Holocaust Education and More

By Anonymous

5th Grade Studies the Origins of the Holocaust
Mrs. Glanz and Mrs. Packer
Friday, March 29, 2019

This week, we spent a lot of time learning about events leading up to the Holocaust. We learned about the end of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, life in Germany during the Weimar Republic, and the rise of the Nazi party in the early 1930's. 

In one activity, to help contextualize and humanize the Holocaust, students selected a black and white photo image taken of Jews before the war and "expanded" the picture to include all the other details of the scene, including dialogue, passers-by, etc. This helped to show that these events happened to people with lives that were, in many ways, similar to their own. The picture included in the blog is the results of this work.

Your child also had a chance take on the identity of a German citizen with a particular background and "vote" for a party during the 1933 election. As one student said, "I think I might have voted for the Nazis too if I lived then because they cared about the issues that would have been important to me, and I might have just ignored the part about the Jews." We were so impressed that students were able to connect this activity to our essential question: "How can individual actions affect others in the past, present, and future?" and recognize that voting can be a powerful action. In another activity, students viewed images of Nazi propaganda and thought about how effective these images were in molding the thinking of average citizens, especially young people. 

In Math, we started a new unit on fraction operations, and in Science, we started learning about biomes in preparation for a project coming up next week. Finally, students enjoyed a well-deserved Marble party. Thank you to Rachel for a fun and engaging class game.

Shabbat Shalom and have a wonderful weekend.
Anne and Sharon



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