Veteran's Day

This Friday, November 11th, we will be celebrating Veteran's Day.  Schools, businesses and local public offices will be closed in observance of this holiday.  This holiday was established in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson to honor all the veterans of our country.  November 11th marks the 11th hour of the 11th day of November in which Germany signed the Armistice to end World War I.  A veteran is a man or woman who has served our country in the armed forces.  The armed forces include all the branches of our military.  This includes the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps, the United States Navy and the United States Air Force.  This Veterans Day we will be researching and learning about both famous and local Veterans that have served our country.  We even have teachers in our school who are veterans.  It is important for us to remember our veterans who have been so courageous and dedicated to our country.  We must be respectful and appreciative to these heroes.  One of our Veterans Day assignments will be to write a letter to a veteran thanking him or her for their service to our country.  Do you know any veterans?  Is anyone in your family a veteran of this country? of their native country?  What kind of questions would you want to ask an veteran?  Can you imagine doing the job of our military men and women?

Vocabulary:
1) observance: honoring, following a holiday
2) established: created, formed
3) branches: parts, sections of something
4) courageous: brave, having no fear
5) dedicated: being loyal and true to something
6) appreciative:  being thankful for something

Cloze Activity: Complete the following sentences by filling in the blanks with a vocabulary word from above. 


1) The United States Air force is just one ______________ of the United States Military.
2) The veteran was very ______________ of the letter of thanks he received from the students of Robert Frost Middle School.
3) Due to the ________________ of Thanksgiving, school will be closed November 24th and 25th.
4) Robert Frost Middle School was ______________ in 1992.
5) Veterans are truly _________________, in fact they are the bravest people I know.
6) Mark is a very __________ friend, he is always loyal and truthful.

Grammar Point
We have discussed in class that a noun is a person, place, thing or idea.  There are two types of nouns, common and proper.  Proper nouns are names of people, places, things or ideas.  They must be written with a capital letter.
For example:  City is a common noun.  New York City is a proper noun because it is the name of a specific city.

Grammar Activity
Write the word common next to each common noun.  Rewrite the word correctly (with a capital letter) if it is a proper noun.

1) president ________________
2) president obama _______________
3) month ___________________
4) november _______________
5) robert frost middle school _________________
6) college _______________