Celebrating Veterans Day!

Today America celebrates Veterans Day. It is the day we honor the men and women who have served in the armed forces. Veterans Day is a national holiday.

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Photo by Mrs. Yollis

Veterans: Men and women who have served in the armed forces.

Soldiers: Men and women who are currently serving in the armed forces.

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Here is a link to a wonderful BrainPop

 video about America's Armed Forces.

What did you learn about the 

Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard?

Here are some fabulous BrainPop "Make a Map" 

examples made in class!

Make a Map by Tali 

           Make a Map by Kasra

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To help us learn about Veterans Day and the men and women who serve, I asked my students if any of their family members are in the military or are veterans. We honor our veterans and soldiers with this blog post! 

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Our superintendent

NAVY: Meet our district superintendent, Dr. Stepenosky. As you can see, he served in the Navy. From 1990 to 1994, he was on the USS Chancellorsville which was a guided-missile cruiser. It was 9,000 tons and had a crew of 330. Notice the destroyer in the background.

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Meet Archie's grandfather, Master Staff Sargent Schiller. He was drafted in the army during WWII, went to the officers training school in Fort Bragg, and then went to Europe to serve overseas. He was a writer and was very lucky to not see combat. Instead, he worked in office settings and in communications for the troops. He served 1940-1945 and came home at the end of the war. 

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Meet Evan's great-grandpa, Harry Dunstone.  He served in the Army during WWII and was stationed in Belgium. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 91.  

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Meet Emily F's Grandpa Charlie. He was in the Navy from 1952 to 1960. He was stationed at Treasure Island in San Francisco and was also on a big boat that went to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba before the Revolution. She said that her Grandpa doesn’t like to admit that he passed up on an opportunity to have lunch with Ernest Hemingway so he could go out to see Havana, the big town in Cuba. While on Treasure Island he worked in Intelligence and found out about the upcoming launch of a Russian satellite called Sputnik 1.

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Meet Darien's great grandpa, James, who served in the Navy in World War II. He is a veteran. He built his own house by himself and he loved to create stained glass art. Darien has many of his creations at home. He passed away before Darien was born. He must have been very brave and creative.

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Are any of your relatives or friends veterans?

Please tell us about them and thank them for their service!

Celebrating Veterans Day!

On November 11, America celebrates Veterans Day. It is the day we honor the men and women who have served in the armed forces. Veterans Day is a national holiday. This year, Veterans Day is observed on Monday, November 12. 

★     ★     ★     ★     ★    

Photo by Mrs. Yollis

Veterans: Men and women who have served in the armed forces.

Soldiers: Men and women who are currently serving in the armed forces.

★     ★     ★     ★     ★  

   

Here is a link to a wonderful BrainPop

 video about America's Armed Forces.

What did you learn about the 

Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard?

Here are some fabulous "Make a Map" 

examples made in class!

Kishor's Map

Samantha's Map

Katie's Map

★     ★     ★     ★     ★     

To help us learn about Veterans Day and the men and women who serve, I asked my students if any of their family members are in the military or are veterans. We honor our veterans and soldiers with this blog post! 

★     ★     ★     ★     ★     

Our superintendent

NAVY: Meet our district superintendent, Dr. Stepenosky. As you can see, he served in the Navy. From 1990 to 1994, he was on the USS Chancellorsville which was a guided missile cruiser. It was 9,000 tons and had a crew of 330. Notice the destroyer in the background.

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Lily's grandfather

ARMY: Meet Lily's grandpa, Dr. William Zanger. This photo was taken in 1971. He served in the Dental Corp as a Captain of the United States Army. He was stationed in Fort Benning, Georgia and Fort Polk, Louisiana from 1970 through 1972. The baby in the picture is Lily's mother, Sybil.

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Scarlett's grandfather

NAVY: Meet Dr. Tocchet who was born and raised in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania. He joined the Navy in 1963 while attending medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Following his studies, Paul assumed active duty as an intern at Camp Pendleton, California, before serving overseas. He was attached to a Marine Corps combat M.A.S.H. unit in Viet Nam from 1966-67. He then completed his final two years as a general medical officer at the Naval Station in Monterey, California, until his honorable discharge in 1969. 

