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Second World War Primary resource

Discover how wwii changed society in britain at the time.

This primary resource explores some of the significant events of the Second World War and what life was like on the home front. Discover how WWII changed society in Britain at the time, and the different roles that people had to take on. Why were children evacuated? How did women’s roles change during the Second World War? What was a ‘blackout’?

Pupils will learn about the war effort at home and how air strikes affected life in Britain at the time in our National Geographic Kids’ History primary resource sheet.

The teaching resource can be used in study group tasks for a simple overview of World War II. It can be used as a printed handout for each pupil to read themselves, or for display on the interactive whiteboard, as part of a whole class reading exercise.

Activity:  Ask the children to choose one of the areas of World War II discussed in the comic (e.g. the evacuation of children, air raid shelters, blackouts, women at work, The Battle of Britain, etc.) and create their own comic strip specifically about this topic. They could use the resource as a starting point for their own research. Pupils could compare life in Britain during the Second World War, with life at home during the First World War, using our First World War comic  to help them. What might the main differences have been?

N.B.  The following information for mapping the resource documents to the school curriculum is specifically tailored to the  English National Curriculum  and  Scottish Curriculum for Excellence . We are currently working to bring specifically tailored curriculum resource links for our other territories; including  South Africa ,  Australia  and  New Zealand . If you have any queries about our upcoming curriculum resource links, please email:  [email protected]

This History primary resource assists with teaching the following History objectives from the National Curriculum :

• Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative  
• Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

National Curriculum Key Stage 1 History objective:

• Pupils should be taught: significant historical events, people and places in their own locality

National Curriculum Key Stage 2 History objective:

• Pupils should be taught a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066

This History primary resource assists with teaching the following Social Studies First level objective from the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence :

• I can compare aspects of people’s daily lives in the past with my own by using historical evidence or the experience of recreating an historical setting.

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Third level Social Studies objective :

• I can describe the factors contributing to a major social, political or economic change in the past and can assess the impact on people’s lives.

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Fourth level Social Studies objective :

• I can describe the main features of conflicting world belief systems in the past and can present informed views on the consequences of such conflict for societies then and since.

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Home » World War 2

World War 2

World War 2 for kids learning in KS2 at Primary School. Homework help on the history of World War 2, the Blitz, Evacuations and D-Day.

World War 2 started on 1st September 1939 and ended on 2nd September 1945, lasting 6 years. it was fought in Europe, Russia, North Africa and in Asia. 60 million people died in World War 2.

Woeful Second World War

Remembrance Day

Every year on 11 th November we wear poppies and remember the millions of people that fought in this war and all the others. This is called Remembrance Day but also called Armistice Day. It is on the same day as World War One ended. Not only do we remember and say thank you to the brave men and women who fought in that war, but we remember all the armed forces over the years and even the ones that protect us today, including World War 2

Why do we wear poppies?

Poppies were the flowers that grew on the battlefields after World War I, and people wear them as a symbol of remembrance to honour those who fought and died in wars. We also have a minute of silence at the 11th hour (11 am). We all stop and think quietly about the war heroes that are no longer with us.

What is Remembrance Sunday?

Remembrance Sunday is always on the second Sunday of November. The Royal Family lay wreaths of poppies at the Cenotaph (war memorial) in London and will have a minute of silence at 11 am along with the rest of the country. Ceremonies take place at war memorials and churches all over the country.

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Life during World War II

British people who weren’t fighting in World War II still had a very different life to the one they had before the war. For one thing, there wasn’t as much food around so every little bit had to be saved and used – even if it didn’t taste very nice! And clothes that were too small or had tears in them just had to be fixed and made bigger because there weren’t many new things around to buy. Everyone had to help each other get the things they needed to keep warm and healthy.

Many people – especially children – who lived in cities were evacuated to the country to keep safe from air attacks such as the Blitz .

Bombs dropped by German planes could flatten brick houses in seconds. Can you imagine going to school one morning, and coming back to find your house was gone? Or when packing your rucksack, popping in a gas mask to protect yourself in case of a gas attack?

Farms in the country became busy communities of people who moved in to help use every bit of the land to grow food. They might have moved there because they didn’t have a home anymore, or because they just wanted to help out as much as they could.

