The Bowes Museum

The education department at the Bowes Museum in County Durham has launched a new teacher resource pack to aid the teaching of World War One History.

The resource, which is free to download online, has been designed to meet Key Stage 2 National Curriculum History requirements.

Using it is said to ensure that pupils are taught an aspect of history dating from a period beyond 1066 that is significant to their locality.

The pack contains teaching ideas, case studies and crafts activity sheets. It can also be linked to cross curricular subjects such as Literacy, Maths and Art.

The resources link to the Bowes Museum First World War Commemoration Project website, which has a number of extra resources that can be used with the World War One pack.

For example, there’s what’s called a Roll of Honour on the website, listing a number of individuals linked to the war. One task asks pupils to choose one of these individuals – i.e. a soldier – and list words associated with each of the five senses.

Another task linking to resources on the website is a poetry- related activity. The pupils will read a number of war poems, then have a go at writing their own.

Each task listed in the teachers resource pack has its own specific link to the resource on the website.

The resources link to a variety of subjects. In Maths, pupils will be asked to answer questions such as:

168 tomatoes were sent to the hospital. 24 tomatoes fell off the truck on the way.  How many tomatoes were left when the truck arrived at the hospital?

In Art, the class can produce their own version of an embroidered postcard, or learn how to make a paper poppy.

Teachers can download the free educational pack by visiting www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk/Education/Schools.