5th Grade Reading Unit on the Holocaust
We will start our unit by reading WALLS: Resisting the Third Reich (one woman's story) by Hiltgunt Zassenhaus in your Classics books (pages 106-113). I have copies for everyone if you do not have your book.
"By rising above the fear, I might touch the world in its course."
Hiltgunt Zassenhaus
vocabulary to learn- please write out the defintion for each word (you may use the glossary in the back of your book)
Third Reich- page 106
Gestapo- page 106
censored- page 106
obsolete- page 106
meekly- page 107
curtly- page 107
meticulously- page 108
parcels- page 108
objectionable- page 108
defied- page 109
conviction- page 109
preoccupation- page 111
interrogation- page 112
Project: Now select a person who made a difference in the lives of those oppressed by the Third Reich- a survivor of the Holocaust. Study that person's hardships and triumphs- how they battled against the odds to survive and to help others survive.
Go to the Globaldreamers home page and scroll down to the heading: Survivor's Stories.
Read through the list of survivors, click on a link to learn more about them, and read about how they survived and helped others.
Create a list of survivors (please add more to the list from Globaldreamers) and a summary of their story in a WORD document (log-in to the GVC server and save in the Holocaust folder). You may create a table in word to keep the data organized.
Now you are going to create *FIVE projects* that focus on the Holocaust. Please select from the list below or come up with your own project (see me if you have some other ideas- PLEASE NO Powerpoint Presentations!). Save all of your work in the GVC folder called Holocaust.
*please visit the Holocaust Remembrance website to get some project ideas*
PROJECT IDEAS:
*go to the website Wordle and create an original word cloud about the Holocaust (it will look something like this)- take a picture of the screen (shift, open apple, 3) and save in the Holocaust folder
*create an acrostic using Holocaust words- you can create this in WORD or Photoshop- save in the Holocaust folder (sample ACROSTIC below)
*create some orginal poetry about the Holocaust and the survivors- you can borrow a neat book from Ms. Conmy called I Never Saw Another Butterfly
*create an original PODCAST about a Holocaust survivor or Holocaust hero- you may also create an original iMovie with Garageband music
*chcek the Globaldreamers site for more project ideas
SAMPLES OF STUDENT WORK:
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Select a novel that focuses on the Holocaust- I will start a list here for you. You may select one of these books or a book of your choice (see me before you start reading).
List of Children's Books about the Holocaust
Another great list of books about the Holocaust
Create a project that focuses on the events and major parts of your novel- use the list above to come up with a book project.
We will be watching two movies during this unit: Paper Clips- click here to see a preview and the recently released movie Warsaw Zoo- click here to see the movie (our friend Mrs. Marsha Goren from Israel is featured at the end of the movie).
Link to the movie:
Safe Haven: The Warsaw Zoo
Article: The Zoo Director Who Saved Jews
Book: The Zookeeper's Wife
cool websites
Blue Heron International Pictures: Warsaw Zoo
Student reactions to the movie Paper Clips