Wednesday, September 7

THE FAIRMONT FIVE: grandparents day traditions




It’s not just another greeting card holiday...Grandparents Day, celebrated the first Sunday after Labor Day, is an opportunity to honor the grandparents in your family, neighborhood and larger community.

President Jimmy Carter signed the observance of Grandparents Day into law in 1978. Today, grandparents are very active in the lives of their children, grandchildren and society. Did you know that 4 million children in 3 million households are being raised by their grandparents? And more than 5 million children live in a household with a grandparent present.

Fairmont is very grateful to all of our involved grandparents and hopes you’ll get creative about celebrating this “grand” holiday in your home. Education World shares a wonderful article for teachers packed with educational activities that inspired our Fairmont Five this month.
  1. Grandparent Interview. Extra, Extra! Read all about it: Grandparents are cool!  Put your little newshounds to work on breaking news about their grandparents. Brainstorm a list of questions or print out the interview questions provided on the official grandparents day website.
  2. Nursing Home Visit. Did you know that 60 percent of nursing home residents never have a visitor? Schedule a trip to a local nursing home with your children and find out if you can bring along a donation of supplies that could help brighten the day for some adopted grandparents in your community.
  3. Family Tree. Grandparents Day is the perfect time for children to study their family trees. We love this life-sized family tree craft from Martha Stewart Living. Older students can go further with their research and use sites such as genealogy.com and ancestry.com to find their long-lost roots.
  4. Graphing the Ages. Have a budding statistician in the family?  Use US Census Bureau data to help your children create a graph illustrating each state's median age.
  5. Poems for Grandma and Grandpa. What better tribute to the grandparents in your children's lives than a handwritten note or better yet--a poem!  Suggest a haiku or acrostic to get your kids started.  You can also check out some grandparents-themed books at your local library to help get their creative juices flowing.
 Contributed by Danyelle

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