This is the 32nd lesson in a series of 35 hands-on lessons covering U.S. American History. This lesson focuses on World War I. I used this plan while teaching a 45 minute history class for children in Kindergarten, 1st, & 2nd grades. Each lesson includes a biography report, history notebook page, history song, our favorite children’s books, YouTube video, a history joke, & a variety of hands-on activities to make each lesson engaging & memorable. Use these fun lessons with your classroom, homeschool, after-school program, or co-op!

Student Biography Presentation: Woodrow Wilson

1. Student biography presentation on Woodrow Wilson

Review & Presidents Song

2. Review questions: During Reconstruction, George Washington Carver tried to convince poor Southern farmers to stop growing cotton and to start growing what? (Peanuts [and sweet potatoes]) Which ex-slave started Tuskegee Institute as college for ex-slaves and children of ex-slaves? (Booker T. Washington start) Who helped move cattle North to get to cities or train stations during the “Wild West” time period? (Cowboys) What famous show did Buffalo Bill Cody take around America and around the world to show off the Wild West including people like Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull? (Wild West Show) Who are immigrants? (People who move from one country to live in a different country) After 1886, what statue greeted immigrants when they arrived in New York (Statue of Liberty) Many immigrants arrived at which island in New York? (Ellis Island) What is a term for the men who because very rich during the Gilded Age? (Tycoons) Name one of the tycoons. (Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, etc.) Name one resource/business that made lots of money for the tycoons. (railroads, oil, steel, banks) What is something you learned about Theodore Roosevelt in the last lesson? (Answers will vary.)

3. Sing through the entire President’s Song 2 times while either showing the video or flipping through pictures of the Presidents. (We add in “Trump, Biden, Trump” at the end of the song.)

You will need:

• Screen to show the below video or a book showing Presidents or point to their pictures on a President place mat

World War I World Map

4. While the Tycoons were making lots of money from successful businesses and Theodore Roosevelt was helping to protect the wilderness in America, everything in Europe wasn’t going well.

• During President Monroe’s presidency, America tried to mind their own business and told Europe to mind their own business. Who remembers the name of the doctrine that told Europe to stay on their side of the Atlantic Ocean, no longer colonizing America and no longer trying to involve us in wars? (Monroe Doctrine)
• Well, a war was brewing in Europe. There were two main “friend groups.” They called those “friend groups” alliances. Each of the countries in the friend group alliances said, “If someone messes with someone in my alliance, we’ll help our alliance buddies and fight with them against whoever picks on them.”
• One main “friend group” alliance was the Central Powers. [Point to them on the map.] Can you see how they’re in the center of Europe, the center Central Powers? The Central Powers included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire, which is mostly what we today call Turkey.
• The other main “friend group” alliance was the Allies which included France, Great Britain, and Russia along with some smaller countries like Serbia. [Find those on the map.] They kind of surrounded the Central Powers.

You will need per student:

• one of the above Europe in World War I maps printed off and 3-hole punched

Alliances like stacked blocks

5. Lay blocks on the table.

• These blocks are induvial countries like Great Britain and Germany. You can show them a little but you can’t push them down really, can you? They’re pretty stable.
• Allow two students to each stack some blocks on each other and then pull one out from the bottom, knocking down the towers.
• The “friend group” alliance treaties between countries causing instability like these blocks getting knocked down.
• A Serbian terrorist killed/assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife on June 28, 1914.
• [Point to the countries as you say them AND create two stacks of blocks as you state the countries.] resulting in Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war on Serbia. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia supported Serbia, so Germany declared war on Russia. Because Russia was in the “friend group” Allies alliance with France, France entered the war against Germany. Germany invaded Belgium, so Great Britain joined the war against Germany.
• World War I, also called “The Great War” and “The War to End All Wars” started in 1914. [Knock over the two stacks of blocks.]

You will need:

• blocks and a map of Europe

America Enters World War I

6. America tried to stay out of the war. They did business with both “friend group” alliances, the Allies and the Central Powers. But then two major events happened.

• [Show a picture of the Lusitania.] In 1915, a German submarine sank the British ocean liner Lusitania. About 1,200 died, including 128 Americans. Some Americans started to get upset with Germany and the Central Powers. THEN…
• [Point out Mexico on a map.] In 1917 the British said they found out a secret message from the German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German minister in Mexico. The Zimmermann telegram offered that if Mexico helped fight with Germany, then Germany would help them attack America and take back the territory they’d lost in the Mexican-American War: Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
• Who remembers what the battle cry was for the battle for Texas Independence and then later for the Mexican-American War? (Remember the Alamo)
• In 1917 American joined the Allies to fight against the Central Powers.

You will need:

• a picture of the Lusitania & a map that shows Mexico

Allies Day, May 1917

7. Show Childe Hassam’s painting Allies Day, May 1917, which shows what took place in New York City in 1917 when America agreed to join the Allies to fight against the Central Powers. Ask questions such as the ones below based on the Picturing America lesson:

• What do you see in the painting?
• Find the church tower. (on the left)
• Where are the trees in Central Park? (green in the lower corner)
• What’s happening in the street? (Filled with people, maybe a parade)
• How are the brushstrokes different from the paintings we looked at last week? (Can be distinguished separately as if the artist just made them; not blended together to look smooth; are different sizes)
• Can you find the flag of America? Great Britain? France? Canada?
• Which flag stands out? (The American flag that is not overlapped by another flag and is centered.)
• Why do you think all these flags were flying in New York? (American had just agreed to join the “friend group” Allies which included Great Britain, France, and Canada (which was ruled by Great Britain))

You will need:

• a copy of Childe Hassam’s painting Allies Day, May 1917.

