Children who were in school today had a truly 1945 experience as they travelled back in time to think and commemorate a very special VE Day, 75 years on from Victory in Europe Day.
Children started the day off by doing some PE drill, following German and English 1930s footage. We all found it exhausting and decided that some we definitely couldn’t do without considerable help and resources, ie body lifting…!
We then did some quiet reading using some of the great World War II factual books that are in our Discovery Room and children found links and reference to HMS Hood which pleased us all.
We then dressed up as 1940s children, looked at photos of children in shelters and in war torn areas of the UK then imagined it was us. Role play included the fear that they may have felt as a plane was heard above and the uncertainty that was involved in not knowing if a family member was safe or would come home.
We then compared the two fighters used by the German and British Air Force. Children used pegs, colours and a bit of imagination to create their own versions, recreating the many dog fights that took place in the skies above.
We used our own school Log Books to see what ACTUALLY happened on this very day in 1945 and learnt how a Victory Tea was held and the school was closed for a few days. One teacher, Mrs Robson, had a day off in July 1945 as her husband had returned home from active service! That’s real history!
Children then pored over old stamps from the era then used a replica to write a postcard to one of their evacuee friends who had now returned to Sunderland, near the ship building yards.
A sing a long ended a great day, full of learning, imagination and creativity, just in time for home celebrations tomorrow!