The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Book Introduction

I searched online and found this fantastic book introduction.  Why reinvent the wheel when there's already something fantastic out there to use?  Credit goes to Upper St. Claire High School for sharing this powerpoint online.  It gives basic information about the author, book accolades, genre, setting, and a pre-reading activity.  Plus, there's a link to the movie trailer.  It will get your readers hooked!

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas PPT Book Introduction

Holocaust Background Knowledge

Before reading, I showed students a powerpoint with photos and information that answer the question, "What is the Holocaust?"  This will be a new topic for most elementary students, so I wanted to make sure they had background information before we began reading.  There are tons of slide shows and powerpoint presentations online that you can use to develop background knowledge of the Holocaust.  Many of them show primary source photos and maps so students can use authentic resources to gain a deeper connection to the topic.  You can choose the resource that is appropriate for your grade level.

Reading Workshop
While reading the novel with students, I incorporate mini-lessons that teach readers how to navigate historical ficiton. During the mini-lesson, students utilize "turn and talk" time to discuss parts of the book with their peers.  This is the time the kids do their "big thinking" as they grapple with ideas from the book, discuss character motivations, and make predictions.  We had some phenomenal conversations about the characters and the theme of the book during this time.

When I read aloud novels with students, I always make notes in my books. I keep one copy, just for me.  I like to highlight, underline, make anecdotes, and write questions to remember.  Some teachers like to use sticky notes, but for me, sticky notes just get in the way.  After we're done with the novel, I just tuck the book away on my teacher bookshelf for the next time I use it with students.

Anchor Charts
Here are some examples of anchor charts suggested by Lucy Calkins Reading Workshop to use with historical fiction.

Interactive Read Alouds

There's a plethora of books associated with this topic.  A few of my favorites are Irena's Jar of Secrets by Marcia Vaughn and The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco.  Click on the links below to see how I implemented these lessons.

The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco Lesson Plan

Irena's Jar of Secrets Lesson Plan

Here are some other great book titles you can use to teach students about the Holocaust.

Click on the link below to get descriptions of the books:

Picture Books about the Holocaust

Writing Connection

• Big Idea Timelines:  When reading novels together, students keep a big idea timeline in their reader's notebook.  It helps them keep track of main ideas in each chapter.  
• Reading Responses:  After reading a chapter, or group of chapters, students respond to various questions in their reader's notebook.  
• Visual Notetaking:  Students express their ideas about the book using words and pictures.  

Click on the link below to learn more about visual notetaking and see more examples.

Visual Notetaking

Discussion Questions

After we completed the book, students discussed questions with a group. Again, grand conversations occurred.  Students even made some text-to-text connections with the novel we previously read.  They connected the symbolism of the  "river" in Esperanza Rising to the  symbolism of the "fence" in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.  Great connection!  After students discussed with their groups, we shared ideas during a whole group discussion.  Students were then given time to formulate their own written answers on an end-of-the-book discussion sheet.  

Assessment

In addition to using discussion sheet questions and daily work such as reader's notebooks, I created a comprehension test with short answer questions for students.  

Movie Night

To wrap up the unit, I invited students and their families to come to a 5th Grade Movie Night featuring The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.  Students had been clamoring to see the movie all throughout the novel study.  A movie night is a great way to get families involved and you're not using valuable instruction time to watch a movie in its entirety.  If I were to show it in class, it would have taken three days of instruction time.  Students are very motivated by a multi-media approach and loved comparing the novel to the movie.  As expected, the majority of students preferred the novel to the movie.  Yay!  This is what every reading teacher loves to hear!  

Click on the link to check out more ideas for another novel study using Esperanza Rising.

Esperanza Rising Novel Study

-Karen

Reading Response: The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco

Since I am currently teaching my fifth grade students about the Holocaust, The Butterly by Patricia Polacco, was the perfect choice for an interactive read aloud.  If you haven't already noticed from previous posts, I happen to love ALL things Patricia Polacco.  As with most of her picture books, she draws on experiences from her own life to create beautifully illustrated children s books.  This book is great to use along with Number the Stars or the The Boy in the Striped Pajamas to build schema.  In this particular story, Polocco tells the story of her aunt, Monique, who grew up in France during World War II.  Monique discovers a Jewish girl named Sevrine who is being hidden in the basement by her mother.  The two girls become fast friends and play together a night so they can keep their friendship a secret.  Read the book to find out the rest!

