Saturday, May 26, 2007

Resources for Studying the Vietnam War

While planning our next History unit, I've found some interesting resources for the Vietnam War. I think it has been altogether fitting that we are studying this the week of Memorial Day.

Most of the resources I've found are for highschoolers. Like this one from the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Fund. It looks really good, but too involved for my 5th grader.

Basically, I am going to have Marissa answer the questions: who, what, where, when, and how about the war. Addressing these questions will cover the conflict itself, the geographic area of the conflict and the issues on the homefront.

She will construct a timeline of important dates (at least 10), read a first hand account of the war from a soldier found on this website, label a map of the area and finally study The Wall. The website called The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall Page has many features including "today's birthday's". This is what the introduction says:
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall USA website is dedicated to honoring those who died in the Vietnam War. Since it first went on line in 1996 it has evolved into something more. It is now also a place of healing for those affected by one of the most divisive wars in our nation's history.
Marissa will look up and list at least 3 soldiers birthdays on the day she does this part of the project. She will add these names and dates to her notebook. (For her unit studies, she makes a mini notebook or scrapbook, adding all the information she has found. The information is separated by topic and a cover page is made to depict the overall topic of the study.)

I found some good books at the library:
A Place Called Hearbreak: A Story of Vietnam by Walter Dean Myers
The Vietnam Antiwar Movement in American History by Anita Louise
Their Names to Live: What the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Means to America by Brent Ashabranner
The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial (Symbols of Freedom series) by Ted and Lola Schaefer

Going through this study has made me think of the war in Iraq and how devastating war is. We are so grateful for the men and women who fight for our freedoms.

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