Remembrance Day Challenge Kit  

Transform Remembrance Day into a meaningful experience by equipping your students to create acts of remembering and commemoration that go beyond symbolism that reflect a deeper understanding of war, conflict and peace. 

Interest Form

“The students’ unanimous feedback identified that this project challenged them to think much more broadly and deeply than any other they’d encountered. From the start my class was very invested, and they commented about how it showed through their work…they’re also more confident in themselves because they know they’ve been a part of something great.”

- Michael Primarano, Veteran and Middle School Teacher

Making Remembrance Day Meaningful

The schools of 2025 are much different from those of 1919, when the first formal Armistice Day was marked in Canada; yet the way in which we commemorate it is largely unchanged. The Remembrance Day Challenge Kit gives students in Grades 5-12 the opportunity to develop deeper understandings of what Remembrance Day can be.

Together, students reimagine how we honour all who served and continue to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces; including Black, Indigenous, women, 2SLBGTQ+ soldiers, veterans and labourers, often forgotten and excluded in traditional remembrance. Remembrance Day is an important opportunity to engage with student voice and action. 

In this Challenge Kit we ask students to: 

  • Expand the experiences we honour and remember 

  • Deepen our learning to add complexity to those experiences 

  • Be historically accurate in our remembering

“We have to be honest about our own histories and we have to remember the difficult histories… there are many histories in our country that aren’t well-known, that are often hidden and yet are incredibly important.”

- Sergeant Nina Usherwood, Canadian Forces Decoration (retired)

A Peek Inside

Ceremonies and practices hold meaning when the people participating bring meaning to them. The Remembrance Day Challenge Kit helps students move beyond symbolic gestures to design acts of commemoration that are personal, authentic, and community-connected.  

Students’ guiding challenge is:

How might we make Remembrance Day meaningful to our school community?

This Challenge Kit features the voices and stories of people who have shared their experiences, histories and wisdom with students. They offer real perspectives on service, identity, and what remembrance, conflict and peace mean to them.

  • Kim Bernhardt, recently retired adjudicator, Her father, Wilson O. Brooks, was one of the first Blacks in the Canadian Air Force and he served in #415 Squadron, R.C.A.F. #6 Bomber Command

  • Natalie Marie Forcier, MCpl (retired) served in the Canadian Armed Forces as a Medical Technician from 2002-2016

  • Kevin Majors, Veteran

  • Lieutenant-Colonel / Lieutenante-colonelle A. Melissa (Mel) Reyes, MSc, Section Head - Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Space Systems and Director General Air and Space Force Development / Canadian Armed Forces

  • Eleanor Taylor, Manager, Community Engagement and Advocacy for True Patriot Love Foundation

  • Sergeant Nina Usherwood Canadian Forces Decoration (retired)

Challenge Kit designed by: Michael Alex 

Michael Alex is a Teacher Coach with I-Think and a former high school teacher with a quarter century of classroom experience and instructional leadership, primarily in the public alternative system. Today he’s a freelance learning strategist at Inside Out Learning working through a mindfulness lens to support teens inside and out of traditional learning environments.

Activities designed by:

Ian Duncan, LGBTQ+ and Women Series
Ian Duncan teaches high school history in Ontario, working hard to create a classroom where historical narratives are questioned, inclusive, and co-created by new generations of young people. Charged with critical thinking, fuelled by dialogue and, amplified by curiosity, his students engage in inquiry that truly reaches into the past. He lives proudly with his husband and son in Toronto, is always learning new stories from the past, and also writes picture books found in your local library and bookshop. 

Tamara Phillips, No 2 Construction Battalion Series
Tamara Phillips is an Instructional Program Lead with the Halton District School Board, specializing in secondary literacy, curriculum, and professional learning. She has over 20 years of experience as an English teacher, consultant, and system leader, with a focus on evidence-based literacy instruction, destreaming, and asset-based assessment practices. Tamara designs professional development that centres student voice, empowers teachers to engage in a pedagogy of voice, and builds cross-curricular connections rooted in upholding Indigenous and human rights. Tamara's passion for teaching and learning has grown alongside her journey as a mother. She is passionate about bringing lesser-told stories into the "nooks and crannies" of public education with joy and love.

Want to learn more?

Challenge Kit Interest Form