At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month…
…of 1918, the guns of the First World War fell silent.
§ The story
The First World War went on for FOUR long years. Soldiers from all over the world dug long muddy trenches in the fields of France and Belgium, and the guns went on for miles and miles.
Then, at 11 o'clock in the morning of 11 November 1918, the fighting stopped. All at once. All along the line. Everyone said: they will never do this again.
A Canadian doctor called John McCrae wrote a short poem about the red POPPIES that grew in the muddy fields where soldiers were buried. That is why, every November, people wear a little red paper poppy — to remember. And at 11am on 11 November, we all stand still for two minutes. No talking. No moving. Just quiet.
» You read this line
At the eleventh hour, the guns fell silent.
» You read this line
In Flanders fields the poppies blow.
Close the book. Tell it back. Then get ready to be very still.
§ Tell it in three pictures
Three pictures: muddy trenches with soldiers, a clock striking 11, and a field of red poppies growing where the fighting was.
Harder, go as far as you can — Under picture 3, write the colour of the flower we wear.
Check yourself: Red.
§ From 'In Flanders Fields'
Read the four little pieces aloud slowly. Then read the whole thing in a whisper.
Illuminate — Illuminate the great letter I as a tall poppy with a red head and a green stem.
§ Number page
Everything about this day is ELEVENS. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Check yourself: b) 11 o'clock c) 120 seconds
§ Draw the inside
Draw a poppy from the side, sliced open. Show the long green stem, the seed pod in the middle, the four bright red petals like paper, and the dark centre with the seeds.
drawn by me
Labels
§ Listening minute
The silence on this day is the whole point. During your two minutes, listen. What can you hear inside the quiet?
Was the silence really silent? Or was it FULL of small sounds?
§ Move & notice
Catch
At exactly 11 o'clock, stand up. Stand as still as a soldier at attention. Do not speak for two whole minutes. Notice how long two minutes is.
Predict first
Guess: will two minutes feel LONG or short?
§ The thinking question
We remember with SILENCE instead of noise. Why?
For your treasury book
SILENCE
From the Latin silentium, being still and saying nothing. A word that has always meant exactly what it says.
Copy SILENCE into your treasury book. Draw one poppy beside it.
Test the grown-up tonight — Ask a grown-up why we wear a red poppy. Ask them what year the war ended.
§ For the corridor timeline
First, look at your timeline string. Does a panel for this century already hang there? If not, cut out the century panel below. Then clip the event card onto it.
THE 20th CENTURY · the 1900s
event cards clip below this line — leave room, more will come
Event card
ARMISTICE, 1918
The guns fall silent at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
draw the event here before you clip it up
§ Evening review
FOR MUMMY OR DAD
Morning ignition (10 minutes)
Today at 11am we kept two minutes of silence. On this exact date in 1918, the First World War ended, and we wear a little red poppy to remember.
The sealed question
“Why a POPPY, and why SILENCE, of all things?”
Evening review, in this order
Mark the badges (circle one for each)
One line worth remembering from today
the day is sealed here
Add to your week