We Remember the Holocaust
Katie O'Malley

Geography

Teacher of the Lesson: Katie O'Malley
Lesson Topic: Geography
Grade Level: Fifth
Approximate Time: 30 to 45 minutes

Objectives:

1. Students will locate towns, countries, waterways, etc. specific to the Holocaust unit.
2. Students will show their knowledge of basic geography skills.

Materials:

• pencil and crayons
• guided worksheet (map)
• teacher supplied maps
• student textbooks and library resources
• daily geography questions [teacher resource]
• overhead and pens

Procedures:
Introduction --

1. Begin lesson by asking the students where the Holocaust, in general, took place. This is to dispel any ideas that it occurred here in the United States. In addition to this, ask at what time period did it occur.
2. Explain to the students that today we are going to create our own map to use as a reference throughout the unit. We will be adding to it as we read on in our books and explore other people and events. For today, we will be identifying basic countries and geographical skills.

Sequence of Instruction --

1. Pass out to each student the "guided worksheet" which contains a blank map of Europe. Explain to them that each group is going to be responsible for looking up three different items on our current list.
2. In doing this, they must find the location of the item on the map and explain why it is relevant to our studies. Then one member of the group will be called to come up and mark the item on the map on the overhead, while another member explains to the class its relevance.
3. Model an example for them: Dachau . Dachau is located near Munich. It was the first concentration camp established by the Nazis in 1933.
4. Give the students approximately 5 to 7 minutes to find their items before reconvening as a whole group.
5. Have one group at a time come up and mark their item and explain its importance.

Closure --

1. Ask the students what they learned today and how it can help them in reading in the future.
2. Did all the Jews who were "resettled" come from the same country?
   Did they all go to the same country after being deported?
3. Explain to them the expectations for the future assignments in daily geography:
   Each day they will answer the daily geography questions in their "We Remember" booklets on the back page. Any map locations will be placed on this map that we have begun. This means that they cannot lose this worksheet.

Evidence of Students Achieving Objectives:

1. Students will locate specific items with a 70% accuracy during Daily Geography.
2. Students will identify waterways, directional, size relevancy, etc. (other skills) with 70% accuracy or better.

Adaptations:

1. If students are unable to work on their item in a group, then I will assign them to work on it individually.
2. In the case of the slower learner, it may be necessary to team them up with another individual everyday for Daily Geography. In this situation, the student would be chosen specifically by me and asked only to help the student find the resources, but not the answer.

Reflection:

It is important for the students that they have a good knowledge base of where each of these historical events are occurring. For the lesson to be as fruitful as possible, I must choose meaningful and relevant places and skills for the students to explore. It is my own goal to really tie this exercise in meaningfully with the rest of the curriculum

Daily Geography
(Questions are arranged sequentially to match the lessons in the unit.)

Locate these countries on your map:
Britain
Norway
Sweden
Denmark
Germany
Poland
Russia
France
Italy
Switzerland
Czechoslovakia
Hungary
Yugoslavia
Rumania
Bulgaria
East Prussia
Lithuania
Latvia
Spain
Belgium
Netherlands
Estonia

Locate these waterways on your map:
North Sea
Baltic Sea
Black Sea
Adriatic Sea
Mediterranean Sea


[see map on next page for answers]







Where does Annemarie and Ellen live in our novel, Number the Stars ? Locate it on your map, noting the country it is within. Is it east or west of Sweden?

In Number the Stars , as part of a resistance effort, Uncle Henrik sails Ellen and her family along with other Jews to Sweden (a free country). Which coast of Denmark (east or west) must he live on and in what direction does he sail?

In The Devil's Arithmetic, Chaya's family has died and she is sent to live with her aunt and uncle in a shtetl. Before she came here, where did she preside with her parents? Locate it on your map.
In what country does The Devil's Arithmetic take place?

Anne Frank spent nearly two years in hiding from the Nazis. Her father's office and hiding place at 263 Prinsengracht, is now a museum and home of The Anne Frank Foundation. In what city and country is it located? Is this north,west, south, or east of Germany?

Anne Frank died of a disease in the Nazi concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen. In what country was this camp located?

The first death camp created by the Germans was in Dachau, Germany, 20 miles west outside of Munich. Locate this area on your map. It may require you to use your legend.

Auschwitz is located in what country in Europe? Can you find it on your map?

In the documentary, Anne Frank Remembered , we learned that Anne's cousin was living in safety in Switzerland while she was hiding. Is this a city or a country? Where is it located on your map in relation to Germany and the Netherlands?