Explorica is very proud of our brand new resource for teachers: our 2018-19 Around the World classroom calendar!
The calendar features a new country and an international holiday for you to celebrate with your students each month. Download a new page each month on this blog (and subscribe!), hang it up in your classroom, and talk to your students about how the holiday reflects the country’s history and culture.
This November, we’re featuring Armistice Day. Armistice Day marks the ceasefire signed between the Allies and Germany on November 11, 1918, ending World War I on the Western Front after years of bloody conflict.
The Allies signed the armistice with Germany at 11am—on the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918—in Compiègne, France. The first Armistice Day observance was held one year later in Buckingham Palace.
Today, Armistice Day is a national holiday in France, known as Le Jour du Souvenir (Remembrance Day). It’s celebrated throughout the country, including with a military parade that passes the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, to honor those who died on the battlefield. Typically, a moment of silence is observed at 11AM on the holiday, and the French wear bleuet (cornflowers) along with poppies (more popular in England).
Armistice Day coincides with similar holidays in other countries, like Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth, and Veterans Day in the United States.
Ask your students about Armistice Day
How is Veterans Day different from Armistice Day?
What do you know about trench warfare? What do you think would make it effective?
Do you think World War II is talked about more than World War I? If so, why?
How did World War I lead to World War II?
Bringing Armistice Day to your classroom
Ask students what they know about relatives that served in the world (or other) wars. Pass out poppies or cornflowers, and observe a moment of silence at 11AM.