Berner Middle School Lessons Focus On Sept. 11 Attacks

“We’re going to talk about doing good deeds,” Vanessa Canning, a sixth-grade social studies teacher at Berner Middle School said as she addressed her students on the 16th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Canning was just one teachers who led discussions about the events from that day during several social studies classes throughout the Massapequa School District on Monday.

The lessons also focused on the positive moments that occurred after, when people came together to help each other. Sept. 11 has since become known as the National Day of Service and Remembrance.

In that spirit, sixth-graders were asked to fill out “I Will” statements, listing six good deeds they could do in school, at home and in their community.

Teachers shared the book, “September 12th: We Knew Everything Would be All Right,” written by a first-grade class, and showed the video “Hope Was Born on 9/11” about children who were born the day of the attacks.

Watch: 'Our Nation Will Prevail': US Officials Mark 16th Anniversary Of 9/11

Students were given “Never Forget 9-11-01” sheets to color in patriotic fashion and become part of a paper quilt.

Sixth-grade teacher Kira Martelli said the purpose of the day’s lesson was to show students the many heroic actions that took place immediately after the attacks and encourage them to perform their own acts of kindness, whether on a local or on a global scale.

Karen Lazar, a docent from the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, spoke to about 100 eighth-graders.

She was one of 25 representatives from the museum who were visiting schools throughout the metropolitan area that day.

Lazar’s presentation included a timeline of the events on Sept. 11, 2001, accompanied by photos and audio recordings.

She shared stories about the heroes of the day, including the “man in the red bandana” who helped direct people to a staircase so they could flee one of the Twin Towers, and the “extraordinarily brave” passengers on Flight 93.

The eighth-graders, who will visit the 9/11 memorial in May, learned about how the monument was designed at the former World Trade Center site.

Lazar shared some of its nuances, such as how the names of the victims were not arranged alphabetically but by how the people were connected to each other.

Students and staff were encouraged to wear red, white and blue to school.

Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Berner held a schoolwide moment of silence in honor of the Sept. 11 victims and heroes.

Photo Captions:

1: Berner Middle School sixth-grade teacher Vanessa Canning was joined by students, from left, William Finnegan, Lily O’Daly, Isabella Farley, Timothy Feehan and Luca Zeni in a display of patriotism on Sept. 11.

2: Karen Lazar, a docent from the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, spoke to eighth-graders in Josee Charvet’s class.

Photos courtesy of Massapequa School District