This week, we’ve been spending quality time using literature to help guide us through what Remembrance Day truly means. We began by reading a gorgeous book called A Bear in War by Harry Endrulat and Stephanie Innes. I truly LOVE this book and read it every year (and it always chokes me up!). It is told from the perspective of a teddy bear that belongs to a little girl named Aileen. Her dad goes off to War and she ends up mailing him the teddy bear to keep him company and remind him of home.
There are wonderful illustrations mixed with photographs of real life items as this is a true Canadian story! Students are always amazed that you can actually visit the real teddy bear at the National War Museum in Ottawa!
On Wednesday, we read a wonderfully colourful book called The Peace Book by Todd Parr. In simple ways, it shares different ways that we can think about what peace is. We then brainstormed some of our own thoughts about what peace means and created our own page in our Religion notebook. Students were encouraged to be inspired by Todd Parr’s illustration style, too!
We had some good discussion around whether Remembrance Day should be a national holiday.
What do you think and why?
Finally, check out our Remembrance Day artwork and our thoughts on what we think peace means.