The Lesson
Whole Class Teaching
Explain to the pupils that they are going to carry out some investigations
to do with food during the war. Some foods were freely available during
the war, some were rationed and some with which we are familiar today
were not available at all.
Remind the pupils of any previous lessons on rationing.
Q What is rationing?
Q What kinds of items were rationed?
Items they might suggest could include: petrol, cloth, clothing, food
etc.
Q Why was rationing necessary during the war?
Main Activity
Explain to the pupils that they are now going to imagine that they are
going grocery shopping during the war. They will use the Internet to find
out about what foods were available during the war and they are going
to record what they find out on a menu card.
Teacher demonstrates how to find the website http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2children/ration/ration_intro.shtml
from the list in the favourites or assists pupils in typing in the URL
in correctly, emphasising the need for accuracy, pointing out where the
underscore can be found on the keyboard.
Read the first speech bubble with the pupils and demonstrate how to navigate
the site by using next.
Q Where do your parents do their grocery (food) shopping?
Draw pupils' attention to the shops on the sepia photograph on the second
screen of the website.
Q What kind of shops do you see?
Point out that there were no supermarkets and goods were purchased from
a variety of shops e.g. butcher, grocer, greengrocer, fishmongers, bakers,
etc. At this point take time to ensure that children understand which
foods were sold in which shops.
If the school has any old photographs of the high street illustrating
different kinds of shops pass them around.
The pupils are now given the task of selecting one menu and carrying out
the Rationing Challenge on the website.
Pupils should be encouraged to predict with their partner(s) whether
or not the various menu items would have been available and if they would
have been rationed. Pupils then test their predictions and make notes
on their chosen menu cards, saying what foods they could buy, what was
rationed and which foods were unavailable. They can also record if the
grocer offered them an alternative.
Tell the children that they will need to refer to these notes in the
plenary.
The level of detail expected depends on the individual ability of the
pupils.
Plenary
Draw pupils back together. This activity could be considerably enhanced
with access to a projector and interactive whiteboard. If these are not
available this activity could either be done on one computer or even on
a flip chart with labels.
Using SmartNotebook open the Carroll Diagram (Ration
Carroll.nbk. This is also provided in Textease
format for those with other types of boards. This could also be done
in Word using text boxes.) Ask the pupils to come and drag a food item
into the appropriate box. Use incorrect placing to reinforce pupils' understanding.
Why use ICT?
It is motivational; it provides a resource that is
reusable. The Internet provides a source of information with built in
feedback on the choices that pupils make that is otherwise unavailable.
It promotes understanding of rationing and allows all children to simultaneously
access the information.
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A
weekly ration
