Knowledge Stream Lesson Title: Holocaust Lesson Using Fiction and Non-fiction
Grade level(s): 8
Author and School: Anita Price, Lake Middle School, Millbury, Ohio
Date: 2/21/09
Lesson Sum mary: Students will utilize the historical fiction novel Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
to experience the horrors of the Nazis and the Holocaust through a fictional characterʼs point of
view. Then after reading the novel, students will view the video segments “Holocaust Lesson
segments 1 through 5” s of Mitch Garwolinskiʼs real life account of what it was like to live
through the Holocaust. This lesson is evaluated by having students complete a Venn diagram
comparing the main character in the novel, Misha to Mitch Garwolinski, a survivor of the
Holocaust. As an extension to this lesson, students will write three diamante poems about
themes that relate to the novel, video segments, or a combination of information learned from
both. Then students will choose their best diamante poem to revise, edit, and finally publish in a
class anthology. The class anthology will be put into the classroom library for students to read
during sustained silent reading time.
Standards and Indicators:
Language Arts:
Reading Applications: Literary Text
1. Identify and explain various types of characters )e.g., flat, round,
dynamic, static( and how their interactions and conflicts affect the plot.
Writing Applications
6. Produce informal writings )e.g., journals, notes and poems( for
various purposes
Communication: Oral and Visual
1. Apply active listening strategies )e.g., monitoring message for
clarity, selecting and organizing essential information, noting cues
such as changes in pace(.
Social Studies
People in Societies:
2. Describe and explain the social, economic and political
effects of:
a. Stereotyping and prejudice;
b. Racism and discrimination;
c. Institutionalized racism and institutionalized discrimination
Social Studies Skills and Methods
1. Compare accuracy and point of view of fiction and
nonfiction sources about a particular era or event.
Materials Needed:
A. Knowledge Stream Video clips :
Holocaust Lesson segment 1 )12 minutes(
Holocaust Lesson segment 2 )11 minutes(
Holocaust Lesson segment 3 )10 minutes(
Holocaust Lesson segment 4 )13 minutes(
Holocaust Lesson segment 5 )15 minutes(
B. Poems written about the Holocaust
C. Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
D. Venn diagram for Misha and Mitch Garwolinski
E. Diamante poem directions and sample poem
Lesson Implementation
______________________________________________________________
Engage: To engage students prior to assigning the reading of the novel, read a few poems a
day to introduce the Holocaust. The teacher needs to read the poem then ask some open
ended questions, “Do you know why this poem was written, what mood is conveyed, could this
be written about a significant historical event?” This will encourage students to engage with the
poems and understand how people felt during and after the Holocaust.
Explore: Students will read the historical fiction novel, Milkweed, by Jerry Spinelli to explore
what it was like to live through the Holocaust.
Explain: As an explanation to reading the novel students will view the video segments of
“Holocaust Lesson Using Fiction and Nonfiction” segments 1-5 and take notes of what Mitch
Garwolinskiʼs life experiences were like living through the Holocaust. )5 video segments
approximately 13 minutes each(
Evaluate: Students will complete a Venn diagram comparing Misha and Mitch Garwolinski.
This will be turned in for review and evaluation of material that was learned.
Extend: As an extension, students will compose diamante poems about three themes from
the Holocaust relating to either Milkweed or Mitch Garwolinskiʼs video segments. The teacher
needs to foster a whole group discussion relating to the themes presented in the novel and
video segments )some possible ideas are; family, childhood, war, Nazis, jackboots, ghettos,
survival, sorrow, hatred etc.( The discussion should encourage students to think about the
themes in the book and segments, take student responses, write themes on the board )or
paper( and are to remain posted while students are working on poems. Students are required
to write three diamante poems relating to Milkweed or the video segments about the Holocaust.
Students will pick their best poem to be published in an anthology. The anthology will be placed
in the classroom library for students to read during sustained silent reading time.
Holocaust Poems
Holocaust
by Barbara Sonek
We played, we laughedwe were loved.We were ripped from the arms of our
parents and thrown into the fire.We were nothing more than children.We had
a future. We were going to be lawyers, rabbis, wives, teachers, mothers. We
had dreams, then we had no hope. We were taken away in the dead of night
like cattle in cars, no air to breathe smothering, crying, starving, dying.
Separated from the world to be no more. From the ashes, hear our plea.
This atrocity to mankind can not happen again. Remember us, for we were
the children whose dreams and lives were stolen away.