Top 10 facts

• During World War II , Britain was called ‘ the Home Front ’ – the war affected people not just fighting in armies on the front lines, but back in their own towns and neighbourhoods.
• All the different plans and ways to help get Britain through World War II was called ‘ the war effort ’. Helping the war effort meant anything from planting vegetables to making fighter planes.
• Because Britain was at war, it wasn’t easy to get food and other supplies anymore. In 1940, a system called rationing was set up which made sure that everyone had a fair amount of food, clothes and things like soap and petrol based on what was actually available. Rationing didn’t end until 1954.
• Land Girls were women from all over Britain who worked on farms, helping to grow and produce food for the rest of the country.
• Not all men went to fight overseas – some couldn’t go and instead joined the Home Guard , which was made up of volunteers ready to defend Britain from a surprise enemy invasion. The Home Guard was created in 1940.
• From September 1940 to May 1941, Britain was bombed heavily by enemy planes. That time is called ‘ The Blitz ’.
• During the Blitz, it was very dangerous to live in cities because that’s where most of the bombs were dropped. So, many children were sent off to live in the country where it was safer. These children were known as ‘ evacuees ’.
• People could protect themselves from enemy attacks by having a gas mask that would allow them to breathe clean air no matter how dirty or poisonous the air around them was after a bombing.
• Loud sirens would let people know that a bomb might go off soon, and that they should run to the nearest air-raid shelter. Bomb shelters were small, strong structures, sometimes put underground, that protected people inside from being hurt during explosions.
• When Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that the war was over on VE Day , people all over Britain celebrated by holding street parties.
• 1 September 1939 Germany invaded Poland
• 3 September 1939 The UK and France declared War on Germany
• 10 May 1940 Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Britain, taking over from Neville Chamberlain
• 14 May 1940 The Home Guard was created (The Local Defence Volunteers)
• 26 May-4 June 1940 The evacuation of British and French troops from Dunkirk, France June 1940 – German troops occupied the Channel Islands
• 10 June 1940 Italy declared war on Britain and France, and allies with Germany
• 10 July-31 October 1940 The Battle of Britain
• 7 September 1940 The Blitz begins in London
• 8 September 1941-27 January 1944 The Siege of Leningrad
• 7 December 1941 The Japanese attacked an American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
• 8 December 194 The United States declared war on Japan, and joined with the Allies
• 6 June 1944 D-Day, when troops from Britain and the US landed in France to fight against the Germans
• 16 December 1944-25 January 1945 The Battle of the Bulge
• 8 May 1945 VE Day (Victory in Europe Day), when Germany surrendered
• 15 August 1945 VJ Day (Victory in Japan Day), when Japan surrendered
• 2 September 1945 Japan formally surrendered, and officially ended World War II

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Did you know?

• The Land Girls were part of the Women’s Land Army , which started in World War I but is best known for their work during World War II . One job that the Land Girls had was to kill rats, who were responsible for eating 2 million tonnes of food every year!
• The Home Guard was first called the Local Defence Volunteers .
• ‘ Blitz ’ is the German word for ‘lightning’.
• When an attack is made by planes (so, instead of troops in tanks or ships), it is called an air-raid. During the Blitz, Britain was attacked by air-raids.
• Air-raid shelters were usually about as big as a garden shed. In fact, some are used as garden sheds today!
• Sweets and treats were hard to get during the war. Children would eat carrots on sticks instead of ice lollies! The only sweets that weren’t rationed during the war were cough sweets.
• Rationing continued until 1954 – nine years after World War II ended!

Pictures of life during World War II

Have a look through the images in the gallery and see if you can spot the following:

• The uniform that Land Girls wore
• A poster asking men to join the Army
• A group of Home Guard members
• An underground air-raid shelter
• A ration book

When most of the men in Britain went off to fight in the war, women stepped in to do some of the jobs left vacant. One of these groups was the Land Girls , who worked on farms to grow food, look after livestock and keep the buildings and grounds in good shape.

Not all the men could go overseas, though. Some were just too old or too young, and others had jobs that were thought to be too important for them to leave – these were called ‘reserved occupations’, and included farmers, coal miners and ship builders. Men who stayed in Britain could join the Home Guard, whose main job was to defend the land if there were a sudden attack by the enemy, holding them off until soldiers could get there. There never was an attack like this, but what members of the Home Guard did do was watch over important resources like factories that might have been key targets of an attack, and places like dark fields where enemy troops might parachute into thinking that nobody would see them land. The Home Guard also captured enemy pilots whose planes had crash-landed. The Home Guard was formed in 1940 and disbanded in 1945, and over 1 million men were part of it for most of this time.

