As part of our topic work on WW2, we have been finding out about the evacuation from Dunkirk and about the Battle of Britain. Next week we will have a visitor to show us some of the equipment used by Spitfire pilots and talk a bit more about the war.
You have a challenge to complete with a partner (or independently if you prefer) to present some research on an area you are interested in in connection with these topics. You can make a model and annotate it, you could create a poster, make a powerpoint presentation, write a story, create an artwork and annotate it…. or use your own skills and imagination to create another idea. You need to show that you have found out something new to you about either Dunkirk or the Battle of Britain and you need to be able to share what you have found out clearly with the rest of the class. You should present your work as carefully as you can to make sure your information is clear and attractive to look at.
Some ideas of topics you might choose to research (and links to possible resources you could use) include:
- Finding out about a ‘little ship’ that went to Dunkirk to rescue soldiers from the beaches.
– The story of The Minotaur and the Sea Scouts – a short recount with some pictures of the Mortlake scout group and their boat at Dunkirk.
– The story of the Naiad Errant boat at Dunkirk.
– Association of Dunkirk Little Ships (link to site for owners of little ships which covers restoring and telling stories of little ships – links to other sites and images).
– John Richards’ Dunkirk Revisited – history of Dunkirk – A detailed online book giving a history of the events of Dunkirk. Chapter 2, p.55 gives a summary of how the little ships campaign started, and there are stories of individual ships (and images) in this text. - Finding out about spitfires or hurricanes and the reasons for their success in the Battle of Britain
Information about R.J. Mitchell and the spitfire
BBC site – Why do we love the spitfire?
RAF information on the Spitfire - The experience or lives of pilots – perhaps someone from your family, someone local, or someone famous (e.g. like Douglas Bader).
Douglas Bader – introduction
Douglas Bader – RAF Museum information.
Pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain – list of all the pilots who flew in the battle of Britain (alphabetical search). This list includes Roy Marples DFC and Bar who you will hear more about at school.
RAF Battle of Britain site
Imperial War Museum – interviews and stories of pilots - Finding out more about the experiences of someone in your family – perhaps there is someone in your family who would be willing to share the stories they know? Perhaps someone was in the RAF, or at Dunkirk, or went in a small boat, or perhaps was involved in building spitfires at Castle Bromwich (Birmingham).
- You can also choose a topic of your own that interests you.
We will be using our topic time next week for this project as well as homework time so if you need help with finding information, I can help you then.
Choose one topic area and share the work between you and your partner to make it as manageable as you can and so that you can investigate it in some detail and find out interesting information and present it in an interesting way.