FREE Holocaust Resources

Hey all! I hope everyone is surviving the chaos that is December!

I will admit, I was VERY hesitant about missing a day and a half last week to go to a training. On one hand, it IS nice to not be in the classroom during the wild and crazy weeks leading up to winter break when the kids are all hyped up every.single.minute. On the other hand, I really did not want to subject one of our sweet subs to that torture. I wasn’t sure that I would even pay attention because my Christmas shopping is so not even close to being done, and I would most likely end up jotting down ideas and surfing Amazon while hiding my phone under the table. #sorrynotsorry

I am happy to admit that I was TOTALLY wrong. The training I attended was beyond amazing. It was the best training I have been to in a LONG time. What was this training, you ask?

The Georgia Commission on the Holocaust provided an amazing training about all aspects of the Holocaust. Yes, it is in Georgia, BUT: many, many states have their own Holocaust resources. So if you live in another state, Google Holocaust museums and/or commissions in your state. Many of these establishments provide many of the resources I am going to talk about in this blog post. You can also Google colleges and universities in your state for Holocaust resources. Kennesaw State University in Georgia provides many resources, so be sure to use your state colleges! There is also the UnitedStates Holocaust Memorial Museum that also provides resources. The BEST part of all of this?????? The resources are FREE. FREEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! Sometimes you may have to pay a return postage fee, or a small travel fee if you want a speaker to come out, but most often you pay nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Which, for educators who always seem to shell out our own money, this is priceless. If you do not live in Georgia, I hope you keep reading and get excited about the resources I discuss. So much that you go out and Google your own state and area to find similar free resources. And you can still use some of the ideas and resources posted on the websites I include.

Who Is This Post For?

Upper grades peeps who teach about the Holocaust! Not every grade level teaches about the Holocaust, but in Georgia grades 5-8 and high school world and US history courses do. I teach 6^th grade and part of our curriculum is European history, so we do teach the Holocaust for a period of time. The Holocaust is  a subject that is very delicate and emotional, so when I discovered these resources, I was so thankful and grateful to not have to figure it out on my own. It was also fabulous to know how to handle the emotional side because many children will become upset.

What Is This Post About?
The training I went to was offered by the Georgia Commission the Holocaust, and, not only was it free of charge, they even paid for my substitute and gave out incredible resources. Not only that, but they had George Rishfeld, a Holocaust survivor, speak to us (which we also found out he was available to travel to schools to talk with students). The first-hand account stories he told us were intriguing, sad, and so crucial in helping future generations learn about the Holocaust. He is not the only Holocaust survivor who comes out to speak to schools. With a little time spent on your state’s Holocaust resource pages, you will be able to find speakers, too. I feel like I have jumped around a little bit in this post, so below I will outline the resources made available to Georgia educators through either the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust or by Kennesaw State University since these are the two I have experience with.  

Professional Development Opportunities

This was the training I attended. Like I said, it was free of charge, the organization paid for my substitute, provided a hot dinner the first evening and a lunch the second day, and they gave attendees several resources that will be used a lot in my classroom. There is actually another training identical to the one I attended in January in Thomasville, Georgia. Click {here} for the registration information. At the training I attended, there were a few teachers from South Carolina in attendance, so I don't think this training is limited to Georgia educators. I did not to think to ask them, but it is worth looking into if you live near Thomasville and are out of state. 

The training covered a wide range of Holocaust topics, and lessons (along with materials) were provided. **I talk more about these lessons below**

One of the biggest take aways I had from this training, were the guidelines for teaching about the Holocaust. The link takes you to the USHMM, and these guidelines are very helpful in knowing how to approach the Holocaust as well as what you need to keep in mind as you navigate through your unit of study.

And of course I LOVED the two books that were given to each attendee. One of the lessons includes excerpts from Salvaged Pages, by Alexandra Zapruder (page 102 of the PDF- I'm Still Here). This particular lesson integrated literacy which is awesome! I did actually buy the DVD  (*this is an affiliate link*) I'm Still Here: Real Diaries of Young People Who Lived During the Holocaust that is mentioned. You don't need to DVD if you have the book, but the DVD really brings the diary entries alive. And you don't need to buy the book if you attended the training. If you are interested in buying the book, Salvaged Pages, you can use this affiliate link. One of the other big takeaways from the training is that many people use The Diary of Anne Frank while teaching the Holocaust. However, it is very important to make sure students know that this is just ONE girl's story. There are many more diaries out there, and Salvaged Pages has several diary entries from survivors and non-survivors.

The other book given to us had many photographs with a wealth of information about the Holocaust. It is called The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust As Told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, by Michael Berenbaum. You can order this book by using this affiliate link. Some of the lessons from the PDF also include photographs from this book (for example the time line activity, which is on page 166). In fact, many of the lessons that you can access in that PDF are integrated with literacy...so even ELA teachers can use them. #winning Many book titles are included, so it makes my reading heart happy.

