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1. Let's Celebrate! - Plan a Memorial Day Celebration
Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8
Subjects: Social Studies, Visual Arts, Music
Plan a classroom, school or community Memorial Day celebration for local heroes! Formal celebrations typically include:
Students should work in groups to accomplish each aspect of the ceremony (e.g., one group selects the music, another group selects or composes a poem(s), etc.). Will your program be hosted by a single emcee, or will several students take joint responsibility? Will you play recorded music, or will the school band be able to play?
As part of their celebration, students can create a patriotic wall in their schools, which would feature patriotic art, crafts, and decorations — political cartoons may be added for humor and commentary.
Resources
VFW: Suggested Community Program
www.vfw.org/amesm/prog.shtmlUS Memorial Day History and Information
http://www.usmemorialday.org/Dr. Seuss Went to War: A Catalog of Political Cartoons
orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/Patriotic Crafts for kids
www.dltk-kids.com/usa/crafts.html
2. The Music of Memorial Day
Grades: MS, HS
Subjects: Music, Language Arts, History, Civics
Music is one of the ways society deals with tragedy, death and mourning. Music has served as an integral part of Memorial Day celebrations, dating back to the origins of the holiday when women's groups in the South began decorating graves before the end of the Civil War.
Have students break into groups and chose one of the songs below. Have them research the historical events and social climate which influenced the making of each song. When they finish, the groups may compare their findings. How has this genre of music changed over time? What do the songs have in common?
Have students view this year's National Memorial Day Concert. How does the concert compare with what students have learned about music and its role in helping society deal with tragedy?
Resources
NIEH Kids: Patriotic Song Index
www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/musicpatriot.htmThe Atlantic: The history of the Battle Hymn of the Republic
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/battlehymn.htmLyrics for "Goodnight Saigon"
http://www.billyjoel.com/discography/saigon.html
National Memorial Day Concert
pbs.org/memorialdayconcert/Arthur: Brain's Big book of Holiday Terms
pbskids.org/arthur/holiday/glossary/index.htmlThe American Experience: D Day
pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dday/The American Experience: The Presidents
pbs.org/wgbh/amex/archives_themes_presidents.htmlThe American Experience: War & Politics
pbs.org/wgbh/amex/archives_themes_war.htmlOnline NewsHour: Roots of Memory, Historians Remember Memorial Day (5/24/96)
pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/roots_memory_5-27.htmlOnline NewsHour: Essay: Memorial Days (5/29/00)
pbs.org/newshour/essays/may00/rosenblatt_5-29.htmlOnline NewsHour: Memorial Day (5/25/97)
United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky reflects on the Vietnam War.
pbs.org/newshour/bb/poems/pinsky_5-25.htmThe Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It
pbs.org/itvs/thegoodwar/index.htmlA Capitol Fourth, Flag History
pbs.org/capitolfourth/flag.html
Don't miss this program airing in May! Check MPT's Schedule for the most accurate air date and time.
National Memorial Day Concert
Air Date: Sunday, May 26, 2002,
8:00 p.m. ET.
Web Site: pbs.org/memorialdayconcert/
After the events of September 11, how does a country honor the bravery of the fallen and the courage of its heroes? The NATIONAL MEMORIAL DAY CONCERT (2002) invites the nation to pay special tribute to the Americans who are serving in the war against terrorism; the thousands of soldiers who endured World War II's Bataan Death March; and the victims and heroes of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. The 90-minute live performance, broadcast from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, airs on PBS Sunday, May 26, 2002, 8:00 p.m. ET. The concert is broadcast overseas via the American Forces Radio and Television network.
The American Experience, "Ulysses S. Grant"
Air Date: Sunday,
May 5, 2002, 9:00 p.m. ET; Sunday May 12, 2002, 9:00 p.m. ET.
Web Site:
pbs.org/amex/grant/
American Experience presents "Ulysses S. Grant," a two-part, four-hour portrait of the greatest Union hero of the Civil War. Liev Schreiber narrates the latest entry in American Experience's acclaimed series of presidential portraits.
Allies at War
Air Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2002, 9:00 p.m.
ET.
To the outside world, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General Charles de Gaulle of France were allies in the fight against Hitler. But behind the appearance of unity among these titans were contentious private battles that threatened the entire war effort. Allies at War is the first documentary ever to reveal this intensely personal drama of rancor and deceit played out against the backdrop of World War II. The two-hour program features rare archival footage, private correspondence and interviews with historians and insiders, including FDR's grandson Curtis Roosevelt.
