WORLD WAR II
During the course of Term 2, we learnt about World War II. We found the topic both fascinating and extremely sad, to know that people could treat one another so badly, showing no respect for human life. However, on the other hand, we learnt how brave and caring many people were, how they risked their lives in an effort to save and protect others.
One of the books we read was called Sophie's War, about a young teenager, about our age, who lived in France and joined the French Resistance, carrying messages to specific people, informing them about the enemies moves and so on. If you're interested in brave people of our age, why not head to the library and take it out...it's a My Story, called 'Sophie's War'. When we learnt about Anne Frank and how she and her family went into hiding in order to avoid arrest by the Germans, merely for being Jewish, we also learnt about the wonderful Miep Gies and friends who assisted them during hiding, bringing them food, books, clothing and even a radio to keep them in contanct with the outside world. So you see, there were many very good people who were against what was happening and who tried in their way to help others during this frightening, dark time of history. Read on and see what we've learnt...
WORLD WAR II
by Carol Brown
History's worst international apocalypse, known as the 2nd World War, started in 1939 and ended in 1945. World War II had many causes and many of the world's countries were involved. Some of these countries sided with the Allies and others, with the Axis. During these years, battles of one nation against another took place in various places, but all resulted in serious losses and war-torn countries.
A man named Adolf Hitler, who was the absolute ruler of Germany at the time, wanted Germany to be a powerful empire and to do this, he put together an army to occupy nearby countries. Hitler and his army marched over other countries territories in Europe and many of these countries were occupied by them. Japan and Italy also wanted more land so they joined forces with Germany. Together they were known as the Axis powers. Countries such as Britain, France and Russia didn't like it that these countries were invading others and becoming powerful in Europe; so they joined forces to attack the Axis in an effort to defend or liberate other countries. They were the Allies.
Some of the countries that Germany occupied were, Poland, Norway, Belgium, France, Czechozlovakia, Crete, and others in Europe. Hitler used their bases which were closer to the countries he wanted to attack than Germany, an example, he used France to attack Britain from. In 1941, America joined the war and sided with the Allies after Japan bombed Pearl Harbour.
Crete, an important place in the Mediterranean Sea, was also occupied by Germany. The occupation took only 10 days and approximately 15 000 men died in the battle, many were New Zealanders and Australians. Many battles and invasions took place during WWII and many people died. Eventually the war ended in 1945 when Germany surrendered to the Allies. Before that, 55 million people had lost their lives and many countries were in ruins.
World War II was known as the bloodiest and largest conflict in human history. Many died in the most inhumane ways and a lot of reparations had to be paid.
VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THE LIFE OF ANNE FRANK
As part of our study about WWII we worked in groups, pairs or individually to create visual representations of the life of Anne Frank.
We had to plan what we'd include in our visual representation, such as, images of Anne as a child, her parents, the Annex where they lived for almost two and a half years and images of her diary.
Decisions as to how we'd represent these items had to be made, for example, would they be 3D, and if so, how would we create that effect, how we would construct particular items and so on.
Naturally to reach success we had to work co-operatively with one another from beginning to end of the project. We certainly enjoyed the task and learnt so much as we progressed through each stage.
On the last day of the term we presented our final products to several classes in the senior syndicate. It was a proud moment for us, showing what we'd achieved, sharing information about what made us decide to include certain items and colour choices, as well what we'd learnt about a brave young girl of our age.
Anne's attitude to life is what made an impression on most of us, especially her diary entry that states that despite what was happening at the time, she believed that people are still good!
We hope you enjoy looking at these photographs of our visual representations.
Room 1
