The Homeschool Almanac

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Story · for reading together

Armistice Day, 1918

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.

Retell the story

In three pictures

Three pictures: muddy trenches with soldiers, a clock striking 11, and a field of red poppies growing where the fighting was.

1.The trenches
2.The clock at 11
3.The poppy field

Answer key: Red.

Number & measure

Counting the hours

Everything about this day is ELEVENS. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

  1. a)Count out loud: 1, 2, 3… all the way to 11.
  2. b)Draw a clock face. Put the big hand on 12 and the little hand on 11. What time is that?
  3. c)The silence lasts 2 minutes. 60 seconds in one minute — so how many seconds altogether? 60 + 60 = ?
  4. d)Draw 11 red poppies in a row. That is a lot.

Answer key: b) 11 o'clock c) 120 seconds

Map task

Find it on the World map

Map task · World map

Find the UK, France and Belgium. Add a poppy marker in Flanders, across the Channel from the UK.

Mark

  • · United Kingdom
  • · France
  • · Belgium
  • · Flanders

mark on your world map

Not recorded yet

Timeline card

Cut out and add to your timeline

Cut on the dashed line. Place the card near 1918 on your wall timeline.

✂ Cut out · add to timeline
1918●

The First World War armistice

France and Belgium

At eleven o'clock, the guns fall silent.

Not recorded yet

Word treasury

Today's treasure word

Cut on the dashed line and place in your word treasury.

✂ Word treasury card

Armistice

/AR-mi-stiss/

An agreement to stop fighting.

"The armistice began at eleven o'clock on 11 November 1918."

Draw two hands lowered beside a small white flag.

write or decorate the word

Not recorded yet

Draw the inside

Your drawing

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

  • · stem
  • · leaf
  • · petals
  • · seed pod
  • · seeds
  • · the dark centre