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Saturday, July 12, 2008

Summer School and the 4th of July

I know this post regarding the 4th of July is a little late in coming, but I wanted to share it anyway. I read an article in the Salt Lake Tribune about children not understanding why we celebrate the 4th of July. I was amazed that the article indicated that many children just think it is a day to go to a parade, watch fireworks, and have a barbecue. Since I am teaching summer school, I decided to survey a group of 3rd graders to see if the article was true. The conversation went like this.

Me: Did you all have a great 4th of July?
Students: YAH!!
Me: Why do we celebrate the 4th of July?
Student #1: Because one of the presidents died.
Me: ...Not quite...
Student #2: Because we have independence.
Me: What is independence?
Student #3: It means we can do anything we want and our parents cannot tell us what to do, so if we want to eat candy we can and they cannot tell us not to.
Me: ...ummmm...
Student #4: It means freedom.
Me: Freedom from what?
Student #5: Iraq!

3 comments:

Fonzareli said...

Sometimes I think it would be fun to sit in the corner of a room filled with various age groups of children and JUST listen. Kids are GREAT!!!

Abbey said...

Alright already...update your blog!!!

Jen said...

So, I'm not really sure if this is the Denise that I know and love...but after reading that story I'm pretty confident it is! I went out on a limb and just googled your name (schools out, I have nothing to do, get off my back) and there you were! Oh how I've missed you!