Reflective Journaling

The following inquiry steps noted by Barbara Stripling (2003) will be used in the reflective journaling process: "connecting, wondering, investigating, constructing, expressing, and reflecting." Students will be given the following steps for their responses:
1. Connect- to the researched child by using observation of the researched background and bio materials while keeping a first person diary that connects the child to the information that is uncovered daily in lit circle and novel readings
2. Wonder--"develop questions" that your child might have about the oppression that is taking place in their country
3. Investigate--on your own, e-mail a local expert (professor, teacher, rabbi) and ask them what they know about the Holocaust
4. Construct--Based on your prior introduction including readings, video, research, and discussion, journal about what you now understand about the Holocaust that you did not at the beginning of the unit
5. Express--Develop a song or poem from the perspective of your child that incorporates both the feelings and new understandings; share this with at least one class mate
6. Reflect--Look back over your journal and determine at least three new things that you are now compelled to learn about this time period (Stripling, 2003)

Book Circles

Students will be allowed to peruse the listed book titles and take the survey at Survey Monkey (linked below) to determine the four novels to be used along with the Holocaust unit study. These novels will be read during library class in conjunction with the reading and study of Number the Stars that is being done in the literature class. Each student will keep a reflective journal during the process.

Literature Circle Survey

Please click on the link below to take a survey regarding the best book choices for students in grades 6-8 to use in literature circles during the Holocaust unit study.

Click Here to take survey

Book Talk Follow-Up

To access the book talk link, you must have Windows Media player. After clicking the link, you will log into oncourse and listen to the book talk.

Once students have listened to the book talk, they will be asked to view the following pictures from the book and make predictions about the book as well as make connections between the historical overview that has been presented and the content of the book.

number the stars.wma

number the stars.wma

A Child of the Holocaust Speaks

Using the video Anne Frank "Speaks," students will be introduced to the life of a child of the Holocaust via video. After watching the video, students will be asked to begin to make connections of all the information that has thus far been presented. Students will be asked to begin a "Child of the Holocaust" journal. In this reflection and journaling piece, students will be asked to journal in response to the novel that they will be reading in literature class as well as the literature circle books they will be reading in library class. These journal responses will be first person responses as students "adopt" a name of the child of the Holocaust and begin to response to all the reading and information through that child's eyes.

Anne Frank "Speaks"+Holocaust Documentary: Click the video link below

Anne Frank "Speaks"+Holocaust Documentary

Historical Overview

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum offers a plethora of resources for students and teachers alike. To access the site, go to www.ushmm.org and click on teacher's or student's link. As the next step in my study, I plan to do a broad overview of the rise of Hitler, the oppression of the Jews, and the plight, particularly of children in the Holocaust. Afterwards, students will be placed into groups of four and assigned an historical section of the Holocaust to research using the www.ushmm.org website. Studies will click on the "student's link" and go to A Learning Site for Students. Each small group will choose a section to explore. Students will spend one class period exploring their information and preparing to synethsize and present the information in a multiple intelligence choice format to other groups. The following class period, students will present the information and use large group discussion to draw connections to the down fall of Germany in WWI, the rise of Hitler, and the oppression of the Jews.

Writing Prompt

After reading the poem "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," write a one paragraph response to what emotions and thoughts were evoked as you read the poem and looked at the cooresponding images. In addition, answer these questions: How could a child find any joy in such deplorable circumstances? Have you ever found yourself in a devasting situation, but found ways to see elements of goodness and joy? After writing the prompt, go to the following link and click on the names of at least three children of the Holocaust, read their biographies and jot down five biographical facts about at least one of the children. The link is: www.graceproducts.com; click on the Forget Me Not--Anne Frank box.

I Never Saw Another Butterfly by Pavel Friedman

The last, the very last
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing
against a white stone...

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly 'way up high.
It went away I'm sure
because it wished
to kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I've lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto. But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterfies don't live in here, in the ghetto.

Where Shall I Begin

After searching several websites, I have determined that the best place to start the introduction of the Holocaust with 6th graders would be through the children's poem "I Never Saw Another Butterfly." The poem written by 20 year old Pavel Friedman while interned at the Terezin Concentration Camp is a true testament to the spirit and pain of the more than 12,000 children who were imprisioned in the camp between 1942 and 1944. More than 90% of these children died. I think is very important to help my students see the Holocaust through the eyes of those close to their ages. There is significance in the empathy that can grow between today's children and those in history. I have developed a short writing prompt that incorporates the words of the poem and visuals that I feel would prove stimulating and moving to my 6th graders. I do not plan to go "overboard" with graphic visual images, rather focus on the individuals in this horrific time in the history of our world. Students will also be reading Number the Stars in their literature classes while I am leading some historic research on the children.