If you follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, then you know that I truly respect American holidays like Veterans Day, Memorial Day, and Flag Day and love to bring the patriotism behind them into the classroom.
When the calendar is turned to May, Memorial Day is front and center in my upper elementary classroom. You can find my students knee-deep in learning about this important holiday through close reading, content writing, and critical thinking activities, such as comparing and contrasting Veterans Day and Memorial Day. I love teaching students how to differentiate between American holidays and understand the history behind each.
No matter how you involve your students in learning about Memorial Day, these FREE Memorial Day videos will inspire, educate, and motivate your students to learn more about our American holidays. And bonus...you can grab a set of note-taking graphic organizers for free at the bottom of this post, perfect to help your students take notes as they watch these educational videos.
Note: As with any video, website, or resource that you bring into your classroom, be sure to preview each video before sharing with your class to make sure that they are appropriate for your cohort of students.
History of Memorial Day PBS Kids 1 min 40 seconds
This quick, fast-paced video is the perfect introduction about Memorial Day for upper elementary students. The history and origin of the holiday are included, making it a great jumping-off video to watch before your Memorial Day lessons even begin.
Why Do We Celebrate Memorial Day? by Clarify by PlayBac 4 mins 38 seconds
IClear and easy to follow, this video reminds students WHY we celebrate this holiday. This video ends by reminding students this is an important holiday that is more than just BBQing. Lesson complete!
Why Do We Celebrate Memorial Day? by Xsploor 11mins
This is the longest video and explains in kid-friendly language why Memorial Day is celebrated. Students will learn a lot from this video.BrainPOP and BrainPOPJr varied times around 5 minutes
While Brainpop and Brainpop Jr are {amazing} subscription websites, they do offer free videos of the week. When May begins, they usually have free videoes of the week related to America and Memorial Day. Be sure to check their sites weekly to see what free videos they are offering that week. If you are unfamiliar with these sites, Brainpopjr is geared towards grades 1-3 and Brainpop is geared towards 4th grade and older.BrainPOP does have a video specifically about Memorial Day, while BrainPOPJr offers videos related to America and US Symbols that are usually FREE during Memorial Day Week.
No matter how you decide to bring Memorial Day (and other American holidays) into your classroom, include these videos. Search through these websites to engage students, too. Have students take notes, summarize, discuss, or just enjoy the information they are learning in different ways to honor our soldiers and learn about important American history.
You might be interested in these activities:
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