We had another wonderful week full of wonderful weather! I’ve started something new with my little munchkins. On days when it is sunny, calm, and somewhat ambient in temperature, we all go out for a picnic at lunch time. The kids love it because as soon as they finish their food, they can dash to the playground and start hopping about instead of waiting until the slow pokes finish before we go outside. I love it because I can enjoy being outdoors, and it keeps the weeks from getting too monotonous. Texas has only a few really nice months–I want to enjoy them.
Another fun thing we did during the week was celebrate Veteran’s Day. We drew a soldier on a piece of chart paper and wrote qualities of veterans. Then the munchkins watched a video about veterans and why we have a holiday to honor them. As soon as the video was over, a few hands shot up. I called on my of the little girls who asked me,
Why does war happen?
Some people think teaching is easy. They are wrong. Most people think answering first grade questions is easy. They are right most of the time, but this was not one of those times. I told the little girl that it was a very complicated question, and even very smart people don’t have all the answers. I told them that wars usually happened because someone thought something was unfair, but they fought instead of using an “I-statement” i.e. “I don’t like it when you call me names.” Except, it would be more like “I don’t like it when you invade Poland.” The munchkins were satisfied with that answer and we went on to talk more about veterans. I told them that my grandpa was in the military. Many of them also had veterans in the family.
Later in that week, at least 4 children came up and told me that they wanted to be veterans when they grew up. 🙂