World War 1 project first week back - AIBU?

[Feebeela]

Hi all,

Going to be teaching in Year 1 when I go back to school. Really conscious of littlies being worried, concerned, scared about the jump to Year 1 so wanted to make transition smooth and as painless as possible. I was thinking of doing a project on the animal our class is named after for a nice art/writing display, bring a sense of cohesiveness to the class. Ease them in, right? No. Instead, we have to do a project about WW1! I've looked at the materials and even on Twinkl, it's all a bit much for a brand new class. I don't know them, I don't know who are the sensitive ones, who are those that will have nightmares about fighting a war. it's hardly warm and fuzzy is it? Of course, I am going to make our materials child friendly but it's tricky. Am I being unreasonable or is this a project that, if handled correctly, is suitable for 5 year olds? I know that I wouldn't be happy if my DD had to do this type of project, first part of Year 1. What do you think?

Thanks for listening to my rant!

Could you look at it from the POV of one of the working animals or troop mascots involved in WWI? I can't think of specifics but I know there were cats/dogs/other 'mascots', dogs who did jobs. Obviously with a happy ending! Then you can talk about why people have wars or whatever from the animals point of view as an outsider.

I think your school is a bit mad doing that in Y1. Is it a whole-class topic?

Songs? I can very clearly remember learning some WW1 songs at primary school.

www.ww1photos.com/WW1MusicIndex.html

Bloody ridiculous topic to start with though. I agree!

The Imperial War Museum have some fantastic online resources for primary.

(duh, I meant to say "whole-school topic" in my post)

What about the story of Sergeant Stubby, the American dog mascot.
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/25405401

For the last year BBC Radio 4 has run a series called Home Front

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047qhc2

You could look at how life changed because many men went away.

You could look at the Thankful Villages

Or WW1 posters from various countries
www.google.co.uk/search?q=ww1+posters&tbm=isch&imgil=KXBLzv0lnnsA4M%253A%253BczUwgZs9b062xM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%25252Fnews%25252Farticle-2569145%25252FWhy-arent-khaki-Fascinating-archive-posters-urging-men-enlist-WWI-encouraging-wives-send-set-sell-20-000.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=KXBLzv0lnnsA4M%253A%252CczUwgZs9b062xM%252C_&usg=__rv4KVdfQNn74C3dZJAp3pPXj9Zg%3D&biw=1280&bih=904&ved=0ahUKEwiPkNnGq4HWAhUcM8AKHRnxAGQQyjcIPg&ei=Je-nWc_pH5zmgAaZ4oOgBg#imgrc=KXBLzv0lnnsA4M:

My favourite Eat less bread, save the fleet

Have been thinking about this all day as it's such a random topic to do with year 1 at the start of the year. I would either focus very much on what life was like at home for 5 & 6 year old children during WW1 - what toys did they play with, how did they spend their time, what was school like, what clothes did they wear. Or I would tie it in with my history ie parents/grandparents/great grandparents and ask the children to find out what their ancestors were doing during WW1.

In other words, I would borrow lavishly from existing All About Me or Old Toys planning and give it a bit of a WW1 twist! The other thing I did with a mixed year 1/2 class (in November) was to use a local website which listed all the people on the village war memorial with their addresses and then find out which of them were born in the village and so would have been pupils at the school. However, I was in quite a unique position of being in an old school and having access to that information. We also had all the old school log books so I found the entry for 11 November 1918 which recorded how the school (and village) had celebrated the Armistice. We also made a fantastic poppy wreath with each child making a paper plate poppy (simple outline I cut out based on an idea from Activity Village or somewhere similar, they painted it red with black in the centre) which I then attached to a PE hoop. It was really effective.

Wow, that sounds ridiculous for just out of reception children! Some SLT really do have some stupid ideas.

Good luck!!

Thank you for your input everyone. There are some fantastic ideas here that i am stesling but i still think its a terrible project for the beginning of the year! MN teachers are so sensible