Happy Veterans Day

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On November 11, America celebrates Veterans Day. It is the day we honor the men and women who have served in the armed forces. Veterans Day is a national holiday! 

Photo by Mrs. Yollis

Veterans: Men and women who have served in the armed forces.

Soldiers: Men and women who are currently serving in the armed forces.

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Here is a link to a wonderful BrainPop video about America's Armed Forces. 

What did you learn about the 

Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast guard?

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Here is a link to a patriotic Veterans Day blog post by Mrs. Hembree in Seattle, Washington. Read about her father-in-law's service and see photos from his Honor Flight to see the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.  

Photo honoring veterans at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Photo by Joe Hembree

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To help us learn about Veterans Day and the men and women who serve, I asked my students if any of their family members are in the military or are veterans. We honor our soldiers with this blog post! 

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Meet our district superintendent, Dr. Stepenosky. As you can see, he served in the Navy. From 1990 to 1994, he was on the USS Chancellorsville which was a guided missile cruiser. It was 9,000 tons and had a crew of 330. Notice the destroyer in the background. 

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Meet Abigail's Uncle Ming. He is a major in the Air Force and is stationed in Qatar! Today we looked for Qatar on the world map. Where is our soldier located? 

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Meet Chris, Abby's uncle. He is in the Air Force stationed at March Air Force Base (AFB). March AFB is located in California. Chris is serving in the 452nd Aerospace Medical Squadron at March AFB and is in his 6th duty station. What is a squadron? What does he mean "6th duty station"?

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Meet Kate's grandfather, Elbert. He served in the Marines: 

August 1965 - December 1965 Camp Pendleton, San Diego, California / January 1966 - February 1967 Chulai, Vietnam /

March 1967 - May 1967 Camp LeJune, North Carolina /

June 1967 - June 1968 American Embassy, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic / July 1968 - July 1969 American Embassy, Montevideo, Uruguay / July 1969 - Discharged Camp Pendleton, San Diego, California.

We thank Elbert for his service and for his contributions to our Family Blogging Month post! 

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Meet Tom, Nicholas' grandfather. (Nicholas is my former student.) Tom was a Navy officer in World War II. He was a navigator on the USS Shaula in the Pacific Theater. He used celestial navigation to navigate the ship. Today they use satellites, but are going back to the celestial navigation he used 70 years ago. The reason is the threat of attacks on the satellites.

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Thank you for reminding the children in your class that many of us served in the military. It would please us greatly as the grandparents of Jock to recognize us for our service. Grandmom was a navy nurse stationed at the San Diego Naval Hospital caring for wounded Marines and Navy personnel from 1962 to 1965. 

I served in the Navy spending one year in Vietnam as a surgeon with combat Marines. I served from 1964 to 1969. 

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Meet Sawyer’s grandfather Thomas. He was an officer in the United States Air Force, with active duty assignments from 1962 to 1969 in the United States, Germany and Southeast Asia. He was actually in Vietnam when Sawyer’s dad was born. He retired as a major after thirteen additional years as a reserve information officer for the 440th Reserve Tactical Airlift Wing in Milwaukee. We honor his service every year on Veteran’s Day.

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Meet Lily's Aunt Eileen, Uncle Steven, cousins Ben and Samantha. Eileen and Steven have served in the Navy for the past 25 years. They met at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Steven is a pilot and flew planes for the Navy.  Eileen is a supply officer and has earned the title of Captain. They current live in Virginia Beach.

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Meet Lily's great-grandfather, Charles Armond Wright. He served in the Army during WW II in Germany and Italy. He helped free the prisoners from the concentration camps. 

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Meet lieutenant Ted Fundoukos, Chloe's (Kostaki's sister) Godfather. In the Greek orthodox tradition, he is family. Ted went to the Naval Academy and served in a submarine!

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Meet Abigail's Uncle Roger. He retired from the Navy last year. He was a Captain in the Medical Corps. Roger served all over the world including the Pacific Rim as well as Europe. Here is a picture of his family from a few years ago. Abigail and her siblings love playing with them at family reunions.

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Are any of your relatives or friends veterans?

Please tell us about them and thank them for their service to America!

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Family Blogging Month Winner! Ruby & Troy

Custom Glitter Text

The winners of Family Blogging Month earned a free post on Mrs. Yollis' Website. Here is a creative video produced by the finalists Ruby, Troy, and Sydney!

Ruby's Reflection: 

Making this stop-motion video was a fun project and an educational way to have a blast with crocheted critters. It was a little hard to slow down the video and time our voices. We made a movie with little creatures and props. It was fun and extremely confusing at first. But once we got it down, it wasn’t as hard. The group (aka: Sydney, the 4th place winner of the Family Blogging Month, Troy the 3rd place winner, me- the 2nd place winner, and Nicholas) was recording our voices as talking animals. The app we used was called Stop Motion and it was super cool! When you took a picture, SNAP, and then move the prop or animal in front, behind, left or right -- it shows a ghost line, so you know if you moved it too far. Again, it was super fun and a great way to spend time with your friends! Hope you enjoy the movie!

Our stop-motion movie is about animals having trouble solving their problems. However, two smart birdies come in to help!  They argue over who should get the extra treat, and they realize that no one should get it. By being selfish, they almost caused death to the unhatched bird!

Enjoy!

Have you ever made a stop motion video? Do you have any tips to share?

What did you love about Family Blogging Month? 

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Nicholas' Neat ePortfolio

Nicholas has been working all year on some excellent projects. Here is a link to his ePortfolio. Have a look around and let him know which project you liked the best!

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