Aviation in World War I

8. World War I was the first war to ever have airplanes (because airplanes had only recently been invented).

• Show pictures of World War I airplanes using a book such as Everything World War I by Karen Latchana Kenney.
• Be sure to show a picture of Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen known in English as Baron von Richthofen or the Red Baron, who was probably the most famous fighter pilot during World War I. He was a pilot for the German Air Force is considered the “ace-of-aces” of the war, with 80 air combat victories. He’s also featured in Snoopy cartoons.
• The airplanes were mainly used for observation, allowing someone to see what where their enemies were lined up, but as the years passes, airplanes increasingly were used as weapons with two pilots shooting at each other in what was called a “dog fight.”
• The airplanes aren’t like the ones we use today. They were still pretty flimsy, not as flimsy as a paper airplane, but we’ll have to pretend.
• Model how to make a simple paper airplane.
• Allow students to each make 3 paper airplanes using any design they’d like.
• “Dog Fight”: Set up 2 sides facing each other. Have them try to hit a plane from the other side with their paper airplane.

You will need:

• Everything World War I by Karen Latchana Kenney or other book showing World War I planes (or just show pictures from online)
• paper for making paper airplanes

Trench Warfare

9. When you think of fighting in trenches, think of World War I. Trenches were long holes/ditches dug into the ground to protect the soldiers from getting shot at.

OPTION 1: (what I did when teaching in a classroom)

• Set up 2 tables on their sides. Divide children into 2 teams. Have the children pretend to dig the “trenches” (place behind the table) out. The place between the tables is “No Man’s Land.” Have children pop up and down, throwing paper balls at the other team.

OPTION 2: (what I did when teaching this at home)

• Have children dig out a two trenches in the ground. Let them use Nerf guns to shoot at each other.

You will need (for Option 1):

• tables and paper for making paper balls

10. World War I ended on 11/11/19 (November 11, 2019) at 11am with Germany and the Central Powers surrendering. The Allies won this time…but unfortunately, another war is coming.

Review

11. Review: Name one country that was part of the Central Powers Alliance. (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire/Turkey). Name one country that was part of the Allies Alliance (France, Great Britain, Russia, United States). Which side was the United States on? (Allies) Who was the President of the United States during World War I? (Woodrow Wilson) World War I was the first war to use what in battle? (airplanes) Name something you learned about air battles during World War I. (Answers will vary). What kind of warfare should immediately make you think of World War I? (trench warfare). What are trenches? (long holes/ditches dug into the ground to protect the soldiers from getting shot at) Who lost during World War I? (Central Powers including Germany) Who won World War I? (Allies including America)

12. Assign next week’s biography report on Louis Armstrong.

We read through a large stack of books. In addition to the book used in this lesson, these were our top 7 favorites:

• Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick
• Fly, Cher Ami, Fly!: The Pigeon Who Saved the Lost Battalion by Robert Burleigh
• Rags: Hero Dog of WWI: A True Story by Margot Theis Raven
• Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce Of 1914 by John Hendrix
• You Wouldn’t Want To Be In The Trenches In World War I! by Alex Woolf
• Fearless Flyers, Dazzle Painters, and Code Talkers! by Elizabeth Dennis
• Midnight: A True Story of Loyalty in World War I by Mark Greenwood and Frané Lessac

Simple History Songs to Memorize About America and World War I

AMERICAN HISTORY FOR EARLY ELEMENTARY:

Native Americans & Columbus Lesson
Jamestown Lesson
Pilgrims Lesson
Thirteen Colonies Lesson
French and Indian War Lesson
Colonial Period & Revolution Rumblings Lesson
Boston Massacre & Boston Tea Party Lesson
First Shots & Declaration of Independence Lesson
American War for Independence Battles Lesson
Valley Forge & Battle of Yorktown Lesson
American Literature Lesson & American War for Independence Review
Colonial Christmas Party
Constitution Lesson
Three Branches of Government Lesson
President George Washington Lesson
Louisiana Purchase Lesson
War of 1812 Lesson
Monroe Doctrine Lesson
Trail of Tears Lesson
Oregon Trail & Battle of Alamo Lesson
California Gold Rush & Pony Express Lesson
American Industrial Revolution Lesson
Underground Railroad Lesson
Abolitionists & Women Suffragists Lesson
Civil War: The Confederate States & Abraham Lincoln Lesson
Civil War Battles Lesson
Civil War Party & End of Year Review Game

BONUS LESSONS (if you have room for a few extra classes):

Reconstruction Lesson
Wild West Lesson
Immigrants Lesson
Tycoons & Theodore Roosevelt Lesson
World War I Lesson
Roaring Twenties Lesson
Great Depression and the 1930s Lesson
World War II Lesson

ALL MY LESSONS:
Fun, Free Hands-on Unit Studies (My Lessons in All Subjects)

© 2025 Shannon