April 25th is an important date on most New Zealander's and Australian's calendar. It's an opportunity to remember the significance of the sacrifice made by many who have come before us. For some of us the day links us to relatives and is a day to remember.My school holds an important ANZAC day assembly each year. We invite our local 'vets' and families and every class makes a wreath to present in quite a solemn and respectful part of the ceremony. The basic idea for my class' wreath (pictured) came from this website and you can also see wreaths made by other classes in the other photo.
Ideas for teaching about ANZAC day in your classroom:
This video is one I will show to my young Year 2 class, nice and simple and a great overview of what ANZAC day is all about:For older students, this video is great (embedded below) - from an Australian perspective, but in RAP form. No doubt this will resonate with many of our students. It is very catchy too :)
The Last ANZAC video (embedded below) is a lovely and significant video suitable for all ages. A powerful song accompanies powerful visuals to create a great commemorative video:
This site, by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, has quite a cool interactive panorama of the ANZAC Commemorative site at Gallipoli, well worth checking out and showing your class.
For senior students doing some research, this website, from NZ History Online, gives an excellent run down of what ANZAC day is all about and its significance to Australian and New Zealanders. In fact, it may be a useful teacher reference to read up on before you discuss ANZAC day with your class!
Finally, a winner with junior teachers, this website has lots of ANZAC related colouring in activities and even a fabulously simple ANZAC booklet.
You also can view lots of my other ANZAC day resources on my Diigo bookmarks here: http://www.diigo.com/user/rachelboyd/anzac
Hope these were of use :)
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.