ANZAC Day 2015 Picture Diary

We spent some time each day this week on the importance of ANZAC Day and remembering the sacrifices made by others.

I've put together what we covered this week in pictures.

Our picture book collection grows each and every year. We were particularly moved by The Red Poppy this year.

We completed our WW1 Coin collection that was put out and distributed through our local newsagent.


This 45 minute mini documentary retraces some of the steps from the landing in ANZAC Cove and the battles that followed in the hills. Very informative, we all learned a great deal from this one.

My eldest has been reading My Fathers War.


We watched several you tube clips.

During read alouds we painted our own version of a field of poppy's.

The kids purchased a badge each to wear during the march.


This is a Scottish clip, but still explains the story of the Poppy quite well.

Made ANZAC Biscuits.

We received a great pack put out by Veteran Affairs and spent some time looking through some of what it included.

The ABC interactive Gallipoli website is a wealth of information and we watched several of the clips on this site.




This song, The Little Red Poppy, was actually on a disc in the back of the book, The Red Poppy. It is very beautiful and extremely moving.

We visited our national War Memorial a couple of years ago and we spent some time looking back over the photographs and talking in detail about the various exhibits on display there.

Utilised our Skwirk subscription to extend the learning further.

Attended our local ANZAC March to cheer on the diggers and other participants, including my son, who marched with his Cadets Troop.


Shed many a tear as we imagined what an absolutely horrible experience it must of been.

 I do feel it is important we continue to remember, without glorifying war. Our younger generations need to know these stories, the complete stories, and so we will continue delving deeper into the ANZAC legend with each coming year.

Lest We Forget

More ANZAC themed posts:

• The Big List of ANZAC Day Ideas

• ANZAC Picture Books

• Printable ANZAC Unit for Young Learners

Looking for more ANZAC Day Ideas? 

Visit my Pinterest Board:

Follow Kylie @ Our Worldwide Classroom's board ANZAC (Australian) Day on Pinterest.


Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

The Big List Of ANZAC Day Ideas

ANZAC Day is around the corner. I have been searching the web to gather as many resources as I can for us to help our kids understand what ANZAC Day is all about. I hope the resources listed below help you as much as they have me.

ANZAC KIDS - has a gamut of games and interactive activities all for children.

ANZAC Day.org is an introduction to ANZAC Day for early childhood.

Why Are They Marching Daddy? Is a book we use over and over again here in our home.

ANZAC Websites has a huge amount of ideas and activities over in the classroom area of their website.

Suzie's Home Education Ideas shares ten ways to help children understand ANZAC Day

 The Australians At War website offers a 30 page printable document for primary aged children. This includes a teachers guide, outcomes and worksheets. They also provide documents for secondary students, war games and more.

The Book Chook has shared a collection of ANZAC Day books

K-3 Teacher Resources has a set of ANZAC themed printable words and offers ideas on various ways to use them.

For Teachers For Students has a great deal of information pertaining to the centenary, including printable pdf files.

RIC Publications has a free download available over at Teachers Pay Teachers, the pack contains a craft, writing prompts and other related activities.

 The Learning Curve has this very cool Slouch Hat craft with template available over on her blog.

Art Room With A View shares their Fields of Poppies art piece.

 I shared a glimpse inside a handful of ANZAC picture books here.

You can download my Free Printable ANZAC Day unit for young learners here.

ANZAC LIVE - have you heard of this site? It is brand new this year and sounds like a great idea. Follow the real people as they journey through the ANZAC experience. You have to check this one out.

I think I could continue sharing links and websites for some time. Once you start looking there is a wealth of information out there. I do hope some of what I have gathered though is useful to you over the weeks leading up to ANZAC Day. I have also included my pinterest board below where I have many more ANZAC activities.

Happy Homeschooling,
Kylie

Follow Kylie @ Our Worldwide Classroom's board ANZAC (Australian) Day on Pinterest.

ANZAC Picture Books

ANZAC day is fast approaching so I thought I would share a small selection of picture books with you.

ANZAC Biscuits, by Phil Cummings & Owen Swan

This is the touching story of a little girl named Rachel. Whom along with her mother, bakes biscuits to send to her father whilst he is away at war.

Page by page the stark contrast is bitterly obvious between what the solider is experiencing in comparison to the warm quiet evening Rachel spends indoors.

The reader absolutely experiences the hardship and sacrifice made by the men, women and their families. However the harsher, more gruesome realities of war are left out here. Making this a perfect picture book for younger children.

The ANZAC Puppy, by Peter Millett & Trish Bowles

When a young soldier name Sam finds a puppy being given away he decides to take her to war with him.

This is the fictional story of Sam and Freda's time spent at war, the good, the bad and the ugly. Sam believed that Freda was his good luck charm and that she was most definitely protecting him, ensuring that he made it home safely.

Whilst a slightly longer book it is still most definitely suitable for a younger audience.

Jack's Bugle, by Krista Bell & Belinda Elliott

The story of 19 year old Aidan Jackson, an excellent bugle player, that went to war. It begins with Jack saying farewell to his loved ones, then shows a basic overview of their time spent training in Egypt.

From there the story solemnly moves to ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli.

Aidan, never returns home from the war but his bugle does and it ends up in the hands of a very unlikely character.

I would recommend this story for a slightly older age group than the earlier two books. It is somewhat longer and talks of the death and despair of Gallipoli.

The Beach They Called Gallipoli, by Jackie French & Bruce Whatley

This is the story of Gallipoli, as seen from the cove, the story of the beach.

French and Whatley worked superbly together to create the gruseome images of the months of bloodshed at Gallipoli.

Written in a journal format, with real photgraphs interspersed between haunting illustrations, this is definitely one for the slightly older child.

I reviewed, Why Are They Marching Daddy, couple of years back. You can see my thoughts and a few of the inside pages by clicking here.

Lest We Forget,
Kylie

My Other Posts About The ANZAC's

Free Printable Unit For Younger Learners

Why Are They Marching Daddy?

It's ANZAC Day here today, we've been reading some of our picture books that we have on hand, all of us shedding a tear or two at hearing the stories of bravery and loss.

Many of the books available, even the picture books, are just a little too heavy on war and death for young ones and they aren't always ideal.

I wanted to share this book with you, especially if you have young children, as I thought it was a fabulous introduction to ANZAC Day and what it's all about.

This is the story of Maddy, a young girl that goes to the ANZAC march with her father. As all young children do, she asks questions, lots of them. Questions such as, Why are they marching? What is war?

Is war bad? What does it mean to live freely? And many other questions are asked and answered throughout the book.

In fact this one story pretty much answered all of the questions my younger children had, without the emotional baggage that many of the other picture books bring with them.

I'd recommend you add this to your list. It can be purchased, along with a teacher supplement at this link. or from the Australian War Memorial online store

We are off to the march............. Lest We Forget.............

Free Printable Anzac Unit For Young Learners

This has moved.

You can find the unit and details here -----> CLICK HERE