Immerse
In this stage you will begin to build background knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust. This stage sets the building blocks for your future exploration and search for information.
In this stage you will begin to build background knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust. This stage sets the building blocks for your future exploration and search for information.
Learn360 Video, 6 minutes
This video will provide you with a summary of how and why Hitler came to hold such enormous power in Germany.
Navigation & Search Tips:
-Click the graphic to the left to go directly to the video on the Learn360 website. You may need to enter our school AEA username and password to gain access.
-At the site, click the play button located in the middle of the video.
-Video functions are located at the bottom of the video display.
-Written transcript is provided at the top right of the screen.
World War II - Please read Setting the Scene and Chapters 1 & 2. Additionally, you may choose to view Map of the Events at the end of the book.
FreedomFLIX ebook
This book will continue to explain the events leading up to the war and build your understanding of how and why World War II began.
Navigation & Search Tips:
-Click the graphic to the left to go directly to the ebook on the FreedomFLIX website. You may need to enter our school AEA username and password to gain access.
-At the site, click on the book World War II located on the right side under the heading "READ IT".
-Within the ebook is the option to have the text read aloud to you. This option is located at the top of your book navigation screen.
-A glossary of defined terms is also provided in the top navigation screen.
The Path to Nazi Genocide - Please begin watching the video at the 16:10 mark and continue to 24:32.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
This video will provide you with an overview of the Holocaust, particularly the persecution of the Jewish people.
Navigation & Search Tips:
-Click the graphic to the left to go directly to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website.
The Jews in Europe - Please watch until the 7:45 mark.
Learn360, 6 minutes
This video will explain the historical persecution of the Jewish people, starting long before the Nazis took power in Germany.
Navigation & Search Tips:
-Click the graphic to the left to go directly to the video on the Learn360 website. You may need to enter our school AEA username and password to gain access.
-At the site, click the play button located in the middle of the video.
-Video functions are located at the bottom of the video display.
-Written transcript is provided at the top right of the screen.
Antisemitism - After reading the article, take time to explore the cartoon image on the top right and the red book cover on the lower right of the page.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
This article will provide further details on the historical prejudice and discrimination experienced by Jewish people.
Navigation & Search Tips:
-Click the graphic to the left to go directly to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website.
The Final Solution - After reading the article, take time to explore the map image on the lower right side of the page.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
This article explains the Nazi solution to eliminate all Jews from Europe.
Navigation & Search Tips:
-Click the graphic to the left to go directly to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website.
The History Channel, A&E Television Networks
This article and video will provide you with an introduction to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. The included video is an interview with an American WWII Veteran about his firsthand experience liberating the camp.
Navigation & Search Tips:
-Click the graphic to the left to go directly to the History Channel's website. You will find an article to read along with a short video. Press the play button to view the video.
BBC World Service Witness
This radio recording is an interview with Kitty Hart-Moxon, an Auschwitz camp survivor.
Navigation & Search Tips:
-Click the graphic to the left to go directly to the BBC Witness website. To begin listening to the broadcast recording, click the play button located at the bottom of the still image.
This is a present day virtual tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp.
Navigation & Search Tips:
-Click the graphic to the left to go directly to the site.
-At the bottom of the screen, select a location to view: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, or Alte Judenrampe (the second railway unloading ramp between Auschwitz and Birkenau).
-While touring, look for additional information provided at the lower left side of your screen (look for the gray "Read More" button).
To begin this activity, we will all participate in a Read Around (speed sampling) as a whole group. First, we will read the descriptions for each book together. Then, we will pass multiple copies of each book included in our Immerse Stage. Each of you will sample the books available to choose from. Next, meet with your small group to discuss which book(s) intrigued you and why. Record your reflections in the Immerse Stage - Day Two in your Inquiry Journal.
Novel reviews are from CLCD. Books are linked directly to www.teachingbooks.net for additional reading resources and information; our school's username and password must be entered to access the resources.
Maus by Art Spiegelman
"Told with chilling realism in an unusual comic-book format, this is more than a tale of surviving the Holocaust. Spiegelman relates the effect of those events on the survivors' later years and upon the lives of the following generation. Each scene opens at the elder Spiegelman's home in Rego Park, N.Y. Art, who was born after the war, is visiting his father, Vladek, to record his experiences in Nazi-occupied Poland. The Nazis, portrayed as cats, gradually introduce increasingly repressive measures, until the Jews, drawn as mice, are systematically hunted and herded toward the Final Solution. Vladek saves himself and his wife by a combination of luck and wits, all the time enduring the torment of hunted outcast."
