Trenches and duckboards

While painting our models of trenches we realised how easily they would become muddy. We learnt that duckboards were made from timber and placed in the bottom of trenches, above the mud, to help soldiers move around them with more ease. 

We made some mini duckboards for our model, using small Popsicle sticks. 

Photo by Rafa. 

Making models

Our job for the next few weeks is to create some models of trenches using papier mâché. 

While we were doing our work we talked about how rough it would have been for the soldiers to work in a trench. It would have been muddy, cramped, dirty and smelly. 

A varied session

Our Stepping Up session today was quite varied. First we helped to dismantle the crosses that were set up for Armistice Day. It was a good chance to remind ourselves about soldier's military numbers and why they were needed. 

We also remembered why there is a cross with 'The unknown soldier - Known unto God' on it. 

As we carried the crosses back we thought about how to show respect to the soldiers that they represent. 

Back in the classroom we ripped up paper to use when we make our model of trenches. We had tons of fun but were surprised how black our hands got after handling all the paper!

Our final experience today was going to the boat and doing a role play. We pretended to be the last ANZACs on Gallipoli. We tried to be aware of the 'snipers' as we set sail for Lemnos Island where we look forward to having a nice rest over Christmas!

Presenting our Learning

We were very excited to share our learning with others today!

A big crowd of eager children came to Room 21 at lunchtime to hear our speeches and look at our Minecraft presentation.

We were really keen to show our audience around our 'worlds' using Apple TV. They were impressed with our work!