There are several language arts skills you can teach after reading this book. Here are a few that I did with this lesson:

Compare & Contrast
Students can compare and contrast the characters using traits.  How are Sevrine and Monique alike?  How are they different?  Students can compile their information in a Venn diagram or by using a t-chart.  Students can compare the two girls lives.  What is Monique's life like during the Nazi invasion of France?  What is Sevrine's life like?  Students can use the information from their graphic organizers to create a paragraph.

Character Feelings & Emotions
Have students think about the feelings and emotions of Monique, Sevrine, and their mothers?  Create a list or web of descriptive words.  Encourage students to use synonyms for common words.  What are other words you can use for brave?  Scared?  etc... Have students write about why the characters feel this way and find evidence in the text to support their answer.    

Text-to-Self Connection
After thinking about how the characters were feeling, students can write about a time when they felt the same way.  

Story Elements
After you read the story, have students jot down story elements such as characters and their descriptions, setting details, problem/solution, and sequence main events from the story in their Interactive Reading Notebooks.  

Symbolism
In the story, the butterfly symbolizes freedom.  After reading the book, ask students to brainstorm ideas for what the butterfly might symbolize.  Discuss the significance of the butterfly and have them give examples of how it is used in the book to support the text.  

Theme
Ask students, "What is the moral message or lesson in this story?"  To determine the theme, students can ask themselves these questions:
1.  What did the characters learn?
2.  How did the characters grow or change?
3.  Why did the characters act this way?
Once students discover the theme of the story, have them provide evidence from the text to support it.

After reading The Butterfly, students competed a reading response. 

Here are some examples of student responses:

Here is a link to a list of more picture books about the Holocaust that you can share with your students:

More Picture Books

Happy Reading!
-Karen

Interactive Read Alouds Focusing on World War II and the Holocaust

I'm constantly looking for great books to use for interactive read alouds.  The books listed below are ones that I have found that tie into the historical fiction unit I have planned for my 5th grade students.  As a class, we are reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and I am using the text to relate to the teaching points for our reader's workshop lessons.  Our focus is on World War II and Holocaust and I have found quite a few related books.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Irena's Jar of Secrets by Marcia Vaughn and Irene Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto by Susan Goldman Rubins

This is the true story of a woman named Irene Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker, who helped save nearly 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto during the Nazi occupation in Poland during World War II.  These books can be used to illustrate narrative nonfiction and character traits. Both books detail Irena's heroic actions amidst dangerous circumstances.

Always Remember Me:  How One Family Survived World War II and I Will Come Back For You:  A Family in Hiding During World War II by Marisbina Russo

In this story, Always Remember Me:  How One Family Survived World War II, Rachel's Oma has two photo albums. One album holds pictures of happy times and this is the one that Rachel always gets to look at.  One album holds memories of sadder times when the Nazis were in power in Germany.  Oma never shares the second album with her granddaughter Rachel, until one special day when she feels Rachel is old enough to hear her family's story.. Oma tells Rachel about the perils her family endured during the war and how their love for one another helped them to survive.  The book is based on the author's own family history and includes some real photographs.  Another story by the same author and one that is based on her family's experiences during World War II is I Will Come Back for You:  A Family In Hiding During World War II.  The story tells of what it was like to grow up Jewish in Italy during the war. It is about a grandmother who shares a story with her granddaughter and details how she was separated from her father and had to hide from the Nazis in the mountains.  Both stories are a great way to encourage students to ask their parents and grandparents about family history.  Story telling is an excellent way to learn about history.  

The Yellow Star:  The Legend of King  Christian X of Denmark by Carmen Agra Deedy

This legend illustrates how Denmark's King Christian X bravely stood up for the Danish citizens when Nazi's occupied Denmark.  This is a story of bravery, heroism, and shows a country that came together to stand up to injustice.  It's a wonderful way to introduce legends to students and help students compare and contrast historical facts to legends. In the author's note, the true facts that relate to the story are detailed. Regardless of whether the story is true, or not, it is a beautifully illustrated and touching book.

