Unit Title: Remembering the Holocaust

Grade level: 6-8

Length of unit: 2 weeks (Class periods: 55 minutes)
Stage 1 Desired Results
Meaning
Enduring Understandings/Generalizations:

Essential Questions:

Understand the historical context of the Nazi

regime
Understand a survivors story through a historical
lens
Understand the feelings of someone affected by
the Holocaust

What is the Holocaust?

How did it feel to be one of the 6 million people
affected by the Holocaust?
How were individuals affected by the Holocaust?

Knowledge & Skills Acquisition

Learning Goals: (e.g., Iowa/Common Core standards.)
Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence
individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events). (RI.7-3.)
Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text. (RI.7-1.)
Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating
additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation. (W.7.7.)

Students will know

Genocide
Tolerance
Persecution
Concentration camp
Nazi
Holocaust
Resistance
Prejudice

Students will be able to

Organize information
Read for literacy experience
Participate in a literature circle
Analyze a book
Discuss thoughts and findings with classmates
Use creativity to summarize one survivors
story in a final project

Resources/Materials:
KWL chart
Classroom copies of Survivor: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust by Allan Zullo and
Mara Bovsun
Literature circle response worksheet
Holocaust timeline
Laptops
Final project handout and rubric
Materials for students projects (posters, markers, anything else they bring in from home)

Stage 2 Evidence (Assessment)

Types of assessment: Selected-Response (tests, quizzes); Personal Communication
(interview, oral exam, discussion); Written Response (short constructed response questions,
entrance/exit slips, essays); Performance Assessment (role-play, Simulation, labs,
dramatization)

Pre-assessment:

Will you use formal or informal pre-assessment methods in this unit?

Students will complete an informal pre-assessment for this unit

What types of pre-assessment methods/strategies with you use?

Students will fill out a KWL chart about the Holocaust as an introduction. We will discuss what they know
about the Holocaust before I give an introduction to the unit. At the end of the unit they will be asked to
finish the KWL chart with things they took away from the unit.

What will you do if a student(s) has demonstrated mastery of the knowledge or skills you plan
to teach?
If a student has demonstrated mastery/knowledge of the Holocaust I still want them to participate in the
discussion by sharing their ideas with the class because it could be a good review for them and they will
also have the opportunity to teach the other students.

Formative Assessment:

How will you assess student learning along the way?

o Students will participate in literature circles while reading the book, Survivor: True Stories of
Children in the Holocaust. The book contains 8 different stories and students will be expected to
pick 4 of them to read with their group. Students will complete one literature circle worksheet along
with their group for each story they read (therefore, they turn in 4 worksheets)
o I will be listening to their literature circle discussions as an informal formative assessment. This will
help me gage if students understand the reading.
o The students will participate in think-pair-shares about the essential questions; What is the
Holocaust? What were the causes and effects of the Holocaust? How did it feel to be one of the 6
million people affected by the Holocaust?
o Students will complete various exit slips with the following question; What questions do you still

have after todays lesson and discussion? (I will collect these and try to address some of the
questions students want answers to in the remaining class periods)

Summative Assessment:

How will you summatively assess student learning in this unit (end-of-unit test, essay, interview,
performance assessment)?
o Students will turn in their KWL chart about the Holocaust
o Students will turn in their literature circle worksheets
o Students will create a final project regarding their favorite survivor story they read

What knowledge or skills will you target in this summative assessment?

o Students will show their knowledge gained from the book, Survivor: True Stories of Children in the
Holocaust, by answering the literature circle questions for each story they read. They will turn these
in.
o Students will show their knowledge gained with the KWL chart about the Holocaust
o In their final project, students will work individually and be able to answer the essential questions;
What is the Holocaust? How did it feel to be one of the 6 million people affected by the Holocaust?
How were individuals affected by the Holocaust? I want students to show me their understanding of
these questions by incorporating them into their final project

How will you integrate performance assessment into this unit?

o Students will create a poster, PowerPoint, song or use any other medium to summarize a story from
the book. Each student will have to pick one story from the book that they read. Students will work
individually and they will also be required to answer the essential questions within their final
project.

Stage 3 Learning Plan

Use these questions to help guide the creation of your pacing calendar (learning plan).

