Teachers Guide (Ages 5-11)

• Using Tales of Animals in War
• Learning Objectives
• Setting the Scene
• Sharing the Tales of Animals in War Poster and Bookmarks
• Learning Activities: Ages 9-11
• Remembrance Activities: Ages 5-11
• Peace Activities: Ages 5-11
• Internet Resources
• Evaluation

Thank you for choosing these learning resources and participating in Veterans’ Week, November 5-11, 2006. This is an ideal time to introduce your students to the importance of remembrance, to help them learn more about Canadians’ efforts during times of military conflict, wars and peace, and also how these efforts relate to our lives today. Our objective in providing learning resources to elementary students during Veterans’ Week is to help students to relate to the sacrifices and achievements of Canada’s Veterans through learning about animals in war.

Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) is working with the theme of “Share The Story” during 2006. It is about sharing the stories of Canada’s Veterans and their experiences from wars and peace support missions. This year also marks the 50th Anniversary of the first United Nations Peacekeeping Force.

We welcome your comments and suggestions and need your input to ensure our materials are appropriate for your classroom. Please take a moment to complete and return the enclosed evaluation form by mail or fax. We encourage students to take their newspapers home and share the information and stories with their families. You can also visit the “Youth and Educators” section on the VAC Web site for more information of special interest to you and your students.

Using Tales of Animals in War

This guide is to accompany the Tales of Animals in War educational materials consisting of three components:

1. Tales of Animals in War Newspaper
2. Tales of Animals in War Poster
3. Bookmarks and Character Cut-Outs

The purpose of Tales of Animals in War, and the focus on animals, is for youth to examine the history and stories of the animals in war and during peace support missions. Animals have served in battle, saved lives, pulled ambulances, hauled heavy weapons, delivered messages, sniffed out bombs and were loyal friends. The animals’ stories demonstrate not only their service for us, our peace, and our freedom, but also highlight the important and continuing partnership between humans and animals.

Learning Objectives

Content: To develop knowledge about the roles of animals in war—mascots, beasts of burden, messengers, friends, protection etc.

Concepts: To gain an understanding of the concepts of remembrance, peacekeeping, war, and citizenship—what it means to be Canadian, and what it means to be a global citizen.

Attitudes: To develop attitudes about the ways they think or feel about those (both animals and humans) who fought in wars such as empathy, pride, respect, linking to the reality of humanity.

Habit: To develop the habit of being active with remembrance at home, at school, and in the community, and carrying the torch of remembrance.

Skills: To improve skills in reading through the literary angle of the educational materials, and improve skills in following directions, listening, comprehension, writing, and critical thinking.

Strategies: To use learning and thinking skills together by applying them to the above concepts.

Setting the Scene

Talk to students about animals and how they can help people (for example: guide dogs, comfort of house pets, etc.). Talk to students about different characteristics of animals.

Prepare a Venn Diagram about animals and humans. How are they different in terms of their needs and characteristics? How are they similar? Discuss.

Brainstorm with your students to determine what they currently know about war, remembrance, peace, and animals in war. Begin by posing a question such as “What is War?” Some students may have come to Canada from countries that recently experienced war.

Move the discussion to ask what the students think would have been/is the role of animals in war.

Talk to students about military conflicts and peace support missions. When did wars happen? Look at the time line in the Tales of Animals in War newspaper or prepare a classroom time line on the board beginning with 1900 and ending with the present. Mark each decade, mark the decade in which your students were born. Talk about time, years, decades, centuries. Facts on the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, and the many peace support missions can be found on the VAC Web site. Look for PDF documents to download on the VAC Web site.

Discuss some of the factors of war and peace support missions that have shaped Canada. For example, Canada has a tradition of helping people who have been traumatized by war (such as the European immigrants following the Second World War), and people who are escaping wars or dangerous political leaders (such as refugees from countries like Kosovo). Discuss the waves of immigrants and newcomers who have arrived in Canada. What would these people have in common? (i.e. fear, language difficulties, lost family, lost possessions, new country). What have these immigrants and newcomers contributed to Canada? (i.e. knowledge of new cultures and traditions). How have they contributed to shaping our culture?

Discuss what it means to be a Canadian. Who are we as individuals? How are we the same? How are we different? Does everyone in the country share the same values?

Discuss the ways Canada is diverse as a country. Discuss visions for the future: What do you want Canada to be like in the future? What kind of world do you want to live in?

