For the last month and a half, we’ve been working on our WWI unit. Our project was to create a comic book with each chapter being a specific event, person, or thing during the war.

But first, a recap. WWI took place from 1914-1918 between different European countries. The Allies (France, Britain, Canada, America, Russia, and Italy) were against the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria).

The war was started by the assassination of Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian man. Germany invaded Serbia, and Britain gave Germany 24 hours to stop invading Serbia. When they didn’t comply, Britain declared war on Germany. Because Canada still a dominion of Britain at that time, so they were automatically at war as well.

 

We started this unit right before spring break, so we didnt do much for the first week. We did have to read a book about WWI over spring break. We got to choose between three books, War Horse, Private Peaceful, or Generals Die in Bed. I chose Private Peaceful, which is a book about two brothers who join the British military at the beginning of the war. After we got back from spring break, we made a book report. I say make, because we could have drawn it if we wanted to. I did, and i drew a very powerful scene from the book. I drew the two brothers getting on the train to (spoiler warning) leave their small town to join the army.

Now then, the juicy part of the unit; our main project. Each person in the class chose a topic to research. Some chose Passchendaele, others chose Vimy ridge, and Jessie and I chose the Halifax Explosion. We split the event into two parts, and did one of said parts. Jessie did before the explosion, and I did after.

We also had a story about a person or group of people that relates to our event. Jessie looked at Vincent Coleman, a man who sent a telegram to an oncoming train, warning it of the explosion. I wrote about the USS Tacoma, a transport ship that had been used as a temporary hospital ship for the survivors of the explosion.

During this project, I learned some valuable teamwork skills. I was able to work with Jessie to create a fluent story, without having to work with her directly. I think that kind of teamwork is good to have, because you’re able to work as a group, but also by yourself.