How
o
How
o
o

many days will your unit last?

This unit will be 2 weeks
will you sequence/organize learning your unit in an iterative/incremental way?
Students will gain background knowledge of the Holocaust and the timeframe at the start of the unit
Students will participate in literature circle groups and are expected to read one survivor story at a
time
o Students will have time to reflect and ask questions during the various class discussions
o Students will revisit the essential questions and represent their learning from the whole unit with
their final project
What opening activity will you use to hook or engage student learning in this unit?
o I will begin the unit by showing students pictures of the Holocaust. Some of the photos will be
graphic, others wont be. This is to get students thinking about the Holocaust before they fill out the
KWL chart.
How will you ensure students know where the learning is headed in this unit?
o At the beginning of the unit I will give students a calendar of the unit and assignment due dates
How will you introduce students to your Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions?
At what points will you have your students re-consider these understandings/questions?
o Students will become aware of the essential questions at the start of the unit
o The essential questions will be posted on the board for the entire unit
o Students will participate in think-pair-shares revolving around the essential questions
How will you sequence/organize your assessments in an iterative/incremental way?
o The students will complete a preassement showing me what they know and want to know via KWL
chart
o The students will participate in discussions and literature circles as formative assessments
o The students will do a final project to represent their learning from the whole unit at the end of the
second week and present it to the class

How will you foster critical thinking and problem solving in this unit? Self-reflection?
Curiosity and imagination? Collaboration? Innovation/Creativity? Adaptive thinking?
Accessing and analyzing information? Oral and written communication?
o Students will collaborate in their literature circle groups to read the stories about survivors in the
Holocaust and they will work together to answer the questions on the literature circle response
worksheets.
o Students will use adaptive, innovative and creative thinking to summarize the survivors story of
their choosing in a creative way.
o Students will use oral and written communication skills in their literature circles while discussion the
stories of Holocaust survivors and answering the worksheet questions.

What active instructional strategies/learning activities might you use to engage students in
learning (You need to use at least 3 different types of instructional strategies)?
o Think-pair-share
o Exit slip
o KWL chart

How will you differentiate for individual student needs in this unit? What differentiated
instructional strategies will you use (e.g., student choice, flexible grouping, jigsaw, choice
boards/menus, tiered assignments, anchor activities, etc.)?
o The literature circle groups will be predetermined based on reading abilities. Lower level readers will
have extended time to finish the literature circle response worksheets.
o In addition, groups will have the choice of which 4 stories they want to read in their literature
circles. There are 8 stories; they only pick 4 to read.
o For the final project, students may choose to work in groups or individually. Pairing ELL students
with the same native language is one way I would make groupings.
o Students will also have the choice of what medium to present their final project in (poster,
PowerPoint, booklet, blog, etc..)

How will you use technology to support and facilitate student learning in this unit?
o Students will be able to use the laptops for their final projects if they choose to. I will also have the
book on tape if lower leveled readers would like to listen to the different stories as a review once
they start their final project.

Remembering the Holocaust

Final Project
The final project for our Remembering the Holocaust unit will require you to create a summary and
presentation. You will summarize one survivors story through this project. You will be required to write 3
paragraphs along with any visual representation you create. This project can be in the form of a poster, a
PowerPoint, a blog, a booklet, etc. Within this final project please answer the following:
What is the Holocaust?
How did it feel to be one of the 6 million people affected by the Holocaust?
How were individuals affected by the Holocaust?
Remember to use what you learned in your literature circles to help you create your final project!
You will work individually on this final project. This will be due at the end of the unit and will be graded
based on the rubric found below. Class time will be given to work on your projects. You will also be
expected to explain your final project to the class with a short presentation.
This assignment is 50 points.
Target
Creativity
(10 points)

Presentation
(10 points)

Student creatively
represents the story
of a Holocaust
survivor and
includes details in
the summary
Students project is
visible, legible. The
student can explain
the final product to
others in a
thoughtful way

Student creates a
visual
representation but
the paragraphs lack
important details of
the survivors story.
Students project is
visually appealing.
The presentation is
a general overview.

