Holocaust Unit 2011

5th Grade Reading Unit on the Holocaust
We will never forget!

“Out of our memory…of the Holocaust we must forge an unshakeable oath with all civilized people that never again will the world… fail to act in time to prevent this terrible crime of genocide… we must harness the outrage of our own memories to stamp out oppression wherever it exists. We
must understand that human rights and human dignity are indivisible.”
Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States

This unit will focus on the events of the Holocaust and the everyday people who were heroes to those that survived. The story of ordinary people that did extraordinary things in reaching out to others in need- many times risking their own lives in the process. Our Holocaust Remembrance Projects will be featured on the website Globaldreamers (http://www.globaldreamers.org/holocaust/index.html).

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).

"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. You may create a table in word to keep the data organized. Please post this to your blog page.


Holocaust PROJECT:

EVERYONE will do the Butterfly Project
that is being sponsored by the Holocaust Museum of Houston.

In an effort to remember them, Holocaust Museum Houston is collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies.
The butterflies will eventually comprise a breath-taking exhibition, currently scheduled for Spring 2013, for all to remember. The Museum has already collected an estimated 600,000 butterflies.  Please send or bring your butterflies to the Museum by June 30, 2012, with the following information included:

• Your name,
• Your organization or school,
• Your address,
• Your e-mail address, and
• The total number of butterflies sent.

Mail or bring your butterflies to:            
Holocaust Museum Houston
Butterfly Project
Education Department
5401 Caroline St.
Houston, TX 77004
USA

You will be doing all 5 activities for the Butterfly Project- start with activity 1.  Record the answers to the questions in Word and add to your blog.  Write it in paragraph form and add the words of the poem at the top.

For activity 2 you will need the book, I Never Saw Another Butterfly- Ms. Conmy has this book in her collection.  Discuss with a partner your feelings and thoughts about what has been read.

Click here to visit a webquest about the Terezin Concentration Camp.  After Nazi Germany invaded and seized control of Czechoslovakia, they converted the town of Terezin (also known as Theresienstadt) into a concentration camp/ghetto for Jewish people.  About 140,000 Jews from many parts of Europe were imprisoned at Terezin, including 15,000 children. From Terezin, most of the people were then sent east to the death camp at Auschwitz. Through this Web Quest, you will learn about the children of Terezin - their thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams - through their poetry and art.

Activity 3: Select a poem from "I Never Saw Another Butterfly." Find examples of hopes, dreams and/or fears in their child’s poem.  Discuss your poem with another classmate.

Activity 4: Get sheets of colorful paper, glue, scissors and  string. (Any decorative items will do, with the exception of glitter) Create a butterfly that is a representative of the author of your poem. The butterfly cannot be larger than 8 by 10 inches.  Write the name of your child on the butterfly and hang from the ceiling in the classroom.

Activity5: Our last  “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” activity is to create as many handmade arts-and-crafts butterflies as possible. We will work on this project in class, but also encourage your family, friends,and classmates to create butterflies as well.  We will send all the butterflies together as one to the Holocaust Museum of Houston.

• Butterflies should be no larger than 8 inches by 10 inches. 
• Butterflies may be of any medium the artist chooses, but two-dimensional submissions are preferred.
• Glitter and all glitter-related products should not be used.
• Food products (cereal, macaroni, candy, marshmallows or other perishables) also should not be used.
• If possible, e-mail a photograph of your butterflies, to butterflyproject@hmh.org.

Click here to see examples of butterflies.


Other Project Ideas:
Now you are going to create 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!). Please post all of your work on your blog page.

*please visit the Holocaust Remembrance website to get some 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 post on your blog page

*create an acrostic using Holocaust words- you can create this in WORD or Photoshop- post on your blog page (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

*check the Globaldreamers site for more project ideas

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

Student reactions to the movie Warsaw Zoo

Percy Julian Middle School Projects