This half-term Year 5/6 are learning all about World War I, through English, history and art/D&t.
In English they began by writing poems based on These I Have Loved... by Rupert Brooke, a soldier in World War I. The children thought about all the things we take for granted and used this to write list poems about the things they would miss if they were sent to war. This week of poetry helped the children to understand the sacrifices soldiers made and still make today. Many of these poems were displayed at the Memorial Hall Lunch on Remembrance Sunday for the community to see.
Their understanding of the difficulties faced has continued in English, where we are now studying the book War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. This book describes the war from the point of view of a horse. The children are enjoying a variety of writing topics from this.
Their English work links into their history lessons, which have been combined withe art and D&T. The children are learning about the roles of women and children during the war. They have learned about: the 'Dig for Victory campaign and clothes rationing, where they had to darn a holey sock. In the coming weeks they will be learning about the Land Girls, Dad's Army, evacuees and food rationing. During these topics they will be making gas masks out of plastic milk bottles and learning to cook some war time recipes.