Posts Tagged ‘American History’

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LEGO Trench Warfare

Wednesday, August 19th, 2015

LEGO-trench-warfare

While studying World War I, my children decided to build LEGO trench warfare. We started with a green base and built up the terrain by using mostly green LEGO bricks. After building up the terrain as tall as you can, put the LEGO men down into the trenches. The good guys can look up over the trench while fighting against their enemies.

LEGO-WWI

One edge has one trench, and the opposite edge has another trench. There can be holes in the trenches to look out at the enemy.

There should be a plain between the two sides. The plain in the middle has land mines and barbed wire, so have the soldiers run carefully not to set off any land mines. If a land mine is set off, make a small explosion with gray LEGO bricks.

trench-warfare

Machine guns were also stationed behind the trenches, and they would mow down the enemy when they were charging. This is war. It’s tragic and gruesome, and it’s a part of history. This hands-on activity is one way to understand World War I.

If you are doing a unit study on trench warfare, you might also like Trench Warfare Creative Writing.

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Antique Train Tour

Monday, August 17th, 2015

antique-train-tourThis post contains affiliate links. I was compensated for my work in writing this post.

Today I will be taking you on an antique train tour. This is a fun field trip if you are studying modern history. We have been using All American History, Volume II this year for our American History studies, and this is one field trip that is mentioned in the book to help experience this time period. This particular train was built in the 1940’s.

Trains were built to transport people and freight from one end of the country to the other. Train tracks criss-crossed the nation back during a time when cars did not yet exist and horses and buggies were too slow. Even today, trains are the most economical way to transport heavy objects from one place to another.

dining-train-car

Antique passenger trains would have a dining car with a counter and stools. You could order your food and listen to music over the old-fashioned radio. (You will see this in the short video tour.) The ceiling was arched and ribbed. The kitchen was located behind and to the side of the dining car, with a narrow corridor leading to the next train car.

dining-trainHere is where people would sit to eat a proper dinner. Hopefully the dishes wouldn’t be rattling as the train rolled over the tracks.

train-bathroom

This is a bathroom. The yellow paint makes it cheerful, but it doesn’t make up for the fact that it is such a small room, almost like a closet. The red seat can be pulled up to go to the bathroom. The sink is super small, as you can see.

train-lights

There were some old-fashioned lanterns and other paraphernalia from that time period, enclosed behind various glass cases that were museum-like. I show you a lot more trinkets in the video, like an old-fashioned telephone and typewriter.

train-seats

These are your regular train seats where you would sit and enjoy the scenery while you were going to your destination.

There was a small model train at the end of the tour, with bridges, trees, tunnels, and other fun features. My kids really enjoyed being able to experience what life was like during the 1940’s.

Here is the short 6-minute antique train tour:

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Trench Warfare Creative Writing

Friday, August 7th, 2015

trench-warfare-creative-writing

One of the creative writing assignments I gave my kids was to write something about World War I. One of my kids wanted to write a letter describing trench warfare on the Western Front during World War I.

Trench Warfare Creative Writing

To my wife at home, whom I may never see again,

The sun rose into the sky. All was quiet. The sun revealed that the earth was full of cuts and gashes. They were trenches. I was in one of them. Looking around me, I could see bullets everywhere. The earth wasn’t the only thing full of cuts and gashes. There was… I won’t say. I looked out over no man’s land.

All over the ground I saw the dead. Anything out there was smashed and broken. There was a barbed wire we had set up during the night to keep the enemies from charging into our trench. This was now a big tangled heap. From where I was, I could see the enemy trenches. I wondered if they had set up a big tangled heap of their own.

Suddenly a shot was fired, directly at my face. For half an hour, I watched the bullet get bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Like a cow staring at an oncoming train, I just watched it. By the time it was so close I could see that it had a smiley face printed on it. My brain screamed, “Melvin! You idiot! What are you doing?!?”

I brought my head down into the trench, but not before the bullet cut a swath through my hair, right next to the other swath in my hair from the same thing that happened yesterday. Everyone in my trench was jealous of my awesome haircut. Frankly, I don’t know what they’re so jealous of. One of these days it will be my face. I dread the smiley face bullet.

I don’t know why I signed up for this war. I don’t know why we’re having this war in the first place. When I enlisted, I didn’t know what war was like. I didn’t even know they made smiley face bullets. Oh well, another day, another haze of shells. Tomorrow will be my next eyeball fight with my arch-nemesis.

Love,
Melvin

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Civil War Unit Study

Monday, August 3rd, 2015

civil-war-unit-study-hands-on

Here are fun some Civil War hands-on activities that you can do with your kids while doing a Civil War unit study:

These hands-on Civil War activities will help your students to bring this time period to life! Experiencing the Civil War first hand by tasting the food, hearing the music, and watching the re-enacted battles will be like traveling through time. Your students will have no problem remembering what you are teaching them when they are able to live and breathe the Civil War, hanging all the other information you teach into their experiential knowledge. We really enjoyed our Civil War unit study!

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