Sharing the Tales of Animals in War Poster and Bookmarks

Teachers may wish to save the bookmarks for distribution during the “Expert Groups Activity” outlined in this Guide.

The poster for Tales of Animals in War has a great deal of interesting and thought-provoking material. Read and discuss the animal Fact Files.

Each character on the poster has a relative who served in war. Their stories are in the newspaper. You may wish to read their stories in conjunction with reviewing the poster.

Pass out the Tales of Animals in War bookmarks. Tell students you will have a short discussion on each of the six animals in war. For example, discuss and brainstorm what they have just learned about dogs in war. Jot down the facts on the board, overhead or chart that generate the most interest and discussion, and leave on display in the classroom (these points may inspire artwork or creative writing later, after the newspaper has been read and examined more closely). After discussing each of the animals, pass out the character cut-outs for those animals (such as the one for Gandy the dog) for students to place on the appropriate paw print. This may also lead to a discussion on different characteristics of animals.

Learning Activity: Ages 9-11

Reading and Exploring the Tales of Animals in War Newspaper

Pre-Reading
Share the newspaper with the students. Read aloud some of the articles’ titles and perhaps one story. Ask the students to predict what some of the stories may be about, given the title. Point out other elements of the newspaper (i.e. activities, illustrations, etc.).

Features of an Article
Discuss how reporters tell people about important events and interesting information in their articles. You may wish to discuss the features of an article:

• a headline
• a byline (who wrote the article)
• a place line (where the writer is writing the article)
• use of the “5 Ws and H” of journalism: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?
• illustrations to give more information (map, graph, photograph, etc.).

Exploring the Newspaper
Hand out a copy of the newspaper Tales of Animals in War to each student and allow them time to explore their copy. Depending on the reading abilities of the students, you may wish to spend time in discussion, directing the examination of the newspaper.

Learning Activity: Ages 9-11

“Expert Groups” Poster and Bookmark Activity

Components

• one bookmark per student
• one class set of group character cut-outs
• one Tales of Animals in War newspaper for each student
• one photocopy of the Tales of Animals in War poster

Distribute the Tales of Animals in War bookmarks. Discuss the paw prints on each and what animal each paw represents.

Divide the class into six “expert” groups: Dogs, Pigeons, Bears, Horses, Cats, and Elephants or each group could be named after one of the Remembrance Club characters: Gandy, Squeaker, Bonfire Jr., Simone, Win or Ellie.

Provide each person in the groups with a Tales of Animals in War newspaper, provide each group with a photocopy of the Tales of Animals in War poster, and any other resources* about animals in war. Ask the students, in their groups, to read these sheets and additional books and pictures to learn about their specific animal. They should gather enough information to prepare a poster about their animal in war.

When research is complete, provide the students with materials for creating a poster or collage (one poster per animal group). Tell the groups that you wish the poster to contain information such as:

• the animal and its characteristics
• drawing(s) of that animal at work
• information about how the animal worked in war/peace (poem, paragraph, etc.)

Materials for Posters

• one sheet of poster/Bristol board per group
• one set of markers or crayons, scissors and glue per group
• various books and other resources on animals in war for each group
• Internet access, when possible and/or age-appropriate

When the posters have been completed, ask each group to share their poster with the class. Following the presentation, invite the group to hand out the character cut-outs of their particular animal to their classmates to put on their bookmarks in the matching spot. Each character cut-out gathered will show that they have learned about that particular animal in war.

Remembrance Activities: Ages 5-11

Cards of Remembrance
Draw your students’ attention to the image of the Dickin Medal in the newspaper. Discuss occasions when we send or receive special cards.

Talk to the students about Remembrance Day ceremonies they have attended or perhaps seen on television. How are ceremonies different from celebrations? Commemoration is about community, rather than individual remembrance. We gather as a group to remember and thank the Canadian men, women, animals, and people on the home front who served in war and peace support missions.

Ask students to prepare Cards of Remembrance and Thanks to take to a local Remembrance Day ceremony or send to Veterans in time for November 11.

Students might like to draw the Dickin Medal on their card and award the medal to a pet that is special in their lives or to their families, or they may wish to draw a poppy or tulip. Alternatively, students or teachers may download a PDF copy of the Dickin Medal, poppy or tulip from the VAC Web site www.vac-acc.gc.ca. Click on the “Youth & Educators” section, then “Veterans’ Week 2006.”

