Overview: |
In this unit, students explore a variety of resources—texts, images, sounds, photos, and other artifacts—to learn more about the Holocaust. Beginning with journal writings and a picture book to introduce the central issues, the unit focuses on student-centered inquiry. Students explore a range of print and non-print resources through extensive online inquiry activities. Progressing from individual work to a group learning project, the unit culminates in publishing the group's findings in topic-based newspapers.
The lesson includes complete lists of picture books, read-aloud books, reference texts, and online sites and collections that allow teachers to customize the activities to fit the available resources and students' specific research interests. |
| Content Standard(s): |
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 6
| 1. Identify and explain an author's rhetorical choices, including point of view, purpose, anecdotes, and figurative, connotative, and technical word meanings, to develop central and supporting ideas. | English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 6
| 2. Make inferences and draw logical conclusions from the content and structures of informational texts, including comparison and contrast, problem and solution, claims and evidence, cause and effect, description, and sequencing. | English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 6
| 5. Evaluate the development of central and supporting ideas in recorded or live presentations by examining the speaker's rhetorical choices regarding point of view, purpose, anecdotes, and figurative, connotative, and technical word meanings. | English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 6
| 23. Use an audio or audio-visual source of information to obtain the answer to a question. | English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 7
| R3. Use digital and electronic tools appropriately, safely, and ethically when researching and writing, both individually and collaboratively. | English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 7
| R4. Utilize a writing process to plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish writings in various genres. | English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 7
| 7. Produce clear, coherent narrative, argument, and informative/explanatory writing in which the development, organization, style, and tone are relevant to task, purpose, and audience, using an appropriate command of language.
a. Write narratives to convey a series of events incorporating key literary elements, establishing a clear purpose, using narrative techniques (dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection), and sequencing events coherently (chronological and/or flashback).
b. Write informative or explanatory texts with an organized structure and a formal style to examine ideas or processes effectively while developing the topic and utilizing appropriate transitions, precise vocabulary, and credible information or data when relevant.
c. Write an argument to defend a position by introducing and supporting claim(s), acknowledging alternate or opposing claims, and presenting reasons and relevant text evidence from accurate and credible sources. | English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 7
| 11. Compare and contrast the effectiveness of techniques used in a variety of digital sources to generate and answer literal, interpretive, and applied questions and create new understandings. | English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 8
| R1. Utilize active listening skills during discussion and conversation in pairs, small groups, or whole-class settings, following agreed-upon rules for participation. |
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