“Holocaust Poetry Lest We Forget.” The Holocaust Crimes, Heroes and Villains.
28 February 2009 http://www.auschwitz.dk/id6.htm
The Dream
by Trish McAllister
She prepares the table, the colors are so bright! Her daughter will be so
surprised, delighted. This will be her first party. What fun! Six is a wonderful
age....I shiver in the cold, My stomach aches with hunger. I stare at my children
as they sit lethargically. They used to play with such abandon. Now their eyes so hollow. No more tears. She serves the cake, Laughs as her birthday girl Tries
to blow out candles that won't extinguish. How carefree, and happy She never
thinks of her freedom. It just is. My skin feels dry and clammy, all at once. Fear
is my constant companion. How grateful I'd be, To give myself over to The
Monsters, If only my little ones were spared. The children bang on the table
Anxious for their piece. Anxious to move on to games and the clown! Precious
and lovedThey are so cared for, spoiled, revered. The banging on the door -My
heart stops. (Oh how I wish it would!) Are the camps as bad as they say?? They
couldn't hurt the children!! She wakes up to the pounding. The dream of parties
and running and laughing Is over. Her children cling to her, roughly pushed
Toward the train, toward the end. I wake up with the sun It was just a nightmare.
Now I have a party to prepare for But a tear falls - for her. I am her. She is me.
Wake up.
“Holocaust Poetry Lest We Forget.” The Holocaust Crimes, Heroes and Villains.
28 February 2009 http://www.auschwitz.dk/id6.htm
What I Don't Know
by Ruth Dykstra 1999
What you don't know can't hurt, they say.
I disagree.
Did they know?
How awful, how hateful?
The ghettos, the camps, the chamber, the stars?
That made you feel, so different, so sad.
As if, you weren't human, anymore.
The lives taken, those spared,
Will be changed forever.
Those that saw and then, saw no more,
Those that saw again and again.
Those forced to leave,
Those forced to stay,
Those forced to be somewhere in the middle.
There was no way out, no escape.
Only to live,
Only to die.
“Holocaust Poetry & Art.” 28 February 2009. http://www.datasync.com/~davidg59/holo_art.html
We Gather Flowers
by Hannah Szenes (translated by Dorothy Bar-Adon)
We gather flowers in the fields and mountains,
We breathed the fresh winds of spring,
We were drenched with the warmth of the sun's rays
In our Homeland, in our beloved home.
We go out to our brothers in exile,
To the suffering of winter, to the frost in the night.
Our hearts will bring tidings of springtime,
Our lips sing the song of light.
Szenes, Hannah. “A Holocaust Hero: The True Story of Hannah Szenes.” Read Magazine Vol. 52, No. 4.
One-Two-Three
by Hannah Szenes (translated by Dorothy Bar-Adon)
One-two-three...
eight feet long,
Two strides across, the rest is dark...
Life hangs over me like a question mark.
One-two-three...
maybe another week,
Or next month may still find me here,
But death, I feel, is very near.
I could have been
twenty-three next July;
I gambled on what mattered most,
The dice were cast. I lost.
Szenes, Hannah. “A Holocaust Hero: The True Story of Hannah Szenes.” Read Magazine Vol. 52, No. 4.
Name__________________________________________________________________________ date_____________
Directions: Based on the information learned while reading Milkweed and watching the video segments “Holocaust Lesson Using Fiction
and Nonfiction” complete the following graphic organizer. Be very descriptive in your evidence of similarities and differences. There must
be five similarities and eight differences.
Misha
Mitch Garwolinski
A diamante is a seven line poem, shaped like a diamond.
Example:
Square
symmetrical, conventional
Line 1: one word )noun, antonym of line7(
Line 2: two words )adjectives describe line 1(
shaping, measuring, balancing Line 3: three words )verbs relate to line 1(
line 7(
boxes, rooms, clocks, halos
Line 4: four words )nouns 2 relate to line 1, 2 relate to
encircling, circumnavigating, enclosing
7(
Line 5: three words )verbs relate to line 7(
round, continuous
Line 6: two words )adjectives relate to line
circle
Line 7: one word )noun antonym to line 1(
Directions: Write three of your own diamantes in the space below. You may also use the
back of the page.
Adapted from: TEAMS Educational Resources, 17 February 2009
http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/amy/algebra/5-6/activities/poetry/diamante.html