| The photographs in this section illustrate the conditions of the blitz that led to many parents agreeing that their children would be safer out of London. |
KEY STAGES 1 and 2
HISTORY scheme of work
Year 3/4 Unit 9:
What was it like for children in the Second World War?
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| In this unit children find out about the effects of the Second World War on children in their local area, nationally and internationally. There are also opportunities to consider the effects of war on children today. |
| Section 2:
What was the Blitz?
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- Quotes such as those from Caroline Wheeler show how you could loose everything in a raid during the blitz.
- The images show some of the devastation that followed a raid.
- George Thurgar explains how whole families were wiped out.
- Lil Murrell gives a different perspective, one many pupils will identify with, of enjoying the show.
- The East End was heavily bombed and pupils should be aware of the reasons for this and how the Thames provided a guide in the days before GPS.
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Objectives
Children should learn:
- the characteristic features of the Blitz and what type of area was most likely to be affected
- to locate where bombing raids took place
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Activities
- Use selected sources, eg photographs, a gas mask, to tell the children about the mass bombing of cities. Discuss why Germany and Britain decided to bomb cities. Use maps, eg of London or Liverpool, or children's knowledge, to establish the main targets. Discuss what could be done to stop the bombers, eg anti-aircraft fire, blackout.
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Outcomes
Children:
- Suggest reasons why some areas of a city were more likely to be bombed than others.
- Suggest how the bombing could be stopped.
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| Unit 9:
What was it like for children in the Second World War?
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| Section 3:
Why were children evacuated?
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The material in this panel provides a range of stimuli for the activities.
- Hilda Kennedy’s quotes show the reality of trying to find a shelter and the aftermath of a raid.
- Albert Garrett’s quote and the Bethnal green tube disaster shows how shelters were often not as safe as people thought.
- Doris Nisbet shows how it was damp in an Anderson shelter.
- George Thurgar’s quote paints a vivid picture of a raid.
- Many of the quotes make it clear why parents let their children be evacuated even if they had reservations.
- This activity could provide opportunities to encourage the children's moral development. Children could discuss the issues facing parents who did or did not evacuate their children and why parents might be for or against evacuation.
- The quotes and images of war planes will need to be handled with care as many pupils will have their own memories from war zones.
- The school bombing shows that pupils were also killed if they stayed in London but many didn’t want to leave home. Pupils need to understand that many London children didn’t go far from home for school and shopping, also many had never been on holiday or out of London.
Objectives
Children should learn:
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about the effects of air raids
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about the causes of evacuation
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Activities
- Discuss with the children the ways families could
protect themselves. Show them pictures of shelters, dugouts, the underground, gas masks, etc. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method.
- Show children pictures of bomb damage, and newspaper accounts of the results of air raids. Ask the children to fill in a two-column grid with the headings 'What happened when the bomb landed?' and 'How were people who lived there affected?'
- Introduce the idea of evacuation.
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Outcomes
Children:
- Suggest how people could have been protected in the war.
- Suggest why evacuation was used as one strategy to protect children
- Explain the effects of bomb damage
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| Section 4:
What was it like to be an evacuee?
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- The disruption to education is shown in the quotes from Grace Verlander.
- Marion Davies came home and so did many children.
- Agnes Harvey was one of the lucky ones, experience of being evacuated was very mixed and some were badly treated.
- A photograph shows an evacuee.
- This activity provides an opportunity to liaise with a class at Key Stage 3 who are also studying WWII. For example, Key Stage 2 children could write as evacuees to Key Stage 3 children who respond as parents.
- The task could be adapted by asking the children to write postcards or labels.
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Objectives
Children should learn:
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to find out about the experiences and feelings of evacuees, from a wide range of information sources
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to communicate their learning in an organised and structured way, using appropriate terminology
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Activities
- With the children's help, produce a list of questions about evacuees. Ask the children to answer the questions using selected sources, eg photographs, extracts from novels, oral accounts, letters, memoirs.
- Ask the children to imagine they are evacuees and to write a letter home or diary extracts. Ask them to consider why they might want to be evacuated and why not, what is happening to them and how they feel about it. Encourage the children to use their knowledge of evacuation and appropriate terms, eg billeting officer, host family, evacuation, evacuee.
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Outcomes
Children:
- Describe some likely feelings and experiences of an evacuee.
- Use words associated with evacuation accurately and appropriately.
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| Section 8:
What it was like to be a child living in this area in World War II?
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The memories and photographs in the panel are from the East end of London which was very badly affected while some areas were untouched by bombing.
The quotes and photographs provide a contrast to quieter places where memories will be very different.
Pupils could prepare their questions and then use the panel to search for answers
Objectives
Children should learn:
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where and how the local area was affected by WWII
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how to find out about the war in their locality from the recollections of someone who lived through it
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Activities
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Recap, through question and answer, what the children have learned so far about the war's impact on people of the time.
- Help the children to devise a list of questions they would ask someone who was a child in the area during the war, eg Where did you live? What did you eat? Did you experience bombing or evacuation? How much did you know about what was happening in the war? How did you find out?
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Arrange for someone who was a child during the war to visit the class. Encourage the children to ask the questions on the list. Record the interview. Replay the tape and discuss with the children what they have learned about the history of their area during the war. Help them to identify on a map, local places mentioned by the visitor. Mark the map with a description of what happened there during the war years.
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Outcomes
Children:
- Suggest appropriate questions to ask about the war in the locality
- Record information about the war in the locality.
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