Teaching American History Grant
American Tapestry
Lesson Plan
Teachers: Amanda Hicks & Katie Lessard
Grade: 4/5
Unit Topic: The Holocaust with special focus on Denmark and the Rescue of Jews
History Essential Questions:
1) Can the act of bravery by one person or a group of people impact lives? 2) What choices do people make in the face of injustice? 3) How can individuals and societies remember and commemorate difficult histories? What is the purpose of remembering? What are the consequences for forgetting? 4) Why do some people standby during times of injustice while others try to do something to stop or prevent injustice? 5) Under what conditions are most people likely to feel more responsible for helping others? Standards of Learning:
History SOL:
1) The students will engage in historical analysis and interpretation. Therefore, the students will be able to compare and contrast differing sets of ideas, values, personalities, behaviors, and institutions. 2) The students will distinguish fact and fiction by comparing documentary sources on historical figures and events with the fictional characters and events included in the selected novel, Number the Stars. 3) The students will compare different stories about a historical figure, era, or event and analyze the different perspectives they present. 4) The students will consider multiple perspectives in the records of human experience by demonstrating how their differing motives, beliefs, interests, hopes, and fears influenced individual and group behaviors. 5) The students will explain causes in analyzing historical actions, including (a) the importance of the individual in history, of human will, intellect, and character; (b) the influence of ideas, human interests, and beliefs; and (c) the role of chance, the accidental, and the irrational. 6) The students will challenge arguments of historical inevitability by giving examples of how different choices could have led to different consequences. 7) The students will hypothesize the influence of the past, including both the limitations and opportunities made possible by past decisions. Reading SOL:
1) Students read a wide range of print and non-­‐print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works. 2) Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience. 3) Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. 4) Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-­‐print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience. 5) Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge. 6) Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities. 7) Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information). Lesson Objectives:
Content:
The students will gain insight into the many historical, social, religious, political, and economic factors
that cumulatively resulted in the Holocaust, they will gain awareness of the complexity of the subject and
a perspective on how a convergence of factors can contribute to the disintegration of democratic values.
Students will come to understand that it is the responsibility of citizens in a democracy to learn to
identify the danger signals and to know when to react.
Process: The students will read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry to develop an understanding of the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping in any society. This novel will help students to develop an awareness of the value of pluralism and encourages tolerance of diversity in a pluralistic society. After reading Number the Stars, the students will engage in various activities that stimulate higher order and critical thinking, and allow the students to explore the dangers of remaining silent, apathetic, and indifferent in the face of others’ oppression. Materials: Computer with Internet access, Movie- Six Million Paper Clips
Tradebooks:
The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco
Terrible Things by Eve Bunting
The Cat with the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin by Susan Goldman Rubin
Passage To Freedom: The Sugihara Story by Ken Mochizuki
Books: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Handouts: Number the Stars Literature Guide (attachment)
Primary Source Documents: Pictures related to the Danish Rescue.
Assessment/Evaluation: The students will be assessed based on their answers to the literature guide, their responses to the closure activities, and teacher observation. Lesson Procedure
Background Knowledge and Purpose Setting: The teacher will provide the students with the necessary background knowledge needed to understand why the Holocaust happened. Use the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007262 to provide background knowledge. The Nazi rise to power brought an end to the Weimar Republic, a parliamentary democracy established in Germany after World War I. Following the appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor on January 30, 1933, the Nazi state (also referred to as the Third Reich) quickly became a regime in which Germans enjoyed no guaranteed basic rights. After a suspicious fire in the Reichstag (the German Parliament), on February 28, 1933, the government issued a decree; which suspended constitutional civil rights and created a state of emergency in which official decrees could be enacted without parliamentary confirmation. Show the students a picture (primary source) of the Germans cheering Adolf Hitler as he leaves the Hotel Kaiserhof just after being sworn in as chancellor. Berlin, Germany, January 30, 1933. Before Reading: The teacher will acquire enough index cards for each student in the class. Write rabbits, fish, porcupines, squirrels, frogs, and birds, separately on the index cards. Usually 3-­‐4 of each animal is enough for a class. Give each student one index card prior to the read aloud. Read Eve Bunting’s Terrible Things. As the terrible things come to the forest and take away each species, stop at that point in the story and have the students with the same animal on their index card get up and go to the side or back of the classroom. By the end of the story, there are not any students left sitting in their seats. Tell the students that standing up for what you know is right is not always easy, especially when you are facing someone bigger and stronger than you are. Bunting admits to her readers that it is easier to look the other way, "But if you do, terrible things can happen." Some questions the teacher might want to ask the students: How did the animals in the woods get along before the Terrible Things came? Who first notices the Terrible Things? How did he know they were there? How did the animals react to the Terrible Things when they first came for the creatures with feathers on their backs? How did Big Rabbit respond to Little Rabbit's question: "Why did the Terrible Things want the birds?" How did the animals explain the selections made by the Terrible Things? Why do you think the Terrible Things take away the animals one group at a time? Why does Big Rabbit disagree with Little Rabbit when Little Rabbit wants to move? How are the Terrible Things described? What verbs are used to describe their actions? Why do you think Terrible Things is capitalized? Look at the illustrations. Why do you think they are in black and white? Describe the images. Would the images be better if they were in color? Why/why not? During Reading: The students will read the novel Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. Many people are unaware of the heroic 1943 evacuation of nearly 7,000 endangered Jews from Denmark to safety in Sweden during the period of Nazi occupation. Number the Stars recounts this amazing effort through the eyes of fictional ten-­‐year-­‐old Annemarie Johansen, who learns of bravery, strength, and honor as she and her family shelter her friend Ellen Rosen and help the Rosen family escape. **Use the attached literature guide to assess comprehension, stimulate higher ordering thinking, require the students to self-­‐reflect, and respond to critical thinking journal prompts and extended writing activities.