Keeler, R. G. (1987). Maus [Review of the book Maus]. School Library Journal, 33(9), 124.
Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz
"When Hitler's army entered and occupied his native Krakow, 10-year-old Yanek knew his life might change, but he had no idea of the horror that lay ahead. His remarkable survival story begins with a dramatic, emotional punch and then chronicles such moments as his secretive bar mitzvah in a warehouse basement, the systematic round up of Jews, and his deportation to the Plaszow concentration camp, the first of 10 camps he would suffer but survive."
Perkins, L. (2013). Prisoner B-3087 [Review of the book Prisoner B-3087]. Booklist, 109(16), 68.
Once by Morris Gleitzman
"When his Jewish parents place young Felix in an orphanage in war-torn Poland, they tell him that they must leave to fix their book business. Felix knows they will return. Curiously, one morning men in dark suits storm the orphanage and start burning books - these must be the people his parents have fled from. Others call these men Nazis; Felix doesn't understand. Determined to be reunited with his family and to save more books from being burned, Felix runs away. But during his travels he sees even more horrors: People are beaten, starved and shot. All because of books?"
Once [Review of the the book Once]. (2010). Kirkus Reviews, 78(6), 251.
The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson
"The Boy On The Wooden Box is the memoir of a young boy on Schindler's List. This list allowed a unique fate for him and his family. The sincerity and raw emotion detail not only a miserable time in history but also the bravado of several individuals as they risk death or torture to do what is right. The boy's memories of standing on a box to work in the factory are meticulously written and depict his life during this time--they are memories of perseverance, bravery, and innocence...this title brings to readers a story of bravery and the fight for a chance to live."
Espinola, M. (2013). The boy on the wooden box [Review of the book The boy on the wooden box]. Voice Of Youth Advocates, 36(4), 93.
Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
"Syvia-the author's aunt-is too young to know what's happening, but she and her family have been evicted from their home and, with the other neighborhood Jews, have been relocated to the Lodz ghetto at the start of WWII. This novel-in-verse tells how Syvia and her family struggled to survive the war and describes their lives in the ghetto, Syvia being one of only 12 children who walked out at the end of the war. Poetry blends fact and fiction in a powerful format...this gripping tale reads like memoir textured with the sounds, smell and sights of children in captivity."
Yellow star [Review of the book Yellow star]. (2006). Kirkus Reviews, 74(6), 299.
Reading groups will be formed based on student interests and preferences. Discussion sessions will be scheduled throughout the book reading and utilized as checkpoints along the way. Upon completion of the book, meet with your book group. Discuss the ideas or topics contained in the book you read. These might include, but are not limited to: Nazi propaganda, Nazi collaboration, antisemitism, boycotting/destruction of Jewish businesses, segregation and life in the ghettos, Jewish resistance, deportation, genocide, and prison/concentration camps. Following your group discussion, record which topic most interests you and the viewpoints related to this topic that you discovered through your book reading in the Immerse Stage - Book Discussion portion of your Inquiry Journal.
Subpages: 1-Open 2-Immerse 3-Explore 4-Identify 5-Gather
References:
Knowledge Unlimited (Producer). (1994). We must never forget: The story of the holocaust [Video file]. Retrieved from https://learn360.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=137282&xtid=81504
Knowledge Unlimited (Producer). (2004). Israel and Palestine: A divided land [Video file]. Retrieved from https://learn360.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=137282&xtid=81490
Antisemitism. (n.d.). In Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007691
The Final Solution. (n.d.). In Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007704
A&E Networks. (2009). Auschwitz [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/auschwitz
BBC World Service. (n.d.) Surviving Auschwitz [Audio]. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p025jh37
Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. (2014). Auschwitz-Birkenau Virtual Tour [Interactive Virtual Tour]. Retrieved from http://panorama.auschwitz.org/
Keeler, R. G. (1987). Maus [Review of the book Maus]. School Library Journal, 33(9), 124.
Perkins, L. (2013). Prisoner B-3087 [Review of the book Prisoner B-3087]. Booklist, 109(16), 68.
Once [Review of the the book Once]. (2010). Kirkus Reviews, 78(6), 251.
Espinola, M. (2013). The boy on the wooden box [Review of the book The boy on the wooden box]. Voice Of Youth Advocates, 36(4), 93.
Yellow star [Review of the book Yellow star]. (2006). Kirkus Reviews, 74(6), 299.