Celebrating Independence Day

Understanding the traditions of national holidays is an important adult living skill for teens with special needs. Teens need to understand that some holidays, like Memorial Day, require solemnity and reflection while others, such as the 4th of July, are jubilant and cheerful. Brief lessons on the meaning of national holidays are useful to help students with special needs understand how to act appropriately and participate in holidays with confidence and enthusiasm.

Our Independence

The 4th of July is a good time to help students reflect on the rights and privileges that go with being an American.

While our founding fathers agreed that the holiday should be celebrated with merriment, cannons and parades, a more significant celebration would be to honor the meaning of what it is to be an American.

Enjoy this Free Lesson from Daily Living Skills

Try out the free lesson, “Celebrating Independence Day” provided here.

Open the discussion. Ask students what they know about the 4th of July. Accept all answers but write down correct answers on the board or chart. When students have provided all the information they know on the holiday, read page 42.
Read “Cheering—For What?” Ask students to share a time when they used their first amendment right of free speech. Have they discussed politics? Engaged in a protest? Signed a petition? Written to a government official? See if you, as a class, can discuss any current events that involve freedom of speech.
Complete “Cheering—For What? Worksheet.” Help students to understand that they need to discuss what they plan to do with their freedom of speech, not necessarily what they have already done. Allow students to share any answers they could like.
Complete “In a Nutshell” to help students understand history and appropriate behavior surrounding the holiday.

For Further Information

If this lesson worked well for you, you may want to check out the other lessons in Celebrating Holidays from the Daily Living Skills series.

Written on a 3rd/4th-grade level, these books nevertheless, respect teen sensibilities and maturity while providing both Indicator 13 skills and federally mandated transition services. With an ever-expanding list of titles, Daily Living Skills provides curricula in cooking skills, housekeeping, social skills, job-hunting and interviewing skills, executive functioning skills, character-building and more.

Check out all the titles here!