Constitution Day Lesson Plans

Did y'all know that Constitution Day is celebrated on Thursday?  THIS Thursday!? If you're like a lot of schools, you're held accountable for celebrating the day and teaching your kiddos about what it all means.  If you're like me {horrendous at History} this has you feeling like

Via

But have no fear... I taught myself {for your sake and my sake}... and then created a super easy mini unit for teachers like me!  Check it out below and grab it in my store before Thursday.  So you can actually use it on the appropriate day... or not... no judgement. 

>> Grab it here! <<

Dachau Concentration Camp

Hey teaching friends, have you read Prisoner B-3087 or Night or Number the Stars or The Diary of Anne Frank?  You probably have a good idea of what these books have in common, besides being powerful teaching tools- but why am I writing about them?  Good question.

Right now the holocaust is of special interest to me because my husband and I recently traveled to Munich, Germany.  While we were there we visited Dachau Concentration Camp.  Holy cow.  What an experience.  Was this my first choice in places to visit?  No.  "What about a beer tour?" I tried to convince myself.  But as the days ticked by, I realized I couldn't be here and not go.  A place with so much history and so much to learn should be visited.  Should be shared.  And so here it is. 

Before traveling to Germany, I finished reading the book Prisoner B-3087.  This book has an amazingly powerful message and is a great read aloud for the classroom or for book clubs.  Reading the book and then traveling to some of the places mentioned really brought the main

character, Yanek's, story to life.  Dachau (pronounced Da-how) is the final concentration camp that Yanek is sent to, before being freed by US soldiers.  When you walk in, you're "welcomed" with a sign over the gate that states, "Arbeith macht frei" (work makes you free).  Yanek talks about seeing this sign as he enters a concentration camp.

During World War II, there were as many as 2,000 prisoners in one of the 30 barracks at Dachau.  You can see just one the barracks in the picture below. Prisoners would share the bunks with so many people that they had to lay bunched together on their sides. 

The "roll call" field in front of the barracks.

Bunks in the barracks.

Seeing the places that you've read about really brings it all to life.  

And wow is it scary.  

 

This is a shower room that was also used as a gas chamber.  The room I was standing in was the undressing room where prisoners would have to undress, not knowing if they were walking into a shower room or a gas chamber.  "Brausebad" above the door means "shower room" but the Nazis were known for playing tricks on their prisoners. 

 

From the shower room, you walk into another room, the crematorium.

I have learned so much this year- but I think that traveling here really showed me how important it is to see history.  I knew a lot about the holocaust, had read a lot, and had heard many stories- but being at Dachau enabled me to understand so much more.  It made me think about history as a teacher.  How important field trips are, how much learning can be done outside of books, lessons, and worksheets.  I loved this quote I found towards the end of our time at Dachau.

Each of us today is shaping the background history of tomorrow.

History is powerful and I can already think of so many things I want to share with my little learners.  So many lessons and messages.  How are you shaping the history of tomorrow? 

Bringing History to Life {Reading Prisoner B-3087}

Hey y'all!  My husband and I traveled to Munich, Germany this weekend to meet up with my brother who has a few weeks in between college semesters.  Today we plan to visit Dachau Memorial, the first concentration camp built during Hitler's reign.  I am very excited and very nervous at the same time.  This place holds so much history and so much sadness.  How can one be prepared to experience this?  To learn a little more about this era, I read the popular book, Prisoner B-3078.  There are really no words to describe a book like this.  It is such a great book that is packed full of history, truth, and realism.  While it's a tough read, it is also one I can imagine students really getting into.  And bonus, it allows for so many conversations and teaching points.  {I even saw Catherine over at The Brown Bag Teacher read this book with her kiddos!}  I can only imagine the kind of conversations this book sparks. 

I compiled a bunch of questions while I read the book and took note of them so when I'm back in a classroom with book clubs, I can reread the book and use the questions as conversation starters, journal prompts, quizzes, or anything in between. It's a no frills, basic product but the questions make students think about the book on multiple levels and there's enough questions covering each chapter to allow teachers to pick and choose what they want to discuss.  You can check out this super basic teacher time-saver at my TpT store {for just $1.00!!} here.

Off we go on a new adventure- I hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

Mining Rocks!

Last week I needed to teach about the Gold Rush and really wanted to do this activity I had heard about ,where we would search for fake gold out on the playground, but I was NOT feeling very motivated around 5:30 on a Sunday night, to prep it all.  My Mom was in town though and wasn’t about to let me stay in my PJ’s (Thanks Mom!)  So we hurried to the hardware store and picked up some rocks and spray paint!

I spray painted the rocks gold, silver, and purple.  Each color represented a specific type of mineral.  Gold and silver were (duh) gold and silver!  And then purple represented gypsum, because gypsum is a very cheap mineral and I wanted to show how minerals were worth different amounts of money.

  I prepped my kiddos by telling them we were going to be Miner's.  We discussed what type of minerals they were mining for, got into groups of two, and each grabbed a bag!  My spectacular aid went out into the field and clumped some of the rocks together and spread out others.  Then we moved out to the field to "mine". 

As soon as they reached the field, they were off!  They were so excited and were running around non stop!  It took about 15 minutes, but they found almost all the minerals. 

After they had gathered as much as they could, we took their bags inside and sorted out our minerals into piles of gold, silver, and gypsum. 

I went around and weighed their piles, using my bathroom scale, and had a worksheet ready for them to fill in, with their weights. 

Next week we will find out how much money they "made" and discuss what it was like to be a "miner".  (Feel free to grab a copy of The Gold Rush and the Reflection, below)

We will also do a quick reflection on what we've learned. 

I'm so glad I decided to do this activity because it really helped model a little bit of what the Gold Rush had been like.  I'm looking forward to having the time to discuss our observations, how much money we made, and make connections to the real Gold Rush! 

While we'll get to have some fun with gold, we will also take TCAP, our state test, this week.  I'm looking forward to having this behind us, Spring Break in front of us, and fun activities for the end of the year!

I hope everyone has a great week!

- Kelly Anne