Kindergarten students at WES get creative for Veterans Day

For several years Wells Elementary School observed Veterans Day in a very big way with school-wide assemblies featuring many area veterans as guests. That, of course, was before COVID resulting this year in a more subdued yet impressive expression of appreciation for America’s veterans.

This year the kindergarten classes at WES contributed to the making of a large American flag that is displayed prominently along a busy school hallway. The project originated in Susan Bastille’s class one day while studying Veterans Day.

“I personally have a son who is a Marine Veteran and we discussed this in my class,” noted Bastille in an email. “After sharing photos of him with them, the concept of creating a large flag was discussed.”

With a suggestion from Bastille, each student would contribute to the flag in a personal way by adding a paper cutout of their hands at the bottom of it. “They enjoyed tracing and cutting out their hands and then bringing them to the hallway to add them to the flag. Each of the six kindergarten classes was assigned a color (for their cut-outs),” described Bastille.

At one point in the project, Bastille added a photo of her son to the flag. It wasn’t long after before several other photos of veterans were being added from others in the school. “The K students pass the flag daily on their way to the playground,” commented Bastille. “The visual really encouraged some wonderful questions from the students.”

Veterans Day is observed every November 11th to recognize the ending of the First World War when the armistice ending that war was signed in a railway carriage in France.