The one challenge I find in Kindergarten is covering topics that my Kinders may not always be developmentally or emotionally ready for – and for some Remembrance Day falls into this category. I feel it is important to teach about Remembrance Day in Kindergarten but you need to be very sensitive to their thoughts and feelings while at the same time filtering what they are exposed to. Our study began and finished with the song we sang at the Remembrance Day Assembly:
If you love freedom and you know it wear a poppy,
If you love freedom and you know it wear a poppy,
If you love freedom and you know it, wear a poppy just to show it,
If you love freedom and you know it wear a poppy.
I started the week before Remembrance Day by sending a copy of the song home with each child to practice for the assembly.
On Monday I read them the book A Poppy is to Remember by Heather Patterson. This is a great picture book that explains to students why we wear poppies on Remembrance Day and who we are remembering. It is done in a way that is very appropriate for Kindergarten aged students. Ironically the day before I read it to my class our minister at church read it to the children during Children’s Time.
Next we began our poppy craft. We made poppies out of coffee filters that we would hold while we sang our song at the Assembly on Remembrance Day. On Monday each child painted two coffee filters (the basket style) red. We put a piece of scrap paper under the filters to protect the tables. They needed to be gentle painting the filters because they can rip easily but they didn’t need to paint both sides as the paint soaked through. Tip – peel them off the scrap paper before drying completely or they may rip.
On Wednesday I folded each filter twice and gave each student two filters. They trimmed the edges so when they were unfolded the corners were curved like a poppy. We laid the two filters on top of each other, poked a green pipe cleaner through the middle (making sure to curve the end, and I hot glued a black pom pom in the middle.
The other thing we had to make at school was a wreath to lay at the assembly. The grade 2 class brought us a black wreath template and I let my volunteer Miss King figure out what we would do (with our very limited time). She helped each child trace their hand on red construction paper and used their hand prints to make poppies on the wreath – I think it turned out pretty good>
I also wanted to do something with my own girls at home for Remembrance Day and decided to stick with the poppy theme. I took a number of photos of different steps but something strange is going on with my camera and they are all gone. I took another picture of the finished product to share.
I printed off two poppy pictures on white cover stock for the girls. You can use any template you can find on google. I used a magic marker to make the centre stand out for them. For Kaitlyn I simply gave her glue along with red and white tissue paper and she did the rest herself. Eileen needed a bit more help. I showed her how to rip small pieces and crumple them up and glue them on. After a couple of minutes she politely informed me that my job was to put on the glue (because it is a bit tricky to squeeze) but she could do the rest herself. They turned out pretty good and Kaitlyn has added them to the wall of her ‘Art Gallery’ (the walls of our playroom).
Mommy's Lessons 
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