Free First World War Teacher Resources

• Our free resources are tailored to help teach the Secondary History Curriculum

• Your students will engage with real Life Stories of ordinary people living through extraordinary times

• You can develop your students’ skills through evidence-based historical enquiry

• Your school will take part in a unique global project with Imperial War Museum

• Lives of the First World War is free to browse, free to join and free to add to Life Stories – and always will be. You don’t need to register to browse and view Life Stories.

• If you register, you can add information to Life Stories for free. We only charge for access to premium genealogy records that are always behind paywalls on the net and for access to special features (including creating your own Communities).

• Any records we add which are currently free online elsewhere will also be free on Lives of the First World War.

• View a list of our current Free and Premium record sets

• Use our ready-made PowerPoint to introduce the project

• Explore the historical themes above

• Use the Life Stories on each theme page to explore in class

• Follow the suggested activities for using Life Stories on the theme pages

• Create a mini exhibition based on one person’s story. Select three sources from the person’s Life Story page, and create a title and theme for the exhibition.

• Encourage creative responses inspired by a Life Story, such as poetry, letters, art, drama, music, or dance. Students of Hinchley Wood School, for example, created powerful original artwork to reflect the themes that they found in the stories. This piece was created by Freya Portway.

• Use our ready-made PowerPoint to introduce the project

• Use Lives of the First World War to research names on your local war memorial - this could be a school memorial to former pupils, or a town or community monument.

• Host a 'Bring an object' community event, for people to bring any items they have from the First World War. Scan or photograph documents and objects, and upload images onto the associated person’s Life Story page. Use the Life Stories, records and history topics as a resource to find more evidence about the person or object.

• You can book a free place on a battlefield tour to the Western Front via the First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme. Participating teachers receive a free 5 month subscription to Lives of the First World War.

• Before you travel, you can research records, upload images, and share stories and facts on individual Life Story pages – read our Guide to Adding to a Life Story. There are also free teaching resources available for use with your students in the classroom and on the battlefield sites.

• When you return from your trip, you can add to the growing Community of individuals remembered by schools that have taken part in First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours, or set up your own Community by following this link

• View our 3 minute film about why we need your help

• Create a free account on Lives of the First World War

• Try a Test Life Story to practice finding and connecting evidence

• Tell us about your amazing discoveries on Twitter and Facebook

Visit IWM’s dedicated First World War Centenary website. Join our Partnership to access free resources.