A creative history project by Year 6

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Year 6 The Second World War

• A creative history project by Year 6

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• Daniel (who researched his family history during
  the war) --- My Granddad and my Nan were
  evacuated. My Granddad said that when he was
  evacuated a Lancaster bomber was shot down by the
  Luftwafter and he saw the bomber on the ground.
  He also found a glove with a hand in it. When my
  Nan was evacuated, she lived on a chicken farm on
  which some sailors were billetted . She learnt
  how to do pea picking and potato digging.---

• Geraldine (who also researched her family
  history during the war) --- Grenada was also
  involved in the war because Britain was its
  mother country. Like in Britain many people from
  the Caribbean went to England to fight in the war
  so many wives were left with no husbands and many
  boys and girls were left with no fathers.

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WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE DURING WORLD WAR 2?
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In the beginning..

• We took our objectives from the National
  Curriculum and then tried to work around these to
  prevent this topic becoming a huge writing task!

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Next

• We planned a series of 6 lessons which we felt
  would give the children the best opportunities
  for learning about world war 2.
• We did come to the conclusion that 6 hours does
  not really do justice to world war 2 and in fact
  we could have spent double time on this.

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Lesson 1

• The first lesson set the scene and was discussion
  based with a time line being constructed.
• They also completed a photo work sheet with
  questions
• What can you see?
• What can you infer?
• What else might you ask?

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Lesson 2

• Lesson two focussed on air raids and the effects
  they had on the people of Edmonton.
• We put black outs up at the classroom windows and
  played a siren to a highly amused class!
• Mr Maxwell came in as a grumpy air raid warden
  and told us that there were great chinks of light
  at the windows a line he stole from Goodnight
  Mister Tom- our literacy text at the time.

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Lesson 3

• For our third session we were thinking about the
  effects of evacuation on the children of
  Edmonton. Mr Maxwell, (no, not our deputy hes
  not old enough!) came in to speak to us and armed
  with overhead and transparencies and many
  memories he talked and then answered questions
  about his experiences. The children were
  engrossed in his experiences and we dont feel
  they could have learnt this from a book.

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Lesson 4
Rationing- is there a better way to learn about
the hardships associated with food during the war
than to prepare, cook and taste a variety of
recipes from the war. We made Mock apricot tart
this is a pudding made with potato pastry and
using carrots as the filling. Scrumptious! Chocola
te sponge made with cocoa, potatoes and dried
egg. Not so nice! Potato scallops a simple
potato dish made with dried milk, cheese and
potatoes. Some of the peeling and chopping was
interesting! A whole weeks cheese ration in this.
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Lesson 5

• The after effects of The Blitz were devastating
  for many and the children were made aware of this
  by watching a short video clip and then doing a
  guided walk through a still image.

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Lesson 6

• Oh no writing! But actually the children didnt
  mind and wrote some great essays on the effect of
  the war on their family.

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These examples are from pupils in year 6
including some reluctant writers

• Christopher -- When I saw my house scattered
  everywhere I really wanted to give Hitler a piece
  of my mind. My house was reduced to just dust and
  rubble. My Mum and sister were sitting on the
  mattress from my room sobbing.-------

• Lucky -- As I walk down my street, I can hear my
  Mums voice in my mind. The last thing she said
  to me was I love you, always remember that. As
  I walk through the ruins I can feel the bricks
  beneath me, crumbling into piles of dust. Then,
  suddenly I trip. On the dusty ground is my Mums
  favourite bracelet surrounded by pieces of
  shrapnel --- Now Im struggling to breathe. The
  dust is caught in my throat. All I can hear is
  screaming. All I can see is smoke!