Lessons & Activities

My favorite activity I have used this far is the Holocaust ID cards activity that uses ID cards from the USHMM. The lesson provided by the GCH includes smaller ID cards that students use.

This link will take you to the PDF that contains tons of lessons/activities, including the ID card lesson. The ID card activity begins on page 128. The cards on this download don't have the photos (which are on the link above from the USHMM. If you attend a training, though, the cards you receive do have the photos and a map on the back with significant places to that person (which is why the image above includes the photos of the people and maps on the ID cards). This link will take you to a PPT for the ID card lesson. 

**disclaimer** ALL of the documents I am posting are FREE of charge and available to ANYONE to download.

The PDF download from above contains SEVERAL lessons, and in most cases, the needed documents/materials. I am telling y'all! These resources are a GOLDMINE!

This link contains additional activities if you scroll to the bottom of the page (the top link on the page does not work, and I posted the second link above). You want to look for the hyperlinks listed under the third trunk (which brings me to the trunks in the next section). Overwhelmed? Yes, me, too! Even though I went to the training, there are still so many more resources I need to dig through. Perfect task for your team to help with!

The USHMM has a wide variety of resources on its site. I have not even began to look over most of these resources because I am still digesting all the information I have from the training I attended. I have used some of the animated maps because they are very clear and concise for students to understand. Showing this particular map really helped show students the magnitude of Hitler's conquered lands, and helped to set the context for my students to learn about the Holocaust. 

**I highly recommend previewing any map you might want to show your students to make sure they are age-appropriate**

Trunks, Exhibits, & In-House Programs

I have used traveling trunks before but not traveling exhibits. Kennesaw State University sends out trunks and exhibits free of charge. You will either have to: 1. pay for return shipping; 2. if you live close enough, you can drop them off yourself for free; 3. or, do what we are doing, schedule an in-house program for the last day you have the trunks/exhibit and the presenter will take them back for free. #winningagain

We have not used these yet, but we do have them scheduled for the first 3 weeks in May. You can reserve the trunks and exhibits for 3 consecutive weeks, so that's what we are doing. Because the in-house program is free, it is too pricey for KSU to send out the presenter multiple days, so for our grade level, we are combining our 3 social studies classes into one room for each of our class periods. So there will be about 90 students in each period, so that way all of our students get to participate, and KSU sends out someone for just one day. And since there are 3 of us who teach SS, we have 3 trunks coming at the same time, so we can rotate through the trunks and keep each one for one week. The exhibit will most likely be housed in our media center. #haventthoughtthatfarahead

Trunks include a variety of items that relate to the trunk's theme, along with the lesson/activity plans, suggested book titles (score!), and anything else needed. SCORE! The exhibits are 8-10 large, free standing panels that provide a context for many topics relating to before, during, and after the Holocaust. These also come with everything you need for the lessons/activities. DOUBLE SCORE!!

KSU also provides a free museum to Georgia residents, so all you would need to pay (if your school was fairly close) for would be transportation. 

All of the trunks and exhibits come with teaching guides, so you literally have EVERYTHING you  need before, during, and after you have the trunks and exhibits.

Sorry I don't have any photos of the actual trunks or exhibits. We have not used them yet :( 

Not only does KSU have trunks, but so does the GCH. These trunks are slightly different, so it is worth checking into even if you have used, or are planning to use, the trunks from KSU. This page also has the teaching guides for their trunks (which is the same link I posted above for the ID card activity). The GCM also has exhibits, but they are loaned out a little bit differently.

Homeschool Parent?

Homeschoolers, KSU also has resources just for you!

I do hope you are able to use some of these resources to help plan out your unit. If you don't live in Georgia, I do hope you will take some time to Google available resources and museums in your state. I can't imagine teaching the Holocaust without these resources! Want to help out a fellow teacher? If you have found resources for your state, post the link(s) in the comment section below. That way you are all helping each other out!

Heather- 2 Brainy Apples

 

Paper Video Slides

Hey all! I'm Heather from 2 Brainy Apples, and I am SO excited to be writing my very first blog post for this awesome middle grades collaborative blog! I absolutely love teaching social studies, and I hope that I am able to give you all some new ideas to spice up your lessons.

Today I am going to share a paper slide video activity I had my students complete last week. I chose this particular activity because using paper slide videos isn’t just a social studies thing. You can take this idea and easily adapt it to another subject area (I suggest some ideas at the end of this blog post), so if you aren’t a social studies teacher, hopefully this will be another activity you throw into your teaching bag!

YOU NEED

• something to record with- phone or iPad work great. You don’t even need a fancy phone. If you have a wi-fi set up in your school for BYOT, students don’t even need to have a plan for a cell phone to use it. It’s just like an iPad with its own wi-fi. Ask your students’ parents if they have old phones sitting around collecting dust. Maybe they will donate them to your classroom! Most kids have phones that record or an iPad, and you only need as many as you have groups. I had 7-8 groups in my classes.
• blank paper and coloring utensils

WHAT ARE PAPER SLIDE VIDEOS?

