Tonight marks the 150th anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.  We were fortunate enough to visit the theater/National Park last month during our visit to Washington DC.

As a first grade teacher, Lincoln's death is a touchy subject as I naturally want to shield my students from the tragedy  and sadness of the event.  However, years of experience have taught me that they know "Lincoln was shot," and it is best to discuss the incident rather than gloss over it.  Much like discussing 9/11, I feel that young students need to understand that there are individuals who have chosen to use actions instead of words to show their hatred and frustration.  I believe that it is a good lesson for young learners about how things could have been handled differently.

To the right is the non-fiction book I purchase for my students every year on Abe's birthday as a learning tool.  I highly recommend it!

With school starting across the country, we all understand the importance of this quote. Whether your school has already started, you are just stepping back into the bare room or are staring at that empty planner, all of us approach our day with the understanding that we are helping to build strong, curious and productive citizens. We take our jobs very seriously and Frederick Douglass knew the importance of childhood.

This photo is taken from one of my TPT timeline sets.  I use a ton of primary source images in my classroom to familiarize my students with how to analyze them and prepare them for intermediate grades when they will be analyzing them for state testing.