.1
Understand Measurable Attributes of Objects and the Units,
Systems, and Processes of Measurement
NM-MEA.9-12.2
Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine
Measurements
SOCIAL SCIENCES: U.S. History
GRADES K - 4
NSS-USH.K-4.3
The History of the United States: Democratic Principles and
Values and the People from Many Cultures Who Contributed to
Its Cultural, Economic, and Political Heritage
GRADES 5 - 12
NSS-USH.5-12.1
to 12.10 All Eras
SOCIAL SCIENCES: World History
GRADES 5 - 12
NSS-WH.5-12.6
Global Expansion and Encounter, 1450-1770
NSS-WH.5-12.7
An Age of Revolutions, 1750-1914
NSS-WH.5-12.8
The 20th Century
TECHNOLOGY
GRADES K - 12
NT.K-12.1
Basic Operations and Concepts
NT.K-12.5
Technology Research Tools
Find more Memorial Day activity ideas in Education World's
Memorial Day
Archive.
Click to return to this week's Lesson Planning article, Remembering
Those Who Gave Their Lives: Lessons for Memorial Day.
Originally published 05/16/2003
Last updated 04/30/2008
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