Willy and Max:  A Holocaust Story by Amy Littlesugar

In the story, Max and Willy meet and become fast friends when Max's father buys a beautiful painting from the antique shop that Willy's father owns. The boys discover they have many things in common.  The only difference is one is Jewish and the other is not.  The boys are inseparable until war breaks out and the Nazis invade.  The Nazis take everything from Max's family, including the precious painting.  The boys promise to be friends forever, but are eventually separated by the circumstances of war.  The story spans many generations and Willy and Max's friendship endures because of the painting that began their friendship many years ago. A truly touching story about friendship and the effects of the Holocaust.

Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming

This is a story based on the author's mother's childhood,  The story is about a young girl from America named Rosie who made a difference in the lives of people in the Dutch town of Olst in Holland during  post World War II.  Katje, a girl from Holland, receives special packages from Rosie in America.  The packages are part of Rosie's goodwill effort to help the Dutch people who are trying to rebuild their lives after the war. Katje shares the contents of the boxes with the people of her Dutch town and sends letters of thanks to Rosie and her friends and family in Indiana.  These kind exchanges brought two communities together in friendship even though there were thousands of miles apart.  A wonderful story of how one person can make a huge difference.

Rose Blanche by Christophe Gallaz

During wartime Germany, a young, compassionate girl named Rose witnesses a young boy being taken by Nazi soldiers.  She secretly follows the truck to the concentration camp and sees many starving children.  She begins to sneak food from home to bring to the boy and the other hungry children at the concentration camp.  The story illustrates the perspective of war from a child's point of view.  Rose, an innocent child, just wanted to help the other children. Take time to linger on the moving illustrations.  I often pause on the pictures and have my student make predictions.

Benno and the Night of the Broken Glass by Meg Wiviott

A story about Kistallnacht, the beginning of the Holocaust, written from the perspective of  Benno the cat.  Benno lives in an apartment building with both Jewish and non Jewish families.  They all love Benno and he loved all of his neighbors.  Benno travels from apartment to apartment for scraps of food and special attention from the occupants.  One day Benno wonders why everyone looks so sad.  And why there are men in in brown shirts strutting about?  Most importantly, he wonders what happened to the Adler family and Professor Goldfarb in his apartment building.  This book is a great introduction to the Holocaust.

The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco

The story is about a young girl named Monique who lives in a small French village.  Monique's village is occupied by Nazi soldiers.  Monique thinks she keeps seeing a "ghost", but it is really a young girl named Sevrine, who is hiding from the Nazi soldiers.  Monique discovers that her mother has been hiding Sevrine's family in their basement.  The two girls become friends and play together at night, without anyone knowing. Then one day, the girls are discovered and Sevrine's family must flee.   A great book to understand the war, friendship, and symbolism- ask students what the butterfly symbolizes in the story.

Star of Fear. Star of Hope by Jo Hoestlandt

In this story, an elderly French woman recalls the events of her childhood when the Nazis invaded France.  The story centers around her confusion about the war and when her best friend had to wear a yellow star. Her friend mysteriously disappears and she constantly hopes they will be reunited again.  It is another heart-breaking account of what many friends of Jews endured during the Holocaust. Many times they would wake up and their Jewish friends would have vanished, or they would see them get arrested.  

Erika's Story by Ruth Vander Zee

During the midst of World War II in Nazi occupied Europe, a couple make a heart wrenching decision to save their infant daughter from a the fate that most Jews suffered at this time- death in concentration camps.   A beautifully illustrated true story of a Holocaust survivor.  Take time to notice the illustrations with students and see how they reflect the mood of the story.







There are quite a few beautifully written and illustrated picture books about the Holocaust, but these are some of my favorites to share with students. Once students learn a little about this part of history, they are intrigued to learn more and will usually seek out books in the library related to this topic.  

Do you have any picture books that relate to historical fiction?  Please share the titles in the comments section.  We'd love to hear your ideas!
-Karen