Teaching Tuesday: Veterans Day Parade

This was our third Veterans Day event at my school.  Each year has been a little different, and last year there was rain and it was 30 degrees, so we had to try plan b-an inside parade.  This was much cuter with students, but due to privacy, I'll just post the gist.  We started the day with a flag ceremony (thanks to the girl scout troop).  Our PE teacher had a City Councilman come and talk about Veterans, and we had Veterans (family members of ours students and those in our community) come and sit up front).  The students all sat facing them.
After the ceremony we had a parade through the halls.  The year before we 'paraded' down to a local nursing home.  This year, our plan was to head down the street to a nearby church.  Each grade level submits a 'float' for the parade and we give an award to the winning float.  The teachers have some pretty creative entries.

One of our clubs sponsored a sign out front, and our PE teacher also placed flags along the walk.  

 This year, each student was given a red or blue sign with the names of veterans.  I sent out a survey in advance to the staff and families and asked them to let me know the names of Veterans that impacted their family and then printed these all off.  I have also done a flag display out front with a name tied to each flag, and that was really neat, but this year I was trying to think of something for the students to carry.  I tried noise makers the year before, but I think this was my favorite to date.

 I'm posting this year, because.....it's never too early to plan a parade.  We have a great police officer who also leads our parade, and it's a lot of planning, but well worth it.