Station 1: Blue Puttees discussion guide and tasks

Objectives

• Gain knowledge of experiences of the Newfoundland Blue Puttees on the front lines.
• Using the Fact Sheet, the computer to view the Image Gallery on the Newfoundland Regiment and the poem about the Danger Tree by Loyola Hearn, youth will create a presentation summarizing the character of the Blue Puttees and the experiences of the Newfoundlanders at Beaumont-Hamel to share with their classmates.

Tasks

Resources to read

1. Fact sheet – The Newfoundland Regiment and the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel
2. Only One Tree poem by Loyola Hearn
3. As a group, discuss the poem, and what a tragic experience that would have been. Imagine the soldiers who survived, and how they would be feeling?

View image gallery

After reading the fact sheet and the poem, look through the image gallery to visually get an understanding of the experiences of the Newfoundlanders.

After reviewing the photos and reading the poem, as a group, develop a poster or slide show of the photos to share with your classmates, and possibly a word cloud to help describe the experiences of the Newfoundlanders at the Battle of the Somme. Study the pictures in the image gallery, discuss the information sheet about the Blue Puttees. Consider their age, and how they might have felt waiting in the St. John’s trench before going over the top. What do you think it might have been like to live in trenches on the front lines for days and weeks? What do you think you would do or how you would feel if you were ordered to cross a landscape in the face of machine gun fire and exploding shells?

Prepare your presentation

After reviewing the photos, the poem and the fact sheet, as a group, develop a poster or slide show about the Blue Puttees. You could possibly create a word cloud to help describe the experiences and feelings of the Newfoundlanders at Beaumont-Hamel. Brainstorm some words to describe the soldiers character (courage, bravery), and descriptive words of their experience at war, landscape, daily life, battle and their emotions and your words of remembrance.

Share your slide show and word cloud with your classmates. You may wish to share all or part of the poem in your presentation.