World War

We finally made it to World War I in our history studies. I can't say we did an intense study of the war. There really isn't a whole lot in the children's section of the library about this particular war. We had already read the Christmas book about the Truce at Christmas time. And there just wasn't much else I could find to really make this time period come to life. There wasn't even a You wouldn't want to.... book from this war. This surprised me a bit. I have already picked up the two for WWII.  Perhaps I need to write the publisher and complain or at the very least make a suggestion for a topic they havne't covered.  You wouldn't want to... be in the trenches,  or be in "no mans land". I am sure there would be enough to fill a book!

We did really enjoy this particular book.

We found Going to War in World War I much more interesting than the DK Eyewitness WWI book.

We listened to some music from the time period. I even found a great CD that was the music that was played on the Titanic. So we were able to listen to music from before the war and then another CD of wartime music. They really loved the Edwardian, Titanic music. We were dancing and waltzing around the living room.

We also watched A Bear Named Winnie. It is about the bear that inspired Christopher Robin to rename his bear Winnie the Pooh.  My kids loved learning some of the background story of the bear that comes from Canada and ended up in a London Zoo. 

The fact that it was WWI soldiers that did it was just a bonus. I like to think the movie helped them understand a little of what it was like for those soldiers to go to war and live in trenches and such. It didn't really show a whole lot of the war itself which is fine since my kids are still a little young to see such things. But I think they did take away something about soldier life and how this war changed warfare.

I had thought we should memorize the Poem In Flanders Field but it didn't happen and my kids are ready to move on. So perhaps we will save that for the next time WWI rolls around. We did go over and assemble the activities included on our Time Travelers Unit as well so I feel like we covered this topic pretty well.

Next week we are going to spend some time in the Roaring 20's and learn about Jazz. I am excited to read all the story books I found at the library this week and listen to some of the fun music. I will have to share some of our favorites at the end of the week.