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Hana's uncle

MARINE: Meet Hana’s Uncle Josh who served in the United States Marine Corps. He was an electrician who worked on FA-18 jets. He was stationed at Miramar Air Station and was deployed to the Persian Gulf twice. He also went to Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

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Rebecca's grandfather

ARMY: Meet Rebecca's grandfather Barney who served in the army during World War II. He was a private and served in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. His brother Sammy was also a private in the Army and fought and died in the Battle of the Bulge.

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Faith's great-grandfather

NAVY: Meet Grandma Barb's dad, Faith’s Great-Grandpa, who served in the Navy during World War II. He served on a destroyer called the USS Gainard. Though his mother was a widow and none of her five sons would have had to enlist, they all did. 

Faith’s great-grandpa was the youngest in his family, only 17 years old, and a few months away from graduating from high school when he wanted to enlist in the Navy. Since he was under 18, he had to get special permission from his mother, Faith’s great-great-grandma, to enlist. At the time of his high school graduation ceremony, Faith’s great-grandpa was already in the Navy so his mother went to school that night to receive his diploma for him. 

Faith’s great-great-grandma was very proud of all of her sons. The second photo shows all five sons in their uniforms. One son was in the Navy, one was in the Air Force, two were in the Army, and one was in the Marines. They were stationed all over the world. During the war, families put a star in the front window of their homes to indicate they had a loved one in the war. Faith’s great-great grandma had FIVE stars in her front window. Miraculously, Faith’s great-grandpa and all of his brothers returned home from war safe and sound and proud to have served their country.

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Ben's great-grandfather

ARMY: Meet Ralph Linore, Ben's great-grandfather. He was a United States Army sergeant who proudly served from 1942 to 1945 in WW II.

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Are any of your relatives or friends veterans?

Please tell us about them and thank them for their service!

Video: America's Landmarks

Although the school year is coming to an end in the northern hemisphere, we made time to create a wonderful global project with our blogging buddy, Mrs. Morris, and her students in Australia.

This project celebrates TEN years of global collaboration with Mrs. Morris!

Each class wanted to share their country's landmarks, so students researched famous landmarks, created a script, located Creative Commons images, and then filmed a fabulous movie. The Do Ink app was used to take each student to the location being shared.

Enjoy America's Landmarks!

Here is a link to our Australian buddies Landmark Video!

We hope you enjoy visiting these famous American landmarks! 

What questions do you have? 

We will try and answer questions before school gets out this week!

This Monday is Memorial Day!

Guest post from Mallory, Mrs. Yollis' former student

This Monday, May 28, is Memorial Day in the United States. 

It is a national holiday!

LAST YEAR, I celebrated Memorial Day with my mom and my Girl Scout troop in a special way.  We went to the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood to place American flags on the headstones of soldiers who have served our country in the military.   There were so many other troops to help, including Daisies, Brownies, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Eagle Scouts.

Photo by Mallory's Mom

There was very specific way to place the flags.  They had to be put 1 foot away from the headstone and 2 inches into the ground.  Then we were told to stand and have a moment of silence to recognize and honor the soldier for their dedication to our country.

Photo by Mallory's Mom

I was very interested to read each soldier's headstone.  Some fought in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War.  There were many soldiers who even fought in more than one war.

This memorable experience inspired me to come home and learn more about Memorial Day.  I found out many interesting facts on Wikipedia. 

Memorial Day Facts:
* Memorial Day used to be called "Decoration Day" during the Civil War.
* It wasn't until after World War II that the name changed to Memorial Day.
* In 1967, it was declared a national holiday.
* There are 88,000 graves in the Los Angeles National Cemetery.

Photo by Mallory's Mom

How do you celebrate Memorial Day where you live?

Do you have anyone in your family who has served in the military?