A paper slide video consists of the students creating paper slides (on good old white paper) and sliding them across a table while someone videos it. Pretty old fashioned, and I wasn’t quite sold that my students would really enjoy this activity when we are so bombarded with pretty cool uses of technology. Still, I thought it was a simple enough idea and didn’t require a lot of programs to use (because we know how unreliable technology can be), so I thought I would give it a shot.  And a teacher created a paper slide video explaining how to make a paper slide video. She uploaded it to YouTube so everyone can benefit and not recreate the wheel! This video is what I used to explain what a paper slide video was to my students. 

WHY PAPER SLIDE VIDEOS?

Well, teaching social studies means a LOT of facts, which means a LOT of reading. Kiddos don’t like sitting around and reading ALL the time, so I have been coming up with activities for my students to do that doesn’t “seem” like they are reading. It is very important students are able to read and comprehend text during social studies, and that they are able to comprehend the text at a deeper level. History, government, ecomonics….these concepts are all about cause and effect, why, how, etc. I need to make sure my students are reading on a daily basis, but putting a text in front of them on a daily basis can become quite, well, **boring**.  Enter paper slide videos!

PAPER SLIDE VIDEO ACTIVITY

We are in the middle of our World War II unit, and there was a reading article I wanted my students to read because it had tons of great information included that they needed to know. Instead of giving them a copy and having them close read it and answer questions or write a summary, I decided they would jigsaw read the article and create a paper slide video in their groups.

This time I let my students choose their groups of 4. For my on-level classes, I had the article already divided into 4 parts. For my advanced classes, I let them decide how to divide it into 4 parts, and who would read what part. Once they had their part, they started reading just their own part. Once they were done, they had to think about what they would put on their own slide. Then they shared with their group members what their part was about and what they were going to be illustrating. I told them that I didn’t want too many words on the slides; just captions, labels, or short sentences to help understand the illustration if needed.

They had thoughtful discussions about their reading sections while they discussed their ideas for their illustrated slide and their script. Unknown to them, their script became the summary I would have had them write. {insert evil laugh} Once the group came to a consensus on everyone’s slides and an overview of their scripts, they began working. Once the chatter of the group discussion was over, you could hear a pin drop. They were so engaged in their illustrations and scripts. It was awesome! Some students used more color than others. I didn’t FORCE them to fully color the pages. Some wanted to print off pictures from the Internet. I let them. I didn’t want poor or insecure artistic talent to prevent them from enjoying this activity. 

Some of my students made their illustrations into political cartoons. Political cartoons! We have been analyzing these bad boys for a while, and I love it when something we have been working on pops up out of the blue! I didn't tell them to think about making political cartoons. They just did it. #happyteacherheart
When they were all done with their illustrations and scripts, they began practicing. Once they were happy with their paper slides, they were sent out into the hallway to tape. Our hallway is quite long and straight, so several groups were able to tape at the same time and spread out.

This activity took 2 class periods (My classes are 55 minutes long). The first day was how to make a paper slide video, expectations, groupings, reading, and beginning their discussions. I had several start their illustrations at home. I didn’t even tell them to, but most, MOST, of them did. Even those students who rarely do anything at home. The second day was finishing up the illustrations, finishing their scripts, practicing, and recording. It was a tight squeeze, and I didn’t think they would all finish, but they did because they were all actively engaged with minimal off task behavior.

Here is an example of one of their videos:

Click Here

I admit, I did not provide a rubric for this go around. I really wanted this to be a practice session and not grade them on it.  And I also did not want them to spend a very long time doing take after take after take because it was not going to be graded. Yes, I told them that, and they still did a pretty darn good job. Which leads me to believe that they really liked the activity, and it was interest driving their effort and not a grade. HOME RUN! Now that they know how to do one, I think it will take 2 class periods because all I will have to do is tell them what the topic will be. They can do the rest on their own (unless it's a very large topic).

IDEAS FOR OTHER SUBJECTS

• Math- have your students show each step in an equation or problem solving while they explain it.
• Science- have your students show each step in a process like the water cycle; explain how an earthquake happens; or show the different parts of a cell.
• Reading- have your students break down a story into its parts on separate slides (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), or have your students analyze the main characters on different slides.
• Writing- have your students break down a text structure they can use to write an expository piece (a compare/constrast piece can have either a point-by-point structure or a block structure), or have your students show each stage in their writing process to show how they brainstormed, drafted, revised, edited, and published a piece.

What I love most about paper slide videos is that they are so easy to make, you can use them in any subject area, and students love creating them. My students were able to read a small bit of information, yet learn all the information in the article because they jigsawed it. Then they had to discuss their individual parts to make sure the whole video would make sense and flow in a logical manner, which also cleared up any misunderstandings. Best part: my students close read without being told to, and they didn’t even realize they were doing it. AND they wrote a summary for their scripts. I take that as a win!

Have you used paper slide videos before? Please share your ideas below. We would love to hear all about them!

Heather