War Time Story

For literacy this week, we had to write an information report about how hard it was in war time at home. This is Charlotte  ( Me ) and Ruby's report. We really enjoyed doing this, because we could bounce ideas off to each other and make sure words sounded right. We are very proud of what we have done. Hope you enjoy! :)

War Time Information Report!

By Jaffa123 & blubear456!

Life was hard in war time in New Zealand. There were two World Wars, the first World War sprung to life in late July 1914 and lasted until early November 1918. The last World War kicked off in 1939 and finally finished in 1945. A lot of men gloomily died in both wars. Woman had to take charge with regular chores and jobs. These required time and were challenging.

Since men were at war, the woman had to step up and manage the work in their household and hometown. Woman were put in jobs that were traditionally carried out by men. These jobs included; engineering, mental hospitals, food canneries, fire duties, milking cows, ploughing\ farming, gathering crops and digging ditches. Lots of woman volunteered to work in these previously listed jobs, but some didn’t initially. These women were called Landgirls. Land girls earned $2.37 for a minimum of 50 hours of work a week. Now that’s hard work!

During World War, schooling was different in many ways. The teachers were harsh and used a cane to control and punish children. Back in the old days, children used feathers as pens, which they dipped into an ink pot to be able to write. The rules were very cruel and restrictive. For example; Face the front, no talking, no team building, as well as no working with mixed genders. You would have to practice marching every morning, and there was no play equipment. A phrase they used was “Children should be seen not heard”, as they could not talk

unless asked by an adult. We would find this very frustrating.

While both World Wars were taking place, there were shortages, so things had to be rationed. To be able to access these things, you would have a rationing ticket book, you got stamps as well. 8,000 rationing books were issued to meet the restrictions. War ration book five was finished but never issued. The date the rationing books started was September 1939- The second World War. There were no supermarkets, so you went to different shops for different items. For fruit and vegetables , you would go to the veggie shop. For meat you would visit the butcher, for fish you would check in to the fisherman or catch your own fish. If you were wanting a yum treat like bread and cakes you would pop on down to the local baker. For groceries such as jam, tea, biscuits etc. you went to the grocery shop. These sorts of goods were rationed; typewriters, fuel, bikes, shoes, silk, nylon, oil, meat, cheese, butter, coal, fruit and many more.

Could you handle that? We don’t think we would!

What we have learnt, is that life when men were fighting for our country was not a piece of cake!