Symbols of Peace and Remembrance
Ask your students to make symbols of peace and/or remembrance to hang in your classroom for Veterans’ Week. Paper, markers, and paint can be used.

Consider using the artwork to decorate the location where the school Remembrance Day ceremony will take place. Think of the Ceremony Room as one, huge, Card of Remembrance for visiting Veterans and families to see!

Peace Activities: Ages 5-11

Recipe for Peace
Look at the United Nations logo in the newspaper. Read the aims of the United Nations. Look at the recipes for Dog Biscuits and War Time Cake in the newspaper for recipe models. Ask the students what they would use for ingredients if they made a Recipe for Peace?

Appoint a class cook to take down a list of ingredients, with measurements as the students offer their thoughts. Would the world need a cup of love, a teaspoon of caring, a pinch of patience?

Use baking terms such as stir, mix, blend. Decide what kind of pan the recipe should be baked in. A heart-shaped
pan? After the class cook has copied down all the ingredients, pass out an index card to each student and let them create a Recipe for Peace card to take home and put on the refrigerator door for the family to see and share. If the school has a Web site, include the students’ recipes in your on-line newsletter.

Try making the War Time Cake recipe, and share in class. This could lead to a discussion on rationing, and why certain foods and products were scarce during the war.

Poppies and Tulips
Explain to the students that the red poppy is a symbol of remembrance. During the First World War, the poppy was the only flower that could grow in the ruined fields of France and Belgium. It self-seeded and so could continue growing year after year. Sometimes it was the only spot of colour the soldiers saw as the trees and grass were replaced by the shattered trunks and mud of war.

We wear poppies on November 11 to publicly show our respect for and memory of the men and women from all over the world who died for peace and freedom.

For Ages 5-8: read aloud A Poppy is to Remember, by Heather Patterson.* Some students may be able to read the book themselves, or read it to the class.

For Ages 9-11: read aloud from In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae, by Linda Granfield.*

Each spring, in Ottawa, Canada’s capital, millions of multi-coloured tulips burst into bloom. These flowers are a celebration of winter’s end but they are also symbols of the friendship that blossomed between the people of Canada and the Netherlands during the Second World War.

For Ages 5-11: read aloud selected pages of A Bloom of Friendship: The Story of the Canadian Tulip Festival, by Anne Renaud.*

After reading any of these books, discuss with the students how the information about poppies and tulips is related to peace at home and around the world. Ask students to make their own remembrance or friendship flowers out of construction and tissue paper for the classroom bulletin board. Blackline drawings of tulips and poppies are available to download on the VAC Web site. Click on the “Youth & Educators,” “Veterans’ Week 2006” sections.

Plant a Peace Garden
When a school plants a Peace Garden, it creates a special spot students can re-visit long after they’ve left the school. When they plant bulbs in the garden, they are investing a bit of themselves there, for as long as the garden thrives.

In a designated area, plan to have a small ceremony for the launch of the Peace Garden. Spring bulbs work best. They don’t need much tending, can be planted in the fall and bloom in the spring before the school year ends, and can be purchased in October just prior to Veterans’ Week.

Ask students to choose which flower type(s) to use (i.e. tulips, daffodils, snowdrops, etc.). Ask them to decide upon a colour pattern. Should the flowers be all white? (the colour of a peace dove). All red? (the colour of poppies). All blue and white, like the colours of the United Nations flag? Or would they like to create a pattern, a word or have it multicoloured?

Designate a day during Veterans’ Week when the students will plant the bulbs and plan a brief ceremony. Invite Veterans to attend the ceremony.

Special Note
Bulbs that are planted during Veterans’ Week 2006 may be in bloom for the 90 th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 2007. There will be much in the media about the anniversary and the finished restoration of the Vimy Ridge Memorial in France. Lots to fill your bulletin boards—and a special time for Veterans in your community to be invited to view your school’s Peace Garden in bloom!

Internet Resources

* For further resources, please see the VAC Web site.

This publication is available upon request in multiple formats.
Web site: www.vac-acc.gc.ca
Toll free: 1-877-604-8469

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Veterans Affairs, 2006.

Catalogue No.: V32-179/1-2006
ISBN: 0-662-49284-6

Printed in Canada