Lots of things that people used to be able to pick up in shops around the corner weren’t available during the war. For instance, a factory that used to produce clothes would have been reassigned to produce items for the troops instead. Also, foods like bananas that would have come in on ships from other countries were unavailable because it was dangerous for ships to bring food to Britain. Convoys of ships were used to bring essential food items from other countries but many of these ships were destroyed by the Germans before they could get to Britain.

A system called rationing was set up in 1940 that restricted how much food, clothes and other supplies people could have in a week or month. Each person – both children and adults – had a ration book with coupons in it that they’d hand over to their local shopkeeper, who would give them items their coupons allowed them to have. This system meant everyone got something to eat, and something to wear, even if it wasn’t very much.

The first foods that were rationed were bacon, sugar, tea, butter and meat. This list grew and grew as the war went on, and people got used to making each little bit stretch as far as possible. For example, today you could go out and buy as a dozen eggs and as much milk as you like. But back in war time, people were allowed just one egg per week and three pints of milk per month! People could grow and eat as many vegetables as they wanted, so gardens of all sizes popped up wherever there was space for one – even in parks. Rationing carried on after the war was over because supplies were still low, but gradually items came off the rationing list so things were never as restricted as they was during the war. Rationing ended for good in 1954.

The Blitz lasted from September 1940 to May 1941. During this time, Britain was bombed very heavily in a number of air-raids. Major cities (like London), factories and seaside towns were all targeted because bombing them would cause the most damage – such as destroying rows of houses, production of weapons, or ports where ships carrying supplies would come to.

Loud air-raid sirens would warn people that enemy planes were on the way, and they would need to run to the nearest shelter – no matter if it were the middle of the day or night. Some people had Anderson shelters buried in their back garden, or Morrison shelters in their home. These were strong structures that were built to protect people inside from bomb explosions. In London, Tube (underground) stations were used as air-raid shelters too. Many people also owned gas masks that they could wear to breathe clean air after an explosion.

Because living in cities was so dangerous, mums and dads decided to send their children to the country. These children were called evacuees . This was a really hard decision because nobody wanted to say goodbye to their families, but it was the best way to make sure children stayed safe – nobody knew when the war would finally be over. Many children travelled by train to farms, to homes in the country or to large, stately homes that had lots of room. Some British children even went overseas to countries like Canada . They would write letters about their new adventures to their parents.

Related Videos

Just for fun...

• Try to ‘ make do and mend ’! What would you add to or take away from the clothes for this paper doll?
• Complete some Home Front activities  and learn all about life in Britain 1939-1945
• Understand more about rationing with games and flashcards
• Imagine you’re an evacuee. What would you write about your experience in a letter to friends and family?
• Make a list of what you’d take into an air-raid shelter
• Find out about life in the Cabinet War Rooms
• Cook some war-time recipes! Do you fancy Cheesy pudding pie ? Or baked jam and carrot sponge pudding? Or sardines wrapped in potato ?
• Become a spy and gather information about life in Scotland during WWII
• Listen to and watch  WWII audio-visual clips  from a huge archive including key speeches, eye-witness reports and some of the most evocative sounds of the War on the BBC Schools Radio site
• Remember VE Day, 7 May 1945 , with English Heritage VE activities for children : learn to dance the Lindy Hop, popular in the 1940s, download a VE Day Spotify music playlist, make ginger beer and carrot scones
• Download a VE Day kids' activity pack , with puzzles and recipes, from Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI) 

See for yourself

• Visit the Imperial War Museum in London to see what life was like for a family living in Britain during World War II
• At the Churchill War Rooms in London you can see Churchill’s statesmanlike wooden armchair – still visible in its wellworn armrests are the marks clawed by Churchill’s fingernails
• Learn more about the Land Girls at Gresswell Farm and Workhouse
• Visit Chislehurst Caves in Kent, one of the largest deep air-raid shelters in the country which protected over 15,000 people at the height of the Blitz
• Look at WWII posters and propaganda
• Find out about Operation Dynamo, the May 1940 evaculation of Dunkirk in WWII, at Dover Castle
• See photographs of life during the Blitz
• Find out about WWII spies and their operations by taking a walk in London and using the  free app Spooks, Spies and Videotape – London's Secret War