After Reading:
1) The students will respond to the following journal writing activities: a) Overall, did this book make you feel optimistic or pessimistic about human nature? Why?
b) In your opinion, why did Lowry name this book Number the Stars? Think about the whole text of the
psalm from which the title is taken. Think about the context in which it is read and the way Annemarie
reacts when she hears it. Then explain the significance of the title to the theme of the book.
2) Use the following website to provide factual information and primary sources about the Danish Resistance: http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/danish/# Remind the students that even though the characters in the story Number the Stars are fictional, the circumstances were very real. Tell the students that the autumn of 2003 marked the 60th anniversary of the rescue of the Jews of Denmark. The Danish resistance movement, assisted by many ordinary citizens, coordinated the flight of some 7,200 Jews to safety in nearby neutral Sweden. Thanks to this remarkable mass rescue effort, at war's end Denmark had one of the highest Jewish survival rates for any European country. Use the links on this page to learn more about the rescue of Danish Jewry and the special circumstances that made it possible. Use the photographs provided on this website’s page to show the students real photographs of a) a boat used by Danish fishermen to transport Jews to safety in Sweden during the German occupation, b) Jewish refugees ferried out of Denmark aboard fishing boats bound for Sweden, c) a group portrait of Danish-­‐Jewish children living in a Swedish children´s home, after their escape from Denmark, d) and a Swedish policeman accompanying a newly arrived Danish-­‐Jewish refugee to the welfare office in Rebslagergade, Sweden. 3) Use the following website to show students a real Danish rescue boat: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_da.php?ModuleId=10005209&MediaId=99 This boat, named "Sunshine" (formerly "Lurifax"), was used during World War II to transport Danish refugees from German-­‐occupied Denmark to neutral Sweden. Closure:
1) The teacher will read to the students The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco.
Based on the true experiences of the author's great aunt, Marcel Solliliage, this poignant story is a good introduction to the terrors of Nazism, racism, and World War II. The emphasis is on simple friendship and quiet heroism, with an occasional lapse into clichéd metaphor (butterfly as symbol of freedom). Any child can relate to the bewilderment the two friends experience in the face of prejudice. 2) Have the students compare and contrast this story, The Butterfly, to the story of Annemarie and Ellen in
Number the Stars.
3) The teacher will read to the students Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story by Ken Mochizuki.
In 1940 Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Lithuania, saved the lives of hundreds of Polish Jewish refugees. He personally wrote out visas that enabled the Jews to escape the Nazis. To do that, he risked the lives of his own family and disobeyed the instructions of the Japanese government. The story is told in the first person by the consul's son, Hiroki, who remembers himself at the age of five when desperate refugees were crowding at his father's door. He remembers how his father consulted his family and how they all discussed their choice: if they helped those people, the family could be in danger; if they did nothing, all the refugees could die. Lee's stirring mixed-­‐media illustrations in sepia shades are humane and beautiful; they capture the intensity of those days-­‐-­‐when the crowds were at the gate and one man wrote and wrote the visas by hand-­‐-­‐from the child's viewpoint. The immediacy of the narrative will grab kids' interest and make them think. And yet, this story cries out for fuller historical treatment than a picture book can give it. So many questions are left unanswered: What happened to the refugees? What happened to the consul's family? A brief afterword just hints at the astonishing drama. 4) Have the students use their new knowledge of the Holocaust learned from Number the Stars, to
answer the many questions that are left unanswered from this story. Then have the students compare
and contrast this story with Number the Stars.
Extension/Differentiation:
1)The students could visit the following website: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_oi.php?ModuleId=10005209&MediaId=1657
After reading a short biography of Preben Munch-­‐Nielsen, a Dane who helped Jews flee from Denmark to Sweden, the students write a journal/diary as if they were Preben Munch-­‐Nielson. Have the students include what he might have seen, what he might have experienced, and feelings he would have been feeling during this courageous time in his life. 2) The students could visit the following website: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_oi.php?ModuleId=10005209&MediaId=1221 After viewing the video testimony of Tove Schoenbaum Bamberger as she describes her trip to and arrival in Sweden, have the students create their own questions they would like to ask Tove if they could interview her as well. Also have the students answer the questions as they think Tove would answer them based on their knowledge of this time period. 3) Have the students watch the movie, 6 Million Paper Clips.