Student does not

create a summary
and does not create
a visual
representation
Students project is
completed but not
legible.
No presentation is
given.

Content
(30 points)

Student shows
understanding of
the Holocaust and
the particular
survivors story,
incorporating
information learned
in the literature
circles

Student shows
partial
understanding of
the Holocaust and
its historical
significance. Student
only includes a few
key details from the
survivors story.

Student attempts to
show understanding
of the survivors
story but does not
incorporate other
learnings from the
Holocaust unit and
leaves out details

Non-fiction Literature Circle Response Sheet

Name______________________________
Story/chapter________________________
What information surprised you?

How can you use this information in your life?

What is the most important thing you have learned? Why?

What is the most interesting thing you read?

What techniques does the author use to make this information easy to understand?
Adapted from http://teacher.scholastic.com

Planning Calendar: Remembering the Holocaust unit

Week 1

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Attention
grabber:
Students will do
a gallery walk,
viewing
pictures of the
Holocaust (10
minutes)

Presentation:
timeline of
Holocaust
events (15
minutes)

Students
discuss &
answer the
response
questions for
the 1st story
they read (15
minutes)

Students
discuss/finish
up response
questions for
story #2 (20
minutes)

Students
discuss story
#3 and answer
response
questions (20
minutes)

Students
individually
begin story #3
(25 minutes)

Class
discussion
about the
essential
questions (30
minutes)

Students will fill

out a KWL chart
about the
Holocaust (15
minutes)
Teacher will
define key
vocabulary
terms with
students, they
will write down
terms in their
journals (20
minutes)
Think-pairshare: What is
the Holocaust?
(10 minutes)

Assign
literature circle
groups and
distribute
books &
response
questions (5
minutes)
Students will
make a
schedule of
reading for
their group (10
minutes)
Students will
read the first
story
individually and
finish as
homework (25
minutes)

Students begin
the 2nd story
individually (25
minutes)
Students will
answer as
many response
questions with
their group as
possible and
finish the rest
as homework
(15 minutes)

Exit slip: What

questions do
you still have
about the
Holocaust? (10
minutes)

Week 2

Students will
have the
majority of the
class period to
read story #4
They can begin
the last
response
question
worksheet if
they finish,
otherwise it will
be homework
(45 minutes)
The end of
class will allow
students time
to add things
they have
learned about
the key
vocabulary
words (10
minutes)

Presentation:
The Holocaust
and its effects
on individuals
(15 minutes)
Class
discussion on
their favorite
stories from the
book (15
minutes)
Students will
get the
assignment and
rubric for the
final project (15
minutes)

Students will
have work time
to catch up on
any response
question
worksheets or
readings they
havent
finished (30
minutes)
Students will be
given the
remainder of
the time to
start work on
their final
projects (25
minutes)

Workshop day
(whole class
period)

Presentations
(25 minutes)

Students will
complete the
KWL chart and
turn it in
Followed by a
class discussion
on what they
learned about
the Holocaust
including a
review of key
vocabulary
(20 minutes)

We will go over
some examples
of projects
students have
done in the
past, this way
students can
visualize what
the final
product should
look like(10
minutes)

Lesson plan rationale:

For this lesson, I wanted to address literacy within a historical context. I thought that having students learn
about the Holocaust through reading, writing and projects would be a good approach. One of the key
literacy issues I addressed in this unit plan was: providing explicit vocabulary instruction. At the
beginning of the unit students will be introduced to key vocabulary that they will interact with through out
the rest of the unit. They will also have multiple opportunities to add to their vocabulary definitions with
things they have learned. The second strategy I address in this unit is providing opportunities for

extended discussion of text meaning and interpretation. Through the literature circles students will
have the opportunity to discuss the text, Survivor: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust. The response
worksheets and discussions they have with one another will allow them to share their interpretations of
each individuals story. I want students to make meaning from the text on their own and then share and
discuss with their groups. This lesson is differentiated in many ways. I pre-planned literature circle
groups based on ability. I also made sure to allow extra time for my lower leveled readers. Students also
have the freedom to create their final project through any medium they want. All students are expected to
meet the same objectives and endure the same understandings but the ways in which they reach these
are different.

Some ideas from this lesson come from Scholastic.com