Veterans Day

The first graders at our school complete a Veterans Day project each year that requires them to visit the Veterans Memorial in town.  Collin and Reagan both did this in first grade, and during one visit when we were looking for the names of relatives on the memorial, Reagan noticed that Great Grandpa Paskowski did not have a brick on the memorial walkway.  She said that she wanted to get him a brick, and I said we would work on that.

Reagan is now in third grade, and we FINALLY followed through with the purchase of the brick.  Over the summer, we visited the veterans agent and completed the paperwork.  At that time, Reagan presented Grandpa with a copy of the brick order and a card that she made for him.

The brick was laid and we attended the ceremony honoring all veterans on Veterans Day.

After the ceremony, we went to Jerry Remy's for lunch.

Great Grandpa gave Reagan a nice card thanking her for the brick.

I'm sure this Veterans Day will always be very memorable for our family.

Veterans Day and Hiding Turkeys

 Reagan had some interesting homework assignments over the weekend.

First, we had to go to the Veterans Memorial Walkway in town and spend some time gathering information.  I remember doing this with Collin when he was in first grade and both times I have thought it was a great project.

Don't mind the outfit - we came right from gymnastics.

 She had to find two quotes by President John F. Kennedy.

Reagan had to use crayon to do a rubbing of a brick and she chose this one.  We couldn't find a brick with the name of anyone we know, so this is just a random selection.

 We did find Great Grandpa's name on the memorial for his service in World War II, so Reagan decided to add a rubbing of his name to her paper.  I was happy to see how proud she was of his service.  Six is really young to understand war and service in the military, so I can't say that she really understood, but she was happy to see his name there.  We have to go back because I didn't even think to look for the name of her Great Grandfather Killoran.

On a much lighter note, Reagan was also given the task of helping a turkey avoid the fate of becoming Thanksgiving dinner by creating a disguise to keep him safe.  Reagan had a similar assignment in Kindergarten when she chose to disguise her turkey as Rapunzel.  This year, she chose a clown costume.

There is definitely no turkey in sight at this circus!

Reagan enjoyed both of these assignments.  I like to see how proud she is of her work and I am thrilled that she takes charge of each assignment with minimal assistance from me or Dad.  She needed a little help with each assignment, but she was happy to do what she could on her own!

Veterans Day

C had to complete a Veterans Day project for school this week, and R decided that she wanted to do the project too.

First we talked about the word "veteran".  C knew the definition, but R did not so we had a discussion about the military and why we are thankful for the service men and women.  C also told us about the different branches of the military.

Then we visited the Veterans' Memorial Walkway in our town.  C and R each made a rubbing of a brick honoring a veteran.

We spent a few minutes reading some of the plaques and monuments before we left.

There was quite the crowd of first graders there working on this project, so I hope to visit the memorial again at a time when we can focus on the monuments and walkway.

I was very happy to spend time doing this project with C and R.  The memorial is located outside of the public library and even though we walk by it several times a month, I am embarrassed to say that we have never stopped to read any of the monuments before.

I am proud to be an American and so very thankful for the service men and women who sacrifice so much to protect and uphold our Constitution and keep us safe.