Best children's books about life during WWII

Find out more

• Find out about the  Women’s Land Army
• Kids' fiction about WWII : read stories to find out more about the period
• Sir Nicholas Winton saved the lives of 669 children by arranging their evacuation from Nazi-occupied Prague in 1939. His daughter Barbara Winton tells his story in a BBC School Radio programme for children aged 7 to 11
• Look at objects from WWII
• Find out more about WWII weapons like doodlebugs and V2s
• What was life like for children who were evacuated ?
• See a map of how London was bombed during the Blitz
• Read a story of extraordinary bravery in east London during WWII
• Find out about the products (chocolate, tights and more!) that America soldiers, G.I.s, brought with them when they came to Britain  in a Horrible Histories song

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World War II

World war ii  by scoilnet.

The Blitz, Ann Frank, Rationing .. Investigate what happened during the War.

How did Hitler rise to power? - Alex Gendler and Anthony Hazard from Ted-Ed on YouTube

What was it like to have lived during World War II (1939-1945)? What did people eat? What did they wear? What happened the Jewish people?

Evacuees: Children during World War II

Series of three lessons on the effects of World War II on the lives of children. Find out about the experiences and feelings of evacuees from a range of information sources.

How it maps to the curriculum

Strand: Life, Society, Work & Culture

Strand unit: Life during World War II

Suggestions for use: Series of three lessons on the effects of World War II on the lives of children. Find out about the experiences and feelings of evacuees from a range of information sources.

World War II Timeline

A timeline that covers all the major developments in Europe in the period 1920-1945 with a particular emphasis on the events of WWII. Lots of text links and photos.

Strand: Later Modern Europe

Strand unit: 3 Dictatorship 1920-1945

Suggestions for use: A comprehensive time line with photos and text of all major events from 1918 to 1943.

Leadup to World War II: Penalty Kick Style Quiz

Interactive fun Penalty Kick quiz where you must choose a Goalkeeper and see if you can score a penalty by answering multiple choice questions! Test your knowledge and accuracy skills!

Suggestions for use: Interactive fun Penalty Kick quiz where you must choose a Goalkeeper and see if you can score a penalty by answering multiple choice questions!

World War II Movies

Archived site - A series of movies telling the stories of some of those caught up in the devastating events of World War Two.

Strand: 3. The History of Europe & The Wider World

Strand unit: 4. World War I / World War II

World War 2: Interactive Quiz

Interactive fun quiz where you must create an image of your teacher, then answer multiple-choice questions in order to build a catapult to sling your teacher through the air!

Suggestions for use: Interactive fun quiz where you must create an image of your teacher, then answer multiple-choice questions in order to build a catapult to sling your teacher through the air!

The Secrets of Anne Frank's Room

A fascinating insight into the photographs and posters which decorated Anne Frank's room in the secret annex during her time in hiding during the war.

Strand: Story

Suggestions for use: A fascinating insight into the photographs and posters which decorated Anne Frank's room in the secret annex during her time in hiding during the war.

Content objective: This resource should enable a child to:

• become familiar with aspects of the lives of these people
• examine and become familiar with evidence which informs us about the lives of people in the periods studied, their thoughts and concerns, especially evidence which may be found locally
• record the place of peoples and events on appropriate timelines

Suggestions for use: Look at the video and talk about what it must have been like for a Jewish family under the Nazis.

Anne Frank Online

A very interesting account of Anne Frank's life story and the Holocaust in Holland. Read excerpts from her diary and view a photo scrapbook.

Suggestions for use: A very interesting account of Anne Frank's life story and the Holocaust in Holland.

Voices of the Holocaust

Personal testimonies from Holocaust survivors. Excellent material for project work. The testimonies are personal, individual, true stories, which describe life during the Holocaust. Well worth a visit.

Suggestions for use: An excellent resource for project work with a collection of Holocaust survivors testimonies including photos.

By the time it was over, World War II had involved nearly every part of the world and between 35 and 55 million people had lost their lives . . .

This article tells us about Anne Franks life during World War II.

Adolf Hitler

An article and short video about Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. 

The term D-day was used widely during World War  II and is a secret date for a military event.

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