Today is Friday 8 May, the 75th anniversary of VE Day. The occasion, which is also known as Victory in Europe Day, is regarded as one of the grandest celebrations in British history, during which festivities took place in 1945 to mark the end of the Second World War. The boys were determined not to let lockdown get in the way of celebrating.

Resources

  • Non-Fiction books: The D-Day Experience by Richard Holmes and War On The Home Front by Juliet Gardiner
  • Differentiated comprehension activities from the Twinkle website
  • Union Jack Flags
  • Paper
  • Little Brian paint sticks
  • String
  • Scissors

Method

Non-fiction books about World War 2

Before learning about VE Day specifically, we started off by researching a bit about World War 2. It was important to understand what life was like during the war, to help understand why the end of the war was so significant.

Ioan read some of our non-fiction books to us, with some of the pages moving him to tears. He said that it made him upset thinking about the evacuees moving away from their families, not knowing if they would see their homes, or even their families again.

We talked about some of the emotions the evacuees would feel: scared, anxious, worried, nervous, upset, lonely, sad, uncertain, homesick. I pointed out that the parents probably felt the same way.

Finn said he wouldn’t like all the soldiers going off to fight, because all their friends and families would be very worried about them.

Ioan particularly enjoyed reading about the spitfires, going off to find some resources to makes some of his own.

Next they had a red, white and blue bath.

Comprehension on VE Day

I read the easier comprehension activity to Finn, and he answered the multiple choice questions. Ioan read the trickier one and had a go answering the questions independently.

First up, Ioan found the date of VE Day.

Ioan helped Finn with his first comprehension question, before carrying on with his questions.

Once he’d remembered his capital letter, Ioan explained what he understood by, “Germany surrendered.”

Ioan is very good big brother. He often supports Finn with his work, so when he finds a section of his work that he thinks Finn can answer, he asks Finn for help, to boost his confidence.

Finn is starting to sound out words, so although reading this comprehension is beyond him, he was able to sound out some of the answers.

To keep Cian entertained during their comprehension, I gave Cian a red, white and blue pom pom rescue.

Then they moved on to some scone and jam fractions.

Daily walk

They decided to take their flags on our daily walk. Ioan, who is big on details, suggested they all wear red, white and blue. He even co-ordinated their shoes.

They played, “Follow the leader”, but Cian is in the middle of an obsession with running round in circles, so they didn’t get very far.

Making bunting

Whilst making their bunting, they had 24 triangles. They decided to each be in charge of one colour. Ioan used his fractions knowledge from this week, to work out that they would need one third each. 1/3 of 24 is 8, so they had 8 flags each.

Finn painted all the red triangles and Ioan painted the blue. They cleverly decided to let Cian (18 months) be in charge of painting the white triangles with the white paint.

They worked out that if they wanted their pattern to be red-white-blue, then they needed to thread them on in the reverse order.

The grand unveiling of their bunting, had a very underwhelming reaction from our teething toddler.

Luckily, during Cian’s nap time, Ioan had prepared a Union Jack rice tray to distract Cian, while Ioan worked on some Union Jack flag fractions.

Finn and I also set up a red, white and blue colander pull to take Cian’s mind off his teeth. He continued to play with it as Ioan and Finn played their Union Jack addition dice game.

DfES Early Learning Goals (2017)

Literacy

ELG 09 – Reading:

Children read and understand simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read.

Expressive arts and design

ELG 16 – Exploring and using media and materials:

Children safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.

Understanding the world

ELG 13 – People and communities:

Children talk about past and present events . They know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and among families, communities and traditions.

ELG 14 – The world:

Children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.