The Woonsocket High School US history class has been studying WWI. Their instructor, Emily Henriksen, tries to use interactive projects and activities in her social studies classes to help her students get a better understanding of what they are studying.

For this particular lesson, the juniors in her US history class were learning about trench warfare, which is where two sides in a war or battle build and fight from trenches. Soldiers would practically live in these trenches and use them as shelter or protection while they shot and bombed their enemy.

During this specific class activity, the students were split into the two sides during WWI as the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) and the Triple Entente (the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland). The students used desks and blankets to build up their trenches in their classroom and used paper and cardboard to create their own weaponry to reenact a battle scene. Mrs. Henriksen then used her computer to play a strobe light and battle sounds while the kids played out the scene.

According to the students, this was a great way for them to learn and gain a better understanding of what they were talking about in their history class. They said that when they know there is an activity to go with a lesson, they tend to focus more and get more out of the lessons so they can understand and enjoy the activity as much as possible.

…See pictures in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal.