Class Project Teaches WWII to Harvest Elementary Students

World War II taught in Elementary School can be quite funny when you have to try to explain to a child what a sniper is.

Mrs. Erin Coggins’ Great Wars’ students presented a live history on WWII at Harvest Elementary on Monday, Dec. 2.  The goal was to encourage kids to remember at least one remarkable thing that took place during this era of history.

It all started by a pool side over the summer. Coggins was with Harvest special education teacher, Melissa Gokee, when the conversation about how to get high schoolers more involved with the elementary kids on projects took place. Coggins wanted to create a teaching project for the kids in her Great War class and this was a good opportunity to do so.

“I introduced it to the kids who were all on board,” Coggins said.

Teachings took place in eight stations that included D-Day, Rationing, Japanese Internment, Propaganda, How to be a soldier, Heroes of the war, Production and Airplanes/Ships. The kids were able to choose their own station and learned about the different aspects of the war at each station.

“Kids in the airplane/ship station let the kids build their own airplanes; they made paper airplanes and decorated them. So that was a big hit. The group that did how to be a soldier they put them through a fitness test and taught them how to throw grenades,” Coggins said.

Junior Grace Moore was involved at the Boot Camp station. Her station was a little different and so she had more boys rather than girls because of fitness involved. The idea about learning women’s roles in the war attracted a larger group of girls at the station. That created a guide way for the kids to know that men and women were a big help to the war.

“I think they liked it and they seemed pretty engaged in it like they had a really good time,” Moore says.

Although it may have been hard to explain the more violent things the kids learned many different things about the war. While having fun and doing things that interest them in one way or another.

“The best thing I heard that day was a little boy come by and say this is so much fun,” Coggins said. “If they learned just one thing, then we did our job.”