Learning Stations: follow the directions on each page to complete the station and learn about an aspect of WWI.

Station 1: Trench Warfare- What is it?

Station 2: In Flanders Field

Station 3: Weapons of WWI

Station 4: Daily life of a soldier

Station 5: Battles of WWI

Station 6: Odds and Ends

The Great War, 1914-

1918

Station 1: Trench Warfare- What is it?

1. Have someone read the following out loud: At the outbreak of WWI, the British and French stopped Germany from advancing. The Germans began to dig trenches and the Allies dug their own. Trenches came to symbolize the Western Front of the war and led to a stalemate, with neither side gaining ground.

2. Watch the video and answer the take notes on the following: purpose of the trenches why they were used how they compared to Civil War trenches the problem they led to in war

Overview of the Trenches of WWI

3. Using the close up image of a trench, draw a close up view of a trench and label the parts.

Communication trenches allow reserves to be brought forward without exposing them to the enemy

If you finish and have time, watch the second video and list words that describe the experience of trench warfare.

Station 2: In Flanders Field

1. Have a different person from last station read the following:The poppy has become a symbol of remembrance of soldiers who have died in war. This is due to a poem written during WWI. Colonel McCrae wrote it after witnessing a friend killed. Flanders Fields was a common name for the battlefields in Belgium and France where much of the fighting took place and millions died. Poppies grow wild in this area.

2. Listen to the poem and follow along with the words. Answer the questions below.

What is the poem about?

Who is speaking in the poem?

How does the poem make you feel about the war?

The final stanza encourages us to take up the “torch”. What do you think this means/ what does the author want us to do?

Continued on next page

Select a line or image from the poem that stands out to you and create an illustration for it.

Station 3: Weapons of WWI.

1. Have someone who has not read today read the following:There had not been a war in Europe for a long time before the outbreak of WWI. As a result, at the beginning of the war weapons were primitive. As the war progressed, newer and better weapons appeared and led to modern warfare.

2. Use the reading provided to complete the crossword puzzle.

Station 4: Daily Life of a Soldier

1. Examine as many of the sources as you can and take notes about what you learned about the soldier experience from them.

Station 5: Battles of WWI

1. Choose a group member to control the PowerPoint2. Work your way through the PowerPoint, take notes on the important information- remember you do

not need to write everything down word for word!! Think about what is most important about each topic.

Schlieffen Plan – what was it and why did it fail?

Western Front

Battle of the Marne

Race to the Sea

Gallipoli Campaign

Define war of attrition:

Battle of Verdun

Battle of the Somme

EASTERN FRONT

Battle of Tannenberg

Masurian Lakes

Station 6: Odds and Ends

1. Storytime! Choose one of the stories in True Stories of World War I. Have someone read the story and share the images.

2. Use the other two books to find answers to the following questions. What is conscription? (hint: look in the Eyewitness Glossary)

What was the purpose of the “Pals Battalion” (hint: First World War p. 32)

What happened on Christmas 1914? (hint: First World War p. 34, Meeting halfway)

What is shellshock? (hint: Eyewitness p.31)

What group of people was killed in a genocide by the Turks? (genocide: deliberate killing of a group of people) (hint: First World War p. 45, Unholy massacre)

Give two things women did to help the war effort (hint: Eyewitness p. 32 & First World War p.78-79)

Who was Mata Hari (hint: Eyewitness p.51 & First World War p.83)

If you finish- read another story in True Stories of World War I.