General Information:

Title:Children and the Holocaust Book Notes

Date:February 27, 2003

School:Parker Mathis Elementary School

Grade: 5^th

Name:Lawren Cranor

Primary Learning Outcomes:

1. Students will listen to a story dealing with how children lived during the holocaust.
2. Students will write a simulated journal pretending they are a child who lived during the Holocaust.

Assessed QCCs:

Social Studies

Strand:History

21 Topic: Depression, War and Recovery

Standard:Analyzes and explains major causes, events and personalities of World War II

• Resurgence of nationalism, militarism, and imperialism
• Major powers and their leaders
• Pearl Harbor
• The internment of Japanese Americans
• The Holocaust, and
• VE and VJ Day.

Language Arts

Strand: Written Communication

44Topic: Writing

Standard:Writes in a variety of genres to produce paragraphs and compositions:

·Personal narratives

·Imaginative stories

·Responses to literature

·Content area pieces

·Correspondence (including writing letters and addressing envelopes)

·Expository pieces

Total Duration:45 minutes

Materials and Equipment:

Fireflies in the Dark, by Susan Goldman Rubin, paper and pencils for each student

Technology Connection:

An overhead projector might be used to show an example of a simulated journal.

Procedures:

Step One:

The teacher will introduce the Holocaust to the class.The teacher will tell the students that the Holocaust was a time when Jews were imprisoned and tortured.The time period of the Holocaust was 1939-1945.Adolf Hitler and the German Nazis hated the Jews.They imprisoned them simply for being Jewish.Most of the Jews put it what were called concentration camps were killed or died from the harsh conditions.Children who were Jews were also placed in concentration camps.They were taken away from their families and placed in camps just for the children.We are going to hear a little bit of what it was like to be a child in a concentration camp.The concentration camp that we are going to talk about was one called Terezin.Any more information the teacher wants to add from the social studies text or from other books may be told here.The teacher can mention about Anne Frank, a famous survivor of the Holocaust who wrote a journal.The children will probably be familiar with her.

Estimated Time:2-5 minutes

Step Two:

The teacher will pick a few sections of Fireflies in the Dark, by Susan Goldman Rubin.She will read these pages, or the entire book, to the class.The students will hear what it is like for the children who live in Terezin.

Estimated Time:10-15 minutes

Step Three:

The teacher will explain to the class that they are going to do an activity called a simulated journal.A simulated journal is where the writer pretends to be a historical character or a book character.While pretending to be this historical or book character, the writer creates several journal entries from that person’s point of view.The teacher may want to show an example on the overhead of a simulated journal entry.The teacher should either create this or have one from a previous year that a student created.

Estimated time: 5-7 minutes

Step Four:

The students will actually write a simulated journal entry.The students will take on the role of a child in a concentration camp.They will write a journal entry about a day in their life while in the camp.The students should be creative and tell as many details as possible.We want to be able to visualize what is going on.The students should not worry about spelling or neatness, as long as it can be read.They must tell the age of the character and how long, to the day, that they have been in the concentration camp.Some ideas of things to put in the entry would be, where their families are, if known, what they do on a daily basis, how long since their last journal entry, what was their last meal and how long ago was it.The list is endless.Students are to draw on what they found out in the book.

Estimated Time:15-20 minutes

Step Five:

The teacher will allow time for a few students to share their journal entries if they want to.

Estimated Time:10 minutes

Lesson Materials To Be Attached:

Title: Sample Simulated Journal

Assessment:

The teacher will collect all the simulated journal entries.The entries will be checked to see if the guidelines were followed.A rubric is attached to grade the students’ attempt at the activity.

Modification:

She will also need to stop every once in awhile to ask questions and make sure these students are paying attention.It is a good idea to have the students in close proximity to you and away from other students and distractions.

Pre/Post Test Questions

1. What was the main subject that Friedl taught to the students who lived in Terezin?

    a. Math

    b. Science

    c. Art

    d. Spelling

2. Do you think that Friedl's teaching was what kept the children alive?  Why or why not.

Rubric for questions 1 and 2

	5	3	1	0
Question #1	answered the correct answer (C)			answered incorrectly
	5	3	1	0
Question #2	Gave ample amount of information to support answer	Gave little information to support answer		Gave no information to support answer