KS3 History: First World War - The Events of the Christmas Truce 1914

This lesson allows students to use a wide range of sources to investigate the events of the Christmas truce during 1914. Students will use evidence from the diaries and letters of soldiers from both sides who experienced the ceasefire and build a picture of what happened. They will then use this knowledge to evaluate the usefulness and historical accuracy of modern interpretations of the truce such as adverts, films and music videos.

This is a fully resources lesson which includes a warmup, starter task, engaging background information, various learning activities, challenge tasks and learning reviews.

The lesson includes the following:
Slide 1: Title slide
Slide 2: Outline of the main lesson aims
Slide 3: As you enter warm up discussion tasks – what is a truce and why might a truce happen?
Slide 4: Starter Task – Analysis of an illustration of the truce from the London Illustrated News, 1915.
Slide 5-8: Activity 1 – History Detectives! Students should be placed in pairs or groups and given the two packs of sources. They then record their findings about the truce on a printable worksheet also provided on slide 8.
Slide 9-10: Activity 2: Extended reading & comprehension task based on an extended source about the truce from Sergeant Bryans. Printable worksheet provided.
Slide 11-12: Activity 3: Evaluating modern interpretations of the Truce – Students given the links to various modern interpretations of the truce and are guided through assessing their accuracy, usefulness and purpose.
Side 13: Challenge Questions
Slide 14: Learning Review – Christmas Tree Recap!

I would be grateful if you could leave a review for the lesson if you feel the lesson is effective for you. Many thanks if you spend some of your valuable time doing this and your feedback is highly valued.

All images used in this lesson are in the public domain and are therefore copyright free at the time of publishing. Images which require attribution have been attributed in the notes section of each slide where the image appears. If you feel any errors have been made, please contact me at raschoolresources@gmail.com in the first instance to resolve any issues. My lessons are completed using PowerPoint and designed on